LOOSE CHANGE: NOVEMBER 24, 2024

The Keeling-Cocos islands are a small atoll in the Indian Ocean around 3,000km north-west of Perth and only around 1,300km from Indonesia. It was most recently in the news for suffering the impact of unprecedented swells and tides, as well as the Island's largest employer entering administration. As an Australian Territory, it became a hugely-popular holiday destination with West Australians living behind that State's impenetrable COVID border.

The money used on this group of tiny islands has appealed to collectors the world over for decades. Keeling cocos Islands coins provide a gateway to learning the history of this beautiful and isolated Australian territory.

To read the complete article, see:
The Coins and Notes of the Keeling Cocos Islands: Used on a Tiny Island and Collected Around the World (https://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/blog/news-research/world-numismatics/the-coins-and-notes-of-the-keeling-cocos-islands-u/)

 

Jay Herrin went to an ATM near his home in Mobile to take out $60, but what he withdrew ended up being a far more valuable denomination. He told Newsweek that his "heart started racing" when he looked at the $20 bills closely as he realized they were uncirculated notes in mint condition.

One of the notes had a serial number of PL 58888888 H, while another was PL 58888885 H, which made them very rare finds. Indeed, the latter serial number is known as a super radar note, meaning the serial number is exactly the same forward and backward. Palindromic serial numbers like this are highly sought after by collectors.

To read the complete article, see:
Man Discovers Something Very Unusual About $20 Bills Withdrawn From ATM (https://www.newsweek.com/unusual-banknotes-withdrawn-atm-1981243)

 

Banknotes are useful. Not only do they provide their owner with a standard set of payments services, they also offer financial anonymity. This post introduces the idea of trying to price the anonymity component. To help think about why we might want to price anonymous banknote usage, I'm going to make an analogy. Imagine Walmart sells special suits that allow people to become invisible. While most Walmart customers always pay for the goods they find in the aisles, a few try these invisible suits on, grab a bunch of stuff, and sneak out without paying. The product is weaponized and turned against its provider.

This same sort of weaponization characterizes the modern provision of banknotes. The government, like Walmart, provides citizens with a privacy-enhancing product: cash. Because its coins and banknotes don't leave a paper trail, they act as a financial cloak. In the same way that an invisible suit can be used to evade Walmart's checkout counter, a government-issued banknote can be turned against its provider by allowing users to avoid paying for the government services they have consumed.

To read the complete article, see:
Pricing the anonymity of banknotes (https://jpkoning.blogspot.com/2024/11/pricing-anonymity-of-banknotes.html)

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