Easily digestible tech news... http://www.techdirt.com/ en-us http://www.techdirt.com/images/td-88x31.gifhttp://www.techdirt.com/ Tue, 8 Jan 2013 17:00:00 PST Michael Ho http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101114/23415511867/dailydirt-big-money-small-change.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101114/23415511867/dailydirt-big-money-small-change.shtml 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]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post.

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]]> urls-we-dig-up http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20101114/23415511867 Tue, 4 Dec 2012 17:00:00 PST Michael Ho http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101020/11492211502/dailydirt-cool-coins-unpopular-coins.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101020/11492211502/dailydirt-cool-coins-unpopular-coins.shtml

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]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post.

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]]> urls-we-dig-up http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20101020/11492211502 Thu, 5 Apr 2012 17:00:00 PDT Michael Ho http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100412/2347048989/dailydirt-spare-some-change.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100412/2347048989/dailydirt-spare-some-change.shtml

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]

To discover more stuff on economics, check out what's currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]  

As always, StumbleUpon can also recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

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]]> urls-we-dig-up http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20100412/2347048989 Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:00:00 PST Michael Ho http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111001/02322616166/dailydirt-coins-worth-more-than-gold.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111001/02322616166/dailydirt-coins-worth-more-than-gold.shtml 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]
• To discover more stuff on economics, check out what's currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]  

As always, StumbleUpon can also recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

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