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3 Case W. Res. J.L. Tech. & Internet 427 (2011-2012)
More Money, More Problems: The Bitcoin Virtual Currency and the Legal Problems That Face It

handle is hein.journals/caswestres3 and id is 437 raw text is: MORE MONEY, MORE PROBLEMS: THE BITCOIN VIRTUAL CURRENCY AND THE LEGAL PROBLEMS THAT FACE IT Daniel Smith* How pale is the art of sorcerers, witches, and conjurors when com- pared with that of the government's Treasury Department! - Ludwig von Mises' INTRODUCTION What is Money? The answer to this question is vastly different to- day from what it was a century ago: physical currency has increasing- ly become a thing of the past.2 More and more of our transactions involve plastic cards and electronic communication between comput- ers-a series of ones and zeros being passed from buyer to seller through a series of intermediaries.3 Moreover, the currency that under- lies those ones and zeros-United States dollars-is a pure simula- cra, pieces of paper completely decoupled from any tangible back- ing.4 Our dollars are no longer redeemable in gold, or anything of * J.D. Candidate, Class of 2012, Case Western Reserve University School of Law. 1 LUDWIG VON MISES, THE THORY OF MONEY AND CREDIT 418 (J.E. Batson, trans., 1953) 2 See, e.g., Binyamin Appelbaum, As Plastic Reigns, the Treasury Slows Its Printing Presses, N.Y. TIMES, (July 6, 2011), http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/07/business/07currency.html?pagewanted=all (reporting that production of $5 bills is at its lowest level in 30 years and that for the first time $10 bills were not produced). See, e.g. Richard A. Epstein, Durbin's Folly: The Erratic Course ofDebit Card Markets, 7 COMPETITION Pot'Y INT'L 58, 60 (2011) (describing that the debit card became the most common method of payment in 2009). 4 John J. Chung, Money as Simulacrum: The Legal Nature and Reality of Money, 5 HASTINGS Bus. L. J. 109,159 (2009). 427

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