Bitcoin and its ilk may be coming in the not-too-distant future, either working with or even in place of, the coins and currency we collect. The Royal Canadian Mint isn't taking this lying down. They've developed MintChip, a digital currency that some are calling a competitor to Bitcoin. Touted as "better than cash" (at least for Canadians), they've issued a challenge with prize money for software developers who write apps that use the currency.

Who knows where this particular project will lead, but the larger takeaway is a trend away from physical objects to represent our money and a move to the ethereal as our society embraces the digital realm.

(via Wired)

The Canadian government must be reading this site. The last post was about getting rid of the penny, and now they've gone and done it.

According to Wikipedia, "there have been repeated talks about getting rid of the penny as it is estimated that it costs the Royal Canadian Mint 1.8¢ to produce a 1¢ coin, even though the Royal Canadian Mint claims it costs only 0.8¢ to produce a penny."

The 2012 Canadian federal budget was released today and it's doing away with the coin for an estimated annual savings of $11 million. For all the folks living in northern states, you may stop getting the little buggers in your change now.

The question is, will Canadians see this as a chance to hoarding the coin, or do they even care?

(via Consumerist)

This video gives a brief overview of the "penny" (more correctly known as the one cent piece) in the United States, and makes a compelling argument for its demise.

(Newport Beach, California) -- Coinflation.com, an increasingly popular informational website that provides the values of precious metals and the intrinsic values of gold, silver and base metal coins, has been acquired by Collectors Universe, Inc. (NASDAQ: CLCT), the parent company of Professional Coin Grading Service.

"Adding Coinflation.com to our family of offerings really makes sense. There is tremendous synergy between Coinflation.com, PCGS.com and PCGSCoinfacts.com. Together, we'll become the ultimate destination for anyone seeking information about coins and precious metals," said Don Willis, PCGS President.

Coinflation.com was founded in 2004 by Alec Nevalainen who now has joined Collectors Universe as part of the transaction. The number of unique monthly visitors to the website has more than quadrupled in the past year to over 640,000.

"Coinflation's goal is to help people discover the metal value of their coins, which in many cases is the absolute minimum value. Due to the recent media attention on gold and silver prices, many unscrupulous buyers have appeared offering 'buy' prices significantly below melt value, particularly for pre-1965 silver coins. Coinflation helps people make informed decisions when buying or selling gold and silver coins," Nevalainen explained.

"There's also an emerging group of collectors who accumulate base metal coins, such as the pre-1982 copper cent which has a metal value of 2.6 cents and the current nickel with a value of almost 6 cents."

Collectors Universe President and PCGS co-founder, David Hall, stated: "Alec Nevalainen, in a very short period of time, has built what I consider to be the ultimate metallic value web site. Gold and silver coin information is becoming very important as U.S. citizens wake up to where the value of the U.S. dollar is heading. We have a long way to go to match the rest of the world's attitude about gold and silver, but we're starting to 'get it.' Coinflation.com is right in the sweet spot of the 'What are my gold and silver coins worth?' info space. I literally use coinflation.com every day. And the name, coinflation, says it all!"

Collectors Universe authenticates and grades collectible coins, trading cards, event tickets, autographs, memorabilia and stamps, and compiles and publishes authoritative information about United States and world coins, collectible trading cards, sports memorabilia and collectible stamps. The company also operates CCE, a dealer-to-dealer Internet bid-ask market for certified coins, and the Long Beach and Santa Clara Coin, Stamp & Collectibles Expos.