6 ms·

We should better introduce $50, $100, $500, $1000 and $5000 coins. I'd love my entire salary to come in coins and to be able to pay for any purchase in coins co

We should better introduce $50, $100, $500, $1000 and $5000 coins. I'd love my entire salary to come in coins and to be able to pay for any purchase in coins conveniently.

edward28 2y ago
And easier to bankrupt yourself because of a hole in your wallet.
- Symbiote 2y ago
  It wasn't that long ago when it would be normal to be paid in cash (notes and coins) at the end of the week or the end of the month. Depending on the job sector, this could be the 1970s or 1980s in Britain, for example.
jareklupinski 2y ago
perhaps if we reduce these coins to some units of digital currency so we don't have to physically carry them around, like bits, but for coins
- MacsHeadroom 2y ago
  How are you going to prevent fraudulent double spending of these digital coins? You'd have to invent some kind of Byzantine Fault Tolerant (BFT) consensus method.
  - codetrotter 2y ago
    Sure, but then you’d need a way for all participants to agree on which transactions are valid. Maybe like a chain of blocks that hold transaction data, and each block is cryptographically linked to the previous one. Sounds pretty difficult. I doubt that anyone would be able to create anything like that any time soon, if ever.
    - zeagle 2y ago
      Few more years of AI investment and we can just ask GPT13 to create and run this model.
      - kijin 2y ago
        That actually sounds more promising than the way most altcoins are operated today. If only Sam Altman doesn't elope with all those GPT13 coins...
- chame7707 2y ago
  In the year 2045, the world had transformed into a sprawling metropolis of concrete and steel, where the sun rarely pierced the thick haze of pollution. The government, in its quest for absolute control, had implemented a system known as the KYC Protocol—Know Your Customer. It was a measure designed to eliminate fraud and ensure security, but it had morphed into a bureaucratic nightmare. Every citizen was required to stand in line for KYC checks before making any purchase, no matter how trivial. The most mundane items, like a pack of gum, had become luxuries that demanded hours of waiting. The lines snaked around the block, a serpentine mass of weary faces, each person clutching their identification cards, biometric scans, and digital wallets. Maya stood in line, her stomach grumbling as she watched the clock tick away. She had been waiting for nearly two hours, the fluorescent lights above flickering intermittently, casting a sickly glow on the faces around her. The air was thick with impatience and the faint scent of despair. She glanced at the digital screen mounted on the wall, which displayed the current wait time: 45 minutes remaining. “Next!” barked a voice from the front, and the line shuffled forward. Maya’s heart raced. She had only come to buy a pack of gum, a small indulgence to brighten her day. But the KYC checks had turned this simple act into a test of endurance. As she inched closer to the front, she overheard snippets of conversations. A man lamented about the time he lost waiting to buy a loaf of bread, while a woman recounted her experience of being denied a purchase because her biometric data had been flagged as “inconclusive.” The stories were all too familiar, a shared trauma that bound them together in this dystopian reality. Finally, it was Maya’s turn. She stepped up to the kiosk, a cold, metallic structure that loomed over her like a sentinel. A screen flickered to life, displaying a series of prompts. She placed her hand on the scanner, feeling the chill of the glass against her skin. The machine whirred and beeped, analyzing her fingerprints, her palm veins, and her heartbeat. “Verification in progress,” the screen announced, the words flashing ominously. Maya held her breath, the seconds stretching into an eternity. She could feel the eyes of the people behind her, their impatience palpable. “Error,” the machine suddenly blared, and Maya’s heart sank. “Biometric data does not match records. Please step aside for further verification.” Panic surged through her as she was ushered to a separate area, a sterile room filled with flickering screens and stern-faced officials. The line she had waited in for so long now felt like a cruel joke. She glanced back at the kiosk, where the next person was already being processed, oblivious to her plight. Hours passed as she sat in the cold room, her mind racing with thoughts of what could happen next. Would she be denied the gum forever? Would she be flagged as a potential threat? The KYC Protocol had become a tool of oppression, a way to control the masses under the guise of safety. Finally, a woman in a crisp uniform approached her, a tablet in hand. “We need to conduct a manual review of your data,” she said, her voice devoid of empathy. “Please provide your identification and answer a series of questions.” Maya nodded, her heart heavy. She had come for a simple pleasure, but now she was trapped in a web of bureaucracy. As she answered the questions, she realized that the world had become a place where even the smallest joys were overshadowed by the weight of surveillance and control. After what felt like an eternity, she was finally cleared. The official handed her a slip of paper, a token of her victory. “You may now proceed to purchase your item,” she said, her tone flat. Maya stepped back into the bustling world outside, the slip clutched tightly in her hand. She made her way to the nearest store, where the shelves were stocked with brightly colored packages of gum. As she reached for a pack, she couldn’t shake the feeling of unease that lingered in her chest. In a world where freedom had been traded for security, the simple act of buying gum had become a reminder of the chains that bound them all. And as she walked out of the store, the taste of mint and sugar on her tongue, she vowed to remember the struggle it took to reclaim that small piece of joy in a world gone mad.
