01
The launch thread
Original 2014 [ANN] Federal Reserve Coin announcement on Bitcointalk, posted by btcpay86 — the root document for the concept.
Case file · Opening brief
What is Federal Reserve Coin?
Not a product pitch. An artifact from early crypto culture — and a paper trail worth reading.
A joke coin timed to the Fed's 100th birthday. The punchline outlived the chain.
In January 2014, while the Federal Reserve marked a century of existence and began tapering quantitative easing, a Bitcointalk user named btcpay86 announced Federal Reserve Coin (FRSC): a virtual currency dedicated to "printing," complete with a seal, a motto, and a disclaimer that it was not the Fed's official website.
The coin itself nearly vanished. The idea did not. This site documents the concept, the 2014 archive, and the public forum record that researchers use when they ask whether btcpay86 was Changpeng Zhao (CZ) — years before Binance.
2014ANN launch
100Years of the Fed
202137btcpay86 user ID
31Wayback captures
∞Original mining time
Dedicate to 100 Years of the Federal Reserve
Thesis
The concept: mocking the printer
FRSC was satire dressed as a coin — central banking as a meme, before "meme coin" was a category.
The Federal Reserve's first century was also the age of QE: emergency policy that critics nicknamed the printing machine. On December 18, 2013, the Fed announced it would taper bond purchases. A month later — on the institution's 100th birthday window — FRSC appeared as a tongue-in-cheek "virtual currency" so holders could "feel the true meaning of the Federal Reserve system."
The joke had structure. A seal. A motto in capitals. Emission rules that deliberately echoed monetary tinkering. A homepage that insisted it was unofficial. It was not trying to be the next Litecoin clone; it was trying to be a punchline with a blockchain.
| Idea | How FRSC played it |
|---|---|
| Centennial timing | Launched against the Fed's 100-year mark — dedication as branding |
| QE / "printing" | Site copy framed the coin as a response to five years of easy money |
| Credibility theater | Institutional seal + formal tone + "This's Not The Fed's Official Website" |
| Hard money irony | Motto: WILL NOT BE DEVALUED COINS — the opposite of what the joke accused the Fed of doing |
| Infinite mining | Original chain: infinite mining time — the printer never fully shuts off |
The concept is the product. Everything else — chain, domain, ticker revival — is costume around that joke.
Historical record
Timeline of the artifact
From taper announcement to archive dust — then the story resurfaces.
-
Dec 2013
The Fed blinks
The Fed announces the taper of quantitative easing. "Printing machine" policy finally has an exit narrative — and crypto culture has fresh material.
-
Jan 2014
FRSC is announced
btcpay86 posts the [ANN] Federal Reserve Coin thread on Bitcointalk. A site goes up at federalreservecoin.org. Scrypt, one-minute blocks, a seal, a motto.
Sources the ANN thread (topic 493871) federalreservecoin.org (Wayback, Feb 2014)
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2014
The account keeps posting
Away from the ANN thread, user 202137's history looks like infrastructure work: wallets, exchanges, and public answers about blockchain.info — the company CZ has said he worked at before founding Binance.
Sources btcpay86 — all posts (user 202137) his FRSC support thread (Feb 2014) the blockchain.info reply (msg 6722268)
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2015–2024
The missing years
Interest in the chain fades. The domain lapses. Roughly 31 Wayback captures remain (Jan 2014–Nov 2020): downloads, pools, the unofficial disclaimer. The joke survives as residue.
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Later
The story returns
Researchers and communities rediscover the ANN, the seal, and the btcpay86 trail. The ticker and imagery get new life in crypto culture — as lore first, market instrument second. This file is about that lore.
Attribution file
btcpay86 and the CZ question
The interesting claim is not "buy this." It is: who posted the joke — and does the public record point to CZ?
Changpeng Zhao is publicly associated with an early career at blockchain.info / Blockchain.com, then with building Binance. Separately, Bitcointalk user 202137 (display name btcpay86) launched FRSC and left a trail of posts that look like hands-on crypto ops work in the same era.
This portal does not treat identity as proven. It lays out why people make the connection — and links the primary sources so you can test it.
Why researchers connect the dots
| # | Observation | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | btcpay86 authored the FRSC ANN (topic 493871) | Establishes the account as the launcher of the concept |
| 2 | User 202137 post history spans wallets, exchanges, support | Profile matches an operator, not a drive-by meme poster |
| 3 | He ran a public FRSC support thread (Feb 2014) | Shipping wallet, source and pool support — the work of whoever built it |
| 4 | Posts discuss blockchain.info work in public (2014) | Aligns with CZ's known pre-Binance employment |
| 5 | Timing sits in the "early CZ" internet years | Years before Binance made him globally famous |
| 6 | No known official confirmation on this portal | Community inference ≠ endorsement by CZ or Binance |
How to inspect the record yourself
-
1
Open the ANN
Read topic 493871 — the original Federal Reserve Coin announcement and the voice of the launch.
