Originally Posted by TSORon

You cannot be prosecuted for destroying your own personal property, as long as you are not attempting commit some crime by doing so.

Destroy a single dollar bill and you can be prosecuted for destroying government property. You don’t own the cash, the government does. The government backs it, secures it to ensure that its value is not reduced by fraud or counterfeiting, guarantee’s that the face value is backed by the full weight of the US government, and that the real value that your one dollar bill represents is backed by some tangible asset.

IOW, it’s the governments cash. It represents something of value, be that time, energy, metals, or information. What it represents may be yours, but the instrument itself belongs to the government.