- googledocsftw 2y ago
  Ahhh. A VISA card then :)
dijit 2y ago
You say that, but it used to be a common criticism Americans had of British currency, that large denominations (up to £2) were exclusively coins. They cited that coins are in compatible with nearly all wallets, being weighed down, and somehow never actually having exact change.
- wlll 2y ago
  Background: I'm British and live in the UK but have spent a fair amount of time in the US over the years. I love the dollar bill. I'd really love to have a £1 and/or £2 note in the UK. The moment you need any reasonable number of coins to buy anything they become unwieldy in your pocket and you can carry enough dollar bills to be useful without there being a chunk of metal digging into your leg. I've hears arguments against relating to durability but those are all predate the new plastic notes we have. For some reason I get a load of pushback when suggesting that a £1 or £2 note would be nice to have.
  - orra 2y ago
    The Bank of England don't manufacture £1 notes, but the Royal Bank of Scotland still make them. Perhaps you can help popularise them, so they make even more!
  - aniviacat 2y ago
    On the other hand, coins are pretty neat.
    - fmajid 2y ago
      They are also far more durable than bills, specially lower-denomination bills like the $1 note that wears out quickly because it is used more than higher-denomination bills.
      - SOLAR_FIELDS 2y ago
        I am curious what the cost difference is to manufacture a coin vs a banknote. Certainly the penny is probably going to not be worth much more than a penny in melt value, but for stuff like quarters if I can make 5 bills that each last 5 years that may be more preferential than a single coin that lasts 25 years because it gives better control over the money supply.
netbioserror 2y ago
And maybe, instead of common metals and assigning them arbitrary value, we could make them out of rare metals (with a little bit of alloying for hardness) and people can trade them for their relative abundance or rarity!
- mistercow 2y ago
  I can only get behind this if there’s a fixed exchange rate between two coinable metals that doesn’t change with their relative scarcity.
- MrGilbert 2y ago
  Let'em Lithium coins roll!
  - WesolyKubeczek 2y ago
    Let’s adopt CR2032 batteries as a currency
- A_D_E_P_T 2y ago
  The values of nickel, zinc, and copper are far from arbitrary, and oftentimes the metal value of a coin is higher than its face value. The US penny is >2¢ of zinc and copper. Besides, metals like lithium corrode too easily, and other rare metals like zirconium/niobium/tantalum/REEs are intrinsically scarce so minting coins from them would be wasteful. Arguably using zinc, nickel, and copper for coins is wasteful, and all coins should be some sort of stainless steel or aluminum. (Like the aluminum Japan 1 yen piece.)
- googledocsftw 2y ago
  Then your cash becomes a store of value. Exactly what the government doesn't want. Not least as people will make a living melting down coins as the governments expense.
zeagle 2y ago
As long as they have prepunched holes in the middle so I can hang them on a chain around my neck like a maester.
gamerDude 2y ago
I'd love to find your $5000 coin on the sidewalk! Sounds terrible to me, coins are so much harder to keep track of!
- blitzar 2y ago
  The back of the sofa would be worth digging through.
- netbioserror 2y ago
  You tend not to walk around with coins on you that are worth a lot. Same thing with cash; most people aren't walking around with wads of $100 bills. That's something you keep in a safe until you need to exchange it for smaller units.
kibwen 2y ago
I understand the romanticism of coins and the nostalgia of coin collectors, but the experience of actually using them is just so much worse than bills. When I go to Canada I immediately relinquish my loonies and toonies to my Canadian friends because they're such a pain to deal with.
- bastawhiz 2y ago
  A bill could never replicate the gratifying "plunk" of putting a dinner plate sized 10kg coin worth $5000 into the Carvana vending machine
  - konfusinomicon 2y ago
    the coin purse market in such a world would be a sight to behold
    - eddd-ddde 2y ago
      Wealthy people would hire someone whose only job is to carry a wheelbarrow full of change.
  - indigovole 2y ago
    let alone the satisfaction of plunking in 10 of them, one after another, muscling them up from my Weimar®-brand currency wheelbarrow.
- Symbiote 2y ago
  A well-designed set of coins is nice to use, but this is unfortunately rare. Canada and the USA certainly don't have it. The Euro doesn't, which is odd as the currency is so new -- why are the 10, 20 and 50 cent coins so similar? The Pound Sterling is generally well-designed, with sets of coins in copper-silver-gold materials, and easily distinguishable sequences of shapes and different sizes. The Danish and Swedish coins also work, in the Danish case with a hole to distinguish some denominations.
  - 2y ago

We should better introduce $50, $100, $500, $1000 and $5000 coins. I'd love my entire salary to come in coins and to be able to pay for any purchase in coins conveniently.

edward28 2y ago

And easier to bankrupt yourself because of a hole in your wallet.

