The problem is that the coins won't be useful unless the entire country adopts them together. By signalling that they're not really serious about it, the Treasu

The problem is that the coins won't be useful unless the entire country adopts them together. By signalling that they're not really serious about it, the Treasury ensures that they won't be adopted. Transforming the currency is a fairly big project: - banks have to introduce the new coins in quantity - banks have to collect the old bills for return to the treasury - cash registers have to be redesigned and replaced - vending machines need to be updated to accept the new coins - businesses have to stock the new coins to give out as change - pricing and accounting may have to be updated to handle new rounding rules That's a lot of work. People will do it if they think the change is here to stay, but otherwise it's not worth it. And of course, society won't reap the benefits of the change if all this stuff doesn't get done.