Plenty to Talk About at Coin Conference
About the Conference/ Agenda
Presentations Link: ZIP FILE
The 2022 Coin Conference, which took place in Amsterdam from 17-19 October, attracted 160 delegates from central banks, mints, academics and industry suppliers.
The Coin Conference is the only event to focus on circulating coins as part of cash strategies and, with three years having elapsed since the last event (in Rome in 2019), there was plenty to talk about.
The conference opened with a presentation from Astrid Mitchell on changes since the last conference in 2019. Delegates were reassured by statistics showing that cash in circulation (coins as well as banknotes) continues to increase year on year in the vast majority of countries, and that a fall in production volumes for coins over the past eight years is almost entirely accounted for by China and India. Take those out of the equation, and production volumes have held up well – not exactly growing, but not shrinking either.
Moreover, out of 180 currencies, 35% have seen on or more changes to their coins since 2016 – not bad for a sector where, apparently, ‘not much happens’.
Case studies on coin circulation strategies, new denominations and shifts to the note/coin boundary came from Mexico, Tunisia, the Philippines, Ghana, Portugal, Spain, Poland, Croatia and the US.
Sustainability was a theme that ran throughout the conference, touching on recycling, destruction, and green production solutions.
An ‘out of the box’ presentation from ArcelorMittal, meanwhile, looked at how steel is being decarbonised. Admittedly, in the steel industry, volumes are measured in tonnes, not the grams for coins – but with 50% of the world’s circulating coins either stainless steel or plated steel, there was considerable interest there.
A final session on digitalisation provided fascinating insights into how blockchain, augmented reality, artificial intelligence, apps and even the metaverse offer solutions to the future of coin production and public engagement.
The next Coin Conference will take place in Croatia in 2024.