Symbiote 2y ago
It wasn't that long ago when it would be normal to be paid in cash (notes and coins) at the end of the week or the end of the month. Depending on the job sector, this could be the 1970s or 1980s in Britain, for example.

jareklupinski 2y ago

perhaps if we reduce these coins to some units of digital currency so we don't have to physically carry them around, like bits, but for coins

MacsHeadroom 2y ago
How are you going to prevent fraudulent double spending of these digital coins? You'd have to invent some kind of Byzantine Fault Tolerant (BFT) consensus method.
- codetrotter 2y ago
  Sure, but then you’d need a way for all participants to agree on which transactions are valid. Maybe like a chain of blocks that hold transaction data, and each block is cryptographically linked to the previous one. Sounds pretty difficult. I doubt that anyone would be able to create anything like that any time soon, if ever.
  - zeagle 2y ago
    Few more years of AI investment and we can just ask GPT13 to create and run this model.
    - kijin 2y ago
      That actually sounds more promising than the way most altcoins are operated today. If only Sam Altman doesn't elope with all those GPT13 coins...
chame7707 2y ago
In the year 2045, the world had transformed into a sprawling metropolis of concrete and steel, where the sun rarely pierced the thick haze of pollution. The government, in its quest for absolute control, had implemented a system known as the KYC Protocol—Know Your Customer. It was a measure designed to eliminate fraud and ensure security, but it had morphed into a bureaucratic nightmare. Every citizen was required to stand in line for KYC checks before making any purchase, no matter how trivial. The most mundane items, like a pack of gum, had become luxuries that demanded hours of waiting. The lines snaked around the block, a serpentine mass of weary faces, each person clutching their identification cards, biometric scans, and digital wallets. Maya stood in line, her stomach grumbling as she watched the clock tick away. She had been waiting for nearly two hours, the fluorescent lights above flickering intermittently, casting a sickly glow on the faces around her. The air was thick with impatience and the faint scent of despair. She glanced at the digital screen mounted on the wall, which displayed the current wait time: 45 minutes remaining. “Next!” barked a voice from the front, and the line shuffled forward. Maya’s heart raced. She had only come to buy a pack of gum, a small indulgence to brighten her day. But the KYC checks had turned this simple act into a test of endurance. As she inched closer to the front, she overheard snippets of conversations. A man lamented about the time he lost waiting to buy a loaf of bread, while a woman recounted her experience of being denied a purchase because her biometric data had been flagged as “inconclusive.” The stories were all too familiar, a shared trauma that bound them together in this dystopian reality. Finally, it was Maya’s turn. She stepped up to the kiosk, a cold, metallic structure that loomed over her like a sentinel. A screen flickered to life, displaying a series of prompts. She placed her hand on the scanner, feeling the chill of the glass against her skin. The machine whirred and beeped, analyzing her fingerprints, her palm veins, and her heartbeat. “Verification in progress,” the screen announced, the words flashing ominously. Maya held her breath, the seconds stretching into an eternity. She could feel the eyes of the people behind her, their impatience palpable. “Error,” the machine suddenly blared, and Maya’s heart sank. “Biometric data does not match records. Please step aside for further verification.” Panic surged through her as she was ushered to a separate area, a sterile room filled with flickering screens and stern-faced officials. The line she had waited in for so long now felt like a cruel joke. She glanced back at the kiosk, where the next person was already being processed, oblivious to her plight. Hours passed as she sat in the cold room, her mind racing with thoughts of what could happen next. Would she be denied the gum forever? Would she be flagged as a potential threat? The KYC Protocol had become a tool of oppression, a way to control the masses under the guise of safety. Finally, a woman in a crisp uniform approached her, a tablet in hand. “We need to conduct a manual review of your data,” she said, her voice devoid of empathy. “Please provide your identification and answer a series of questions.” Maya nodded, her heart heavy. She had come for a simple pleasure, but now she was trapped in a web of bureaucracy. As she answered the questions, she realized that the world had become a place where even the smallest joys were overshadowed by the weight of surveillance and control. After what felt like an eternity, she was finally cleared. The official handed her a slip of paper, a token of her victory. “You may now proceed to purchase your item,” she said, her tone flat. Maya stepped back into the bustling world outside, the slip clutched tightly in her hand. She made her way to the nearest store, where the shelves were stocked with brightly colored packages of gum. As she reached for a pack, she couldn’t shake the feeling of unease that lingered in her chest. In a world where freedom had been traded for security, the simple act of buying gum had become a reminder of the chains that bound them all. And as she walked out of the store, the taste of mint and sugar on her tongue, she vowed to remember the struggle it took to reclaim that small piece of joy in a world gone mad.
googledocsftw 2y ago
Ahhh. A VISA card then :)

dijit 2y ago

You say that, but it used to be a common criticism Americans had of British currency, that large denominations (up to £2) were exclusively coins. They cited that coins are in compatible with nearly all wallets, being weighed down, and somehow never actually having exact change.

