The high-level programme and award categories for the next edition of The Coin Conference have been announced, with the event scheduled to take place 28-30 October in Lisbon, Portugal.

In commemoration of its 50th anniversary, the Central Bank of the Bahamas has issued a painted version of the country’s 25 cent coin into circulation. The coin is the first painted circulation coin issued by the central bank, and the first circulation coin in the world to feature colour on both sides.

The Royal Mint has signed an exclusive distribution deal with RARCOA to grow its commemorative coin business in the US, and which is projected to turnover £100 million over the next three years.

Researchers at the Centre for Pattern Recognition and Machine Intelligence at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada have utilised image-mining techniques and machine learning algorithms to identify flaws in counterfeit coins, enabling greater detection of fakes.

This year marks the 80th anniversary of 'D-Day' and several European mints have produced coins to commemorate the occasion – amongst them The Royal Mint, Monnaie de Paris, and the Royal Dutch Mint.

Earlier this month, Banco de Moçambique began issuing a new currency series, which includes an updated set of circulation coins. The previous nine coin denominations have been reduced to seven, with the 20 and 5 cent coins discontinued.

The tagline for the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) Annual Report 2023 – ‘Anchoring Stability and Sustainable Growth amid Challenging Times’ – takes note of the inflationary challenges and other pressures that the Philippines faced last year.

The US Mint is seeking public comment on its announcement in the Federal Register that it plans to close its Mutilated Coin Redemption Program relating to the face value exchange of bent and partial coins.

The Royal Canadian Mint has published its annual report for 2023, noting a fall in revenue of 34% to C$2.162 billion and a reduction in profit by 52% to C$16.6 million. It has, however, noted a good start to the financial year despite decreased consolidated revenue.

The Coin Workshop started this year’s Banknote Conference – which took place in Fort Worth, Texas from 13-16 May – with a mix of data, storytelling, and discussion.

Beside cashless payments, coins are still a part of modern life. Minting, circulating and recirculating of coins remains a great responsibility for mints and central banks. Depending on the quality of the coin, the lifespan of hard cash can be 10 years or more.

Coin collecting platform Coiniverse enabled purchasing ability on its mobile application at the end of March, following this with an announcement that the first coins sold out within 72 hours.

‘The Future is Here: How Artificial Intelligence Will Change Modern Minting’ is the title of the Mint Directors Association’s webinar focusing on artificial intelligence as a tool and how it can be implemented to improve productivity.

Earlier this year, the World Money Fair Technical Forum celebrated its 20th anniversary, with 15 papers presented at the event in total. This article is the third and final summary of the remaining five papers which have yet to be reviewed in previous issues of Coin & Mint News™.

A new website, a new online shop, a new layout for its customer magazine – these are just some of the innovations Swissmint has in store for us. The mint has changed profoundly over the past two years. Ursula Kampmann explains how.

This year the Technical Forum celebrated its 20th Anniversary at the World Money Fair, with some 280 people attending either in person or online. A total of fifteen papers were presented, with this month’s review continuing on from the March issue and covering the middle third of these presentations.

Imprensa Nacional – Casa da Moeda has released two commemorative coins, one of which is a circulating commemorative and the other a collector’s coin, and a medal to mark the 50th anniversary of the 25th of April.

The Royal Dutch Mint, in collaboration with the Royal Belgian Mint, has released a new limited issue silver €10 coin to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). It has also released two special commemorative coins to mark the 200th anniversary of the Royal Netherlands Sea Rescue Institution (KNRM).

The Royal Mint, the UK’s oldest company, has announced that it is to stop taking orders for foreign circulating coins and blanks, bringing to an end a 700-year old business in producing coins for overseas countries.

The Mint of Poland and Monnaie de Paris have recently published their annual results for financial year, with the former noting a more than doubling of operating profit year-on-year and the latter a 9% increase in turnover from the previous year.