Just about every denomination of US currency has been counterfeited at some point. But there are some really good copies out there (aka supernotes) that are extremely difficult to detect. In response, every few years, the government has to issue new bill designs that are harder and harder to duplicate. Here are just a few interesting links on detecting fake money and issuing new currency.

• The US Federal Reserve will introduce a new $100 bill with added security features on October 8, 2013. The new bill will be confusing and complicated, so counterfeiters will have a small window where they'll likely be able to pass off a slightly different (but equally confusing) new-looking C-note. [url]
• Ireland's Central Bank says it's offering refunds for a commemorative coin that misquotes a phrase from Ulysses. It was an unintentional error on a coin meant to honor James Joyce, but the bank is still planning to sell the coins -- explaining that the text was "an artistic representation of the author and text and not intended as a literal representation". [url]
• The US secret service has trained counterfeit detection canines to help sniff out fake money. The dogs and their handlers went through a 12-week training program and were deployed in Colombia to find counterfeit currency. [url]

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While early coins represented the value of the metal they were made of, modern day coins are issued by the government and their value is determined by free market currency exchange rates. Ideally the value of a coin should be higher than the cost of the metals used to make it, but when the price of metals, like copper, increases, pennies can end up being worth more for their metal. For example, the Canadian government has officially stopped distributing pennies because not only do they cost almost 1.6 cents per penny to produce, but most people think pennies are worthless. But are they? Here are a few more interesting coin-related stories.

• Pennies aren't worthless. They're legal tender and carry a value of 1 cent. That's why a Utah man tried to pay a disputed $25 doctor's bill in pennies. After he presented the clinic with almost 14 lbs of pennies and demanded that they count them, he was found guilty of disorderly conduct and fined $140. Hopefully he didn't try to pay the fine in pennies as well. [url]
• Have you ever wondered why there are 100 cents in a dollar? In 1784, Thomas Jefferson suggested that the U.S. dollar should be decimalized, and being the influential guy that he was, he managed to convince the government to follow the suggestions he proposed in his essay, "Notes on the Establishment of a Money Unit, and of a Coinage for the United States." [url]
• Coin collectors can now get their very own platinum-plated "trillion dollar coin" for just $9.95. The coins commemorate the idea that the U.S. Treasury could simply mint a $1 trillion platinum coin to get around the debt ceiling. Apparently, U.S. law allows the Treasury to produce platinum coins in any denomination. [url]
• The Royal Canadian Mint wants to create a secure digital alternative to cash in the form of MintChip. The MintChip smart card chip could be installed in a number of devices, and value would be transferred onto the chip by a MintChip broker, allowing users to securely exchange Canadian dollars both online and offline. [url]

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We've discussed the possibility of killing off the US penny before, as well as Canada's plans to actually put an end to its penny. Some folks really hate these small denomination coins, but really large denominations aren't too popular, either. Here are just a few links on some money that won't see circulation.

• The US Treasury is technically allowed to mint platinum coins of any denomination -- but at least one lawmaker wants to prevent the possibility of a trillion dollar coin. TL;DR -- does this bill prevent the minting of a half-trillion coin? [url]
• There's less than a month left for folks to hoard Canadian pennies because starting February 4th, the Royal Canadian mint will no longer distribute 1-cent coins. Only cash transactions will be affected, requiring people to round to the nearest nickel. [url]
• Hungary once produced currency with a denomination of 100 million billion Pengos. That's 100,000,000,000,000,000,000 Pengos -- worth about 20 cents in the US. [url]

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While digital forms of payment are becoming increasingly popular, cash probably isn't going away anytime soon, and a lot of people still like to collect coins. For the amateur numismatists out there, here are just a few interesting coin stories.

• New Zealand is minting a series of coins with Hobbit characters on them -- with the most expensive Hobbit coin made of about 28 grams of gold. The coins will be legal tender, but they'll probably be hoarded by Hobbit fans and coins collectors for being preciousss. [url]
• The Royal Canadian Mint has a glow-in-the-dark quarter with a dinosaur on it. Canada killed its penny, but collectible glowing coins apparently have a bright future up north.... [url]
• A 1909 Lincoln penny is on Mars, as part of the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) instrument on the Curiosity rover. This penny will serve as a calibration target, and it's probably the most valuable penny in the universe. [url]
• The US GAO recommends replacing dollar bills with dollar coins -- even though dollar coins are a hugely unpopular with people who actually spend American money. The US Treasury had to stop minting a lot of dollar coins last year because it had such a ridiculous surplus of dollar coins that weren't making it into general circulation. If only people would use dollar coins, the government could save a bit of money when it makes money. [url]

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Some people hate carrying around coins and just save them up in jars or throw them into water fountains. There is a never-ending discussion over whether or not to stop printing the US penny, but some folks just don't like rounding to the nearest nickel. Some new coins have been extremely popular (eg. the US state quarters), and all sorts of organizations are starting to print new kinds of collectible coins. Here are just a few examples of some not-so-rare coins.