wlll 2y ago
Background: I'm British and live in the UK but have spent a fair amount of time in the US over the years. I love the dollar bill. I'd really love to have a £1 and/or £2 note in the UK. The moment you need any reasonable number of coins to buy anything they become unwieldy in your pocket and you can carry enough dollar bills to be useful without there being a chunk of metal digging into your leg. I've hears arguments against relating to durability but those are all predate the new plastic notes we have. For some reason I get a load of pushback when suggesting that a £1 or £2 note would be nice to have.
- orra 2y ago
  The Bank of England don't manufacture £1 notes, but the Royal Bank of Scotland still make them. Perhaps you can help popularise them, so they make even more!
- aniviacat 2y ago
  On the other hand, coins are pretty neat.
  - fmajid 2y ago
    They are also far more durable than bills, specially lower-denomination bills like the $1 note that wears out quickly because it is used more than higher-denomination bills.
    - SOLAR_FIELDS 2y ago
      I am curious what the cost difference is to manufacture a coin vs a banknote. Certainly the penny is probably going to not be worth much more than a penny in melt value, but for stuff like quarters if I can make 5 bills that each last 5 years that may be more preferential than a single coin that lasts 25 years because it gives better control over the money supply.

netbioserror 2y ago

And maybe, instead of common metals and assigning them arbitrary value, we could make them out of rare metals (with a little bit of alloying for hardness) and people can trade them for their relative abundance or rarity!

mistercow 2y ago
I can only get behind this if there’s a fixed exchange rate between two coinable metals that doesn’t change with their relative scarcity.
MrGilbert 2y ago
Let'em Lithium coins roll!
- WesolyKubeczek 2y ago
  Let’s adopt CR2032 batteries as a currency
A_D_E_P_T 2y ago
The values of nickel, zinc, and copper are far from arbitrary, and oftentimes the metal value of a coin is higher than its face value. The US penny is >2¢ of zinc and copper. Besides, metals like lithium corrode too easily, and other rare metals like zirconium/niobium/tantalum/REEs are intrinsically scarce so minting coins from them would be wasteful. Arguably using zinc, nickel, and copper for coins is wasteful, and all coins should be some sort of stainless steel or aluminum. (Like the aluminum Japan 1 yen piece.)
googledocsftw 2y ago
Then your cash becomes a store of value. Exactly what the government doesn't want. Not least as people will make a living melting down coins as the governments expense.

zeagle 2y ago

As long as they have prepunched holes in the middle so I can hang them on a chain around my neck like a maester.

gamerDude 2y ago

I'd love to find your $5000 coin on the sidewalk! Sounds terrible to me, coins are so much harder to keep track of!

blitzar 2y ago
The back of the sofa would be worth digging through.
netbioserror 2y ago
You tend not to walk around with coins on you that are worth a lot. Same thing with cash; most people aren't walking around with wads of $100 bills. That's something you keep in a safe until you need to exchange it for smaller units.

kibwen 2y ago

I understand the romanticism of coins and the nostalgia of coin collectors, but the experience of actually using them is just so much worse than bills. When I go to Canada I immediately relinquish my loonies and toonies to my Canadian friends because they're such a pain to deal with.

bastawhiz 2y ago
A bill could never replicate the gratifying "plunk" of putting a dinner plate sized 10kg coin worth $5000 into the Carvana vending machine
- konfusinomicon 2y ago
  the coin purse market in such a world would be a sight to behold
  - eddd-ddde 2y ago
    Wealthy people would hire someone whose only job is to carry a wheelbarrow full of change.
- indigovole 2y ago
  let alone the satisfaction of plunking in 10 of them, one after another, muscling them up from my Weimar®-brand currency wheelbarrow.
Symbiote 2y ago
A well-designed set of coins is nice to use, but this is unfortunately rare. Canada and the USA certainly don't have it. The Euro doesn't, which is odd as the currency is so new -- why are the 10, 20 and 50 cent coins so similar? The Pound Sterling is generally well-designed, with sets of coins in copper-silver-gold materials, and easily distinguishable sequences of shapes and different sizes. The Danish and Swedish coins also work, in the Danish case with a hole to distinguish some denominations.
- 2y ago