The Shire Free Church, a local group of libertarian activists, installed a new bitcoin ATM in Manchester, New Hampshire, doubling the number of functioning bitcoin ATMs in New England.

“Church-sponsored Bitcoin vending machine launches in Manchester!” This is how the event is announced in a local news aggregator. If we follow the link, we will see that the religious community in question is the Shire Free Church, “a sanctuary for those seeking an escape from state churches” open for people of any faith. “Monotheists, polytheists, pantheists, panentheists, and atheists are all welcome, as long as you are peaceful”. The main commandment is “Be the best you can be and harm no other in his person or property.”

It is a libertarian organisation inviting other people who share their values to move to their state (which they simply call the Shire) and “stand peacefully together” in the face of the authorities, which they consider to be no more than a “gang of armed criminals” providing “a variety of services, wanted and unwanted.” The state authorities also do not seem very enthusiastic about the libertarians: on 20 January the bill requiring the state to accept bitcoin for taxes and fees was finally defeated 264 to 74 in the New Hampshire House of Representatives.

The new bitcoin ATM located in a taproom in Manchester is the second one put in place by the Shire Free Church. The first one, in Keene, 66 miles away, celebrated its first birthday in November 2015. It attracted bitcoin enthusiasts from the neighbouring states because it was the only functioning bitcoin ATM out of five listed by Coin ATM Radar in New England. Despite holding the monopoly in New England, both bitcoin ATMs are among the cheapest: they only charge 5% (10% during the periods of high volatility) while the average fee worldwide is 7.17%. It is claimed the main motive behind the installation of these bitcoin-selling machines is spreading a word about bitcoin, not making money.

In an article published in June 2015, the Austrian journalist Filip Martinka suggested that the cult of bitcoin is, in fact, a religion , which has lots in common with Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, and the personality cult of Kim Il-Sung. Many bitcoin enthusiasts can only be accurately described as zealots and fanatics who “rally for or against side-chains and block size changes” with violence and “glint in their eyes” while “99% of them understand neither,” often just repeating sayings of a bitcoin prophet they chose to follow. However, the same, according to Martinka, applies to bitcoin adversaries. He believes such a view of cryptocurrency comes from “our natural tendencies to perceive attributes of money and value as inherently magic and spiritual.” Amen.

Alexey Tereshchenko