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.

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.

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.

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.

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 Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has begun the roll out of a new structured currency to replace the beleaguered Zimbabwean dollar, seeking to tackle hyperinflation and stabilise the country’s economy.

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.

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.

Three of France’s circulating coins are being updated to honour three exceptional French women. The updates to these coins follows those made in 2022 to the €1 and €2 coins, and marks the first time that the national sides of the coins have been updated since France’s adoption of the euro as its currency.

The Casa da Moeda do Brasil celebrated its 330th anniversary earlier this month with the launch of a commemorative medal featuring augmented reality (AR) technology. The medal is available in either bronze or silver and features invisible ink in addition to the AR technology.

The World Money Fair Technical Forum celebrated its 20th anniversary this year, just two years after the main event commemorated its half-centennial, having been established in 1972. In this month’s issue of Coin & Mint News™, we review the first five papers from the Technical Forum, with subsequent issues to cover the remainder.

The Perth Mint has announced two new partnerships during the month of March, with the first relating to the Mint Directors Association (MDA), and the second to numismatic platform Coiniverse.

Belgian businesses and shopkeepers will soon be obliged to accept cash payments following the Federal Government’s approval of legislation around cash acceptance. This follows a rise in the number of establishments that do not accept cash and subsequent complaints about the issue.

Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) reporting is rapidly becoming a normal part of organisational life. In this context the Mint Directors Association (MDA) organised a webinar on 13 March to hear from three practitioners about their experience in this area.

The Central Bank of Kosovo has released details of its efforts to fight counterfeit currency, noting that it had successfully coordinated inter-institutional meetings to design and implement effective strategies to combat the circulation of counterfeit coins, especially €2 coins.

The central bank of Estonia, Eesti Pank, ended last year with an announcement that its Omniva coin collection campaign would continue into 2024. Although the programme had only been running for three months (as of December 2023), it had already collected around 3.3 million coins – 65% of which were 1 and 2 cent coins.

Many societies have a long-standing tradition of gifting money (banknotes and coins) to mark auspicious occasions – births and birthdays, weddings and other special events, where the value of the gift is as much social as it is financial.

The Royal Canadian Mint has released several coins in varying designs and denominations to commemorate the Year of the Dragon. Amongst these are a 1kg gold coin with an extremely limited mintage and a pair of silver and gold coins featuring Extraordinarily High Relief.