@moonbus saidThis is, of course, the reason why paper money is imprinted with "Federal Reserve Note". It is a token, representing value. This is why it has been, for hundreds of years in the US, considered the best tool possible for spending one's monetary 'value', because everyone understands its function. People like AvJoe consider it a method of control, which is losing the plot.
Coins and bills are the property of the United States government, not the property of the person who happens to have them in his hands at any given moment. If coins and bills were owned by the person who had them in his hands, then it would not be a crime for him to burn them or otherwise destroy them, just as a tv set owner commits no crime if he destroys his own tv set.
We were speaking explicitly about money one possessed and then spent.
There is no reason why that person should expect to exert control over that money after it is spent.