-
2
Open user 202137's posts
Load the full post history. Use your browser's translate if needed.
-
3
Search for blockchain.info
Find where the account answers support questions and talks about working there. Compare that to CZ's public biography.
-
4
Decide what you believe
High confidence that btcpay86 launched FRSC. Medium confidence — reader's call — on the CZ identification. The receipts are public either way.
Start here
- ANN → topic=493871
- Posts → user 202137
- blockchain.info thread sample → msg6722268
Verify, don't trust
The receipts
Primary sources only. Every narrative claim on this page should survive contact with these links.
02
btcpay86 — complete post history
User 202137. Translate the page, then search for blockchain.info. This is the core of the CZ attribution debate.
03
Answering for blockchain.info
The same account fields blockchain.info support questions and discusses his role — in public, on the record, in 2014.
04
btcpay86 running the support desk
"Hi, guys, if you have some problems of FRSC, Please do not hesitate to tell me." — 24 February 2014. The same account handling wallet issues and posting the official site, the wallet download, the source code and the mining software. Operator behaviour, not a drive-by meme post.
05
The original website (Wayback)
federalreservecoin.org — seal, wallet downloads, mining pools, and the line: "This's Not The Fed's Official Website." ~31 captures, Jan 2014–Nov 2020.
Community research, not an official statement. This archive has no affiliation with CZ, Binance, BNB Chain, blockchain.info / Blockchain.com, or the Federal Reserve System.
Declassified
The original 2014 spec sheet
How the joke was engineered — reproduced from federalreservecoin.org (February 2014 capture).
http://federalreservecoin.org/ · capture: 28 FEB 2014
- FRSC was born in the Federal Reserve 100th birthday. This's a virtual currency, let us feel the true meaning of the Federal Reserve system.
- December 18, 2013, the Fed announced its withdrawal of quantitative easing (QE)… Five years ago, the Fed opened a lot of people have been likened to "printing machine" QE monetary policy.
- FRSC use scrypt algorithm, produce one block per minute, each block of the first year a 20% reduction coins every 30 days, in the second year unchanged, third year decreased by 50% per year, the total mining time is infinite.
- Open Source download: Local Download — port 5895, rpc port 5894.
| Parameter | Value (2014 chain) |
|---|---|
| Algorithm | Scrypt |
| Block time | 60 s |
| Year 1 emission | −20% / 30 days |
| Year 2 | Unchanged |
| Year 3+ | −50% / year |
| Mining time | Infinite |
Appendix · Contemporary note
About the modern ticker
Secondary to this archive. Included for readers who encounter $FRSC in today's markets.
Communities have revived the FRSC name, seal, and story as a BEP-20 ticker on BNB Chain. That issuance is a cultural continuation of the 2014 concept — not the original scrypt chain, and not an official project of CZ, Binance, or the Federal Reserve.
Contract
TBA — if / when published
| Item | Note |
|---|---|
| Relationship to 2014 | Same joke, seal, and ticker mythology — different technical system |
| Network | BNB Smart Chain (BEP-20), when live |
| Stated market norms | Fair launch posture; 0/0 tax; LP burn / renounce often cited by community |
| This site's priority | History and attribution — not price, listings, or buy tutorials |
If you engage with any modern token using this name, treat it as a separate instrument. DYOR. The case file above stands on its own.
Public information
Questions about the file
Concept, attribution, and scope — not a trading desk FAQ.
What was Federal Reserve Coin actually about?
Satire of central banking and QE, launched as a Bitcointalk coin around the Fed's 100th birthday. The seal, motto, and "unofficial" disclaimer were part of the joke's costume.
Was btcpay86 really CZ?
This portal does not assert official identity. It points to Bitcointalk user 202137's public posts — including blockchain.info discussion — which researchers compare to CZ's known early career. Read the receipts and decide.
Is this site claiming CZ or Binance endorse FRSC?
No. There is no claimed affiliation or endorsement by CZ, Binance, BNB Chain, blockchain.info / Blockchain.com, or the Federal Reserve System.
Is today's $FRSC the same as the 2014 coin?
No. The 2014 project was a scrypt proof-of-work chain. Modern tickers reuse the name, seal, and story. Technically and legally they are not the same network.
Why isn't this page full of tokenomics and buy buttons?
Because the durable object is the concept and the paper trail. Market mechanics change; the 2014 ANN and Wayback archive do not. See the appendix for a short contemporary note.
Will FRSC be devalued?
Per the 2014 homepage, in capitals: WILL NOT BE DEVALUED COINS.