The initiative was launched on February 12 in celebration of National Lost Penny Day.
The exchange estimates that $1.2 million worth of pennies go missing every year.
According to a new advertising campaign from cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, the conversion of the US dollar to a “well-designed blockchain” has the potential to repurpose billions of “clunky” pennies in circulation.
The initiative was launched on February 12 in celebration of National Lost Penny Day, an annual event that has been going strong since 1995. The day honors the origin of the penny and encourages Americans to search their homes for misplaced pennies.
Alleviating Burden of Old Currency Systems
Nevertheless, it seems that Coinbase has taken advantage of the situation to promote stablecoins as a means to “move money forward” and alleviate the burden of old currency systems on individuals and small companies.
According to a twitter post by Coinbase on February 12th, the exchange estimates that $1.2 million worth of pennies go missing every year, with production costs roughly double the value of a cent.
Stablecoins’ “instant settlement, low-cost payments” may be especially useful for businesses if fiat currency were to migrate to the blockchain, according to a number of experts. Animated former U.S. President Abraham Lincoln begs for the digitization of pennies in the one-minute commercial, which features a penny.
Even though there have been attempts to shut down the U.S. Mint over the last decade, production of pennies will resume in 2024. Data from 2017 put the circulating value of 150 billion pennies at $1.5 billion. However, a number of analysts have pointed out that there are still logistical and technological hurdles to overcome before the financial sector can fully go online.