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[andrea]

Is it even legal to not accept dollars as currency on a USA territory?

[Maximum Spin]

Is it even legal to not accept dollars as currency on a USA territory?

Yes, it is legal to transact for things other than dollars in the US.

they wanted to call it "Puertopia" except someone told them that means "eternal boy playground" in Latin

It doesn't though :|

[NullForceOmega]

Is it even legal to not accept dollars as currency on a USA territory?

Yes, it is legal to transact for things other than dollars in the US.

It is legal to carry out transactions in non-U.S. dollars, but as a federally backed currency it is not legal to refuse U.S. dollars as payment for a transaction.

[andrea]

yes, that is what I was asking for. If they decide to only accept cryptocurrencies in their puertopia, that would be illegal.

[Reelya]

they wanted to call it "Puertopia" except someone told them that means "eternal boy playground" in Latin

It doesn't though :|

I'm aware, but they apparently took it to heart. Which is why I prefaced it with "someone to them", rather than state it as fact.

Is it even legal to not accept dollars as currency on a USA territory?

Yes, it is legal to transact for things other than dollars in the US.

It is legal to carry out transactions in non-U.S. dollars, but as a federally backed currency it is not legal to refuse U.S. dollars as payment for a transaction.

I'm not even sure this would be enforceable. If someone wants to barter they can accept whatever commodity they want, you can't actually force them to take US Dollars, if they don't have a price specified in US Dollars. e.g. you could say you want to do a share swap of one share with another, and there's no law forcing you to accept cash instead of the shares you wanted.

Crypto-coins are a commodity too: so if you specify you'll only swap a certain crypto-coin for a range of other goods, then there's no law to prevent that. e.g. what would such a law even look like? It would have to specify that if you're willing to swap a good for some third commodity, then you're legally obligated to specify a price in dollars, too. This would never be enforceable.

[NullForceOmega]

You massively underestimate the steps the Secret Service is allowed to undertake to enforce that law Reelya.  If the failure to accept is reported, they will do nearly anything to deal with it.  Currency (and the taxation thereof) is an extremely serious issue for governments.

[NullForceOmega]

Yes.  The Secret Service is the enforcement arm of the Treasury (excuse me, until the founding of the department of homeland bullshit that is, they now fall under the umbrella of that worthless organization), they have extremely broad powers to deal with exactly this kind of issue.

In fact dealing with counterfeit currency and other critical treasury issues is the reason they were founded at all.

[Max™]

Once the mint was considering coining pennies in aluminum rather than copper and zinc or whatever, they stamped out a few examples and some congresscritters got a hold of a few to try and round up support for the new coins.

Later they decided against it and recalled the coins.

If you were found to have one today the secret service could probably bust into your house, kick your ass, rummage through your shit, and confiscate it as it is government property which was removed from circulation.

[scourge728]

I feel like the secret service has more important things to worry about at the moment

[Sheb]

Yes.  The Secret Service is the enforcement arm of the Treasury (excuse me, until the founding of the department of homeland bullshit that is, they now fall under the umbrella of that worthless organization), they have extremely broad powers to deal with exactly this kind of issue.

In fact dealing with counterfeit currency and other critical treasury issues is the reason they were founded at all.

Uh? Aren't stuff like local currencies a thing in the US?

[Teneb]

aluminum

* Teneb twitches

[NullForceOmega]

Yes.  The Secret Service is the enforcement arm of the Treasury (excuse me, until the founding of the department of homeland bullshit that is, they now fall under the umbrella of that worthless organization), they have extremely broad powers to deal with exactly this kind of issue.

In fact dealing with counterfeit currency and other critical treasury issues is the reason they were founded at all.

Uh? Aren't stuff like local currencies a thing in the US?

No.  The U.S. dollar is the only state circulated currency within U.S. borders.  It is possible, tho' difficult, to work out an exchange with someone for a different currency, such dealings are very rare.  Some non-government currencies are in existence here, but they are almost completely irrelevant.

@Scourge728:  There are thousands of Secret Service agents, and the vast bulk of them are engaged in this exact task, it is a primary reason that the agency exists.

[WealthyRadish]

The other day I was haggling with a clerk at walmart trying to get them to accept some old Tennessee Thalers I found in a jar, when of course in this jurisdiction they only accept Colorado Kopeks and California Florins. Some days I wish the Secret Service would come in and clean house, but then all these New Mexico Pesos I have lying around would only be usable as a paperweight.

[NullForceOmega]

Looks like I have to change my earlier statement anyway, as of 1965 private companies are no longer strictly required to accept the U.S. dollar for a transaction, which renders the whole argument incorrect.

It should also be noted that there are around twenty or so currently circulated 'community currencies' in use in small sections of the U.S., though we're talking about used in a single town or county for those.

Sometimes I really wish that legal information like this was distributed more widely, I only found out about the 1965 change to the laws from the treasury department's page directly.

[PTTG??]

The other day I was haggling with a clerk at walmart trying to get them to accept some old Tennessee Thalers I found in a jar, when of course in this jurisdiction they only accept Colorado Kopeks and California Florins. Some days I wish the Secret Service would come in and clean house, but then all these New Mexico Pesos I have lying around would only be usable as a paperweight.

A TRUE Californian uses Norton Dollars or pure nuggets still wet from the goldpan -- nothing else!