• Military "challenge coins" are generally bestowed upon members of the armed forces for exemplary service and to boost morale. But other areas of the government have printed coins, too -- such as the secretaries of education, transportation and agriculture, as well as the Department of Agriculture's Office of Information Technology. If this coin tradition spreads, will there be inflation? [url]
• The US mint has previously produced half-cent, two-cent, three-cent and 20-cent coins -- so why not an 18-cent coin or a 32-cent coin? The argument is that these additional coins would minimize coin transactions, but how about a 99-cent coin? [url]
• The world's smallest coin could be a speck of diamond (about 750 nanometers across) with Elizabeth Windsor's profile etched on it. Nano-etching the lab-grown diamond demonstrates the capabilities of the James Watt Nanofabrication Centre at the University of Glasgow -- and similar processes could be used to produce patterns for novel semiconductors and nano-transistors. [url]

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There have been proposals to stop minting the US penny for decades, but the little copper-colored coins are simply too beloved to remove from circulation. Rounding to the nearest nickel also probably rubs people the wrong way, but it seems like Canadians are going to find out how that works. Here are just a few other interesting articles on coins.

• Recently, Canada has killed its penny -- which cost more to mint than it was actually worth. In the US, it costs more to mint both pennies AND nickels, but it doesn't look like we're going to stop making them. [url]
• It's been difficult to get Americans to use dollar coins over paper bills. Dollar coins last longer and are cheaper to produce in the long run, but the Fed has just accumulated a collection of about 1.4 billion unused dollar coins that it's just storing in a vault. [url]
• Canada currently mints a $100,000 gold coin that weighs 10kg, but that's nothing compared to the proposal that the US treasury could mint a trillion dollar coin. A coin worth a trillion bucks was a crazy idea for solving the US debt crisis last year because there's no statutory limit on the amount of coinage the Fed can produce (while there is a limit on paper currency). [url]
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The US has stopped minting a huge surplus of dollar coins but will continue to make them in just enough quantities to satisfy coin collectors. Interestingly, coin collectors have been bidding on some extremely rare coins lately. Here are just a few examples of some valuable coins out there.

• A penny from 1793 sold at a recent auction for $1.38 million. That's the most a US copper coin has ever sold for at an auction. This coin was especially rare because it was never released into circulation. [url]
• Another coin that never made it into circulation was the 1933 Gold Double Eagle -- which was printed but then retracted when US currency left the gold standard. One of them sold at an auction in 2002 for $7.5 million and continues to hold the record for the most ever paid for a gold coin. [url]
• A rare 1787 gold Brasher doubloon just sold for $7.4 million and just missed breaking the record for the value of a gold coin. It's still worth well more than its weight in gold (26.66 grams ~ $1,500). [url]
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There's a lot of money in the world, but the vast majority of it is not cash. Digital bits accounting for vast sums are the intangible fabric of our economy now. Still, people like to use cash -- and here are some interesting articles on physical currency.

• Printing US currency is getting greener -- using renewable energy and recycled textile fibers. Money doesn't grow on trees, but it does grow on cotton plants. [url]
• A billion dollars in unused $1 coins is sitting around in a vault, honoring past presidents..? Come on. At least let people throw them into a well and make a wish, folks. [url]
• The use of cash is in decline, as more and more people pay with plastic. The US Treasury didn't print any $10 bills last year?! [url]
• Canada has taken the "pay with plastic" phrase literally as it introduces plastic bills. Actually, other countries have had plastic bills for a while... [url]
• Dutch coins are being minted with QR codes on them. And the QR code reveals an online game? [url]
• To discover more stuff on economics, check out what's currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]  

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While not the first time it's done so, the GAO has once again urged the federal government to get rid of dollar bills and replace them with dollar coins. It says that this single move could save the government $5.5 billion over 30 years. That's chump change to the government, but it's still $5.5 billion. The report notes that Canada and the UK have done similar moves, and it has worked despite initial public resistance. Still, I'd imagine that US public resistance can be stronger than elsewhere on issues that are fundamentally meaningless, but to which people apply a sentimental value. And let's not even get started on the question of whether or not it's finally time to ditch the penny...