Dinosaur Coins Should Be the Global Standard Currency

Forget debit cards and cryptocurrency. We should all be paying for stuff with dinosaur coins. This one should do the trick just fine. This commemorative dinosaur coin is available from The Westminster Collection, and it has some cool features.

This $1 coin is minted for the Cook Islands, and features Queen Elizabeth II on one side, and a T. Rex on the other side. Because, why not? Each 24-karat gold-plated coin includes a free UV flashlight so you can shine it at the t-rex and see its hidden skeleton. So it is a coin and a toy.

Apparently, the initial run of 9,500 limited edition coins were released in 2014, but there are still some left. You can get your grubby little mitts on one over at the Westminster Collection for £9.99 (~$13 USD).

[via Geekologie]

United Kingdom Gets New High-Tech 12-Sided £1 Coin

These days, even coins can have fancy tech in them, like this new one from England. The United Kingdom’s Royal Mint has revealed a new high-tech 12-sided £1 coin that is designed to prevent counterfeiting.

pound_coin_1
It is a beautiful coin and it will be much harder to copy than the old version. Apparently one in 30 of the £1 coins currently in circulation are counterfeit. This new design has several features like microprinting, a latent image that changes from a pound symbol to the number 1 when viewed from different angles, and an unknown hidden feature built into the coin itself to make it harder to duplicate.

pound_coin_2
I’m sure someone will counterfeit it in due time, but for now they believe this coin is far more secure than the old one. The new coin will be released in March 2017 and they plan on minting 1.5 billion of them. The old coins will be phased out and eventually demonetised in Autumn 2017.

[via Laughing Squid]

Plastc Wants to Be Coin with More Features and a Real Release Date

Remember Coin? If you didn’t pre-order it, you may or may not remember the singular card that could take on the information of all your credit cards and rewards cards. If you did, the very word “coin” probably makes you furious, because you’re still waiting for your cool new device. Now, you have the chance to drop even more money on another device that’s promised to come to you soon. The difference is that this one is even more ambitious.

plastc card 1 620x316

Plastc doesn’t just emulate any card with a magnetic strip, but it also features NFC, Chip and PIN, and barcode capabilities so that this one card can truly be the one card to rule them all, one card to find them, one card to bring them all, and in the wallet bind them.

The device can even emulate a workplace access card. All of those features are disabled until the user selects a card, however, to prevent theft. The Plastc Card can also be controlled by a phone, which will alert you when you leave it behind, and even remotely wipe it if it has been lost or stolen.

plastc card 2 620x478magnify

It looks way better than carrying my annoyingly thick wallet alongside some keys, a phone, and a pocket knife.

[via Plastc]