Britain’s Royal Mint Banks on This 12-Sided £1 Coin to Eliminate Counterfeiting

By: | March 23rd, 2014

The UK is planning on rolling out a brand new, 12-sided £1 coin, to replace the current circular coin and will be extremely tough to counterfeit. In fact, Britain’s Royal Mint says the coin is the “most secure coin in the world.”

The coin will utilize iSIS technology, which essentially uses overt, covert, and forensic markings and embedded secure banknote technology, making the dodecagon coin the most difficult in the world to fake.

Royal Mint, the company responsible for minting all the coins in the UK hopes this new bi-metallic coin, with advanced technology and a unique design, will discourage criminals, especially since the UK Telegraph reports it will cost about £15 to £20 million to switch out the new coins with those currently in circulation.

The heads side of the coin features the profile of Queen Elizabeth II. The tails side of the coin will be determined by contest.

Expect to start seeing the new coin in 2017. That’s when the coin will, hopefully, start cutting down on the millions of pounds of fraud from counterfeiting.

Marshall Smith

Technology, engineering, and design enthusiast.

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