Bitcoin proponents note that as the U.S. Mint struck the final penny in Philadelphia on Wednesday, ending 232 years of one-cent coin production.
Each penny costs about 3.7 cents to make, so ending its production will save roughly $56 million a year. The move highlights how a cent can no longer buy anything meaningful, a sign of eroding fiat purchasing power.
For market watchers, the change is largely symbolic, but it has reinforced the narrative that Bitcoin, with its fixed supply, stands in stark contrast to depreciating government money.
Historic milestone: A 232-Year Era Ends
On Nov. 12, U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent oversaw the last-ever minting of the one-cent coin at the Philadelphia Mint.
The Philadelphia facility has made pennies since 1793[4], a year after Congress passed the Coinage Act. As Beach noted, this is the first time since 1857 that a U.S. coin has been discontinued.
The cent’s retirement comes amid a wider shift toward digital payments; pennies will remain legal tender, but they are expected to fade out as more consumers pay with cards and smartphones.
Policymakers point to steep costs. The Mint now reports that a penny costs roughly 3.7 cents to produce. It lost about $85.3 million making them in fiscal 2024.
“For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents,” President Trump wrote in February, calling it “so wasteful.”
Stopping the presses is expected to save about $56 million per year. By comparison, the dime costs under 6 cents to make and the quarter is about 14 cents.
What Ended The Penny
Ending the penny was hailed by many budget hawks as a sensible cut. Even if retailers say the change was abrupt.
The penny’s demise was set in motion by presidential order. In February the Treasury was directed to “rip the waste out of” the budget by halting new pennies.
The Mint had planned to run out of penny blanks by early 2026. However, it exhausted those dies over the summer. With production ended, some retailers have reported a “coin shortage.”
Without official guidance, businesses are handling it creatively: a few have started rounding prices to even nickels, others offer rewards for customers who bring rolls of spare pennies.
Beach said the modernization of wallets and registers had made the penny “not fiscally responsible or necessary” in today’s economy.
Inflation’s Signal From Coins Vs Bitcoin’s Deflationary Appeal
Economists say the penny’s obsolescence reflects broader inflationary trends. In 1793 a penny could buy a biscuit or a candle; now it’s essentially pocket lint.
Author Saifedean Ammous, a longtime Bitcoin advocate, observes that when prices rise, it often means the dollar is falling.
As he puts it, “the price of goods and services is not increasing; the value of fiat currencies is declining relative to goods, services and hard assets.”
In other words, the cent’s demise is one small sign that 100 cents of today’s currency no longer equals a dollar’s worth of goods from decades past.
By contrast, Bitcoin was designed as hard money. Its protocol caps the total supply at 21 million coins, so new issuance actually becomes scarcer over time.
In practical terms, Bitcoin’s blockchain issues a steady, predictable reward every block, rather than wasting resources on uneconomical coinage.
Inflation Made the Penny “Useless“
Bitcoin does that every block, meaning each block’s issuance preserves value rather than destroying it.
River CEO Alexander Leishman summed up the sentiment on social media: “Inflation made the penny useless. Meanwhile, it’s making the sat more relevant every year.”
Hard-money advocates note that if home prices and wages were denominated in Bitcoin, the same units of money would buy more over time – the opposite of inflation.
In recent months Bitcoin has itself approached new highs, even as the dollar slipped. Analysts say this underscores the narrative: the U.S. dollar has lost much of its purchasing power since the last century, while Bitcoin’s fixed supply makes it a check against that decline.
As economist Paul Krugman pointed out, the dollar remains easy to use, but its steady loss of value over time leaves many looking for alternatives.
In any case, the penny is officially retiring from circulation. Americans can still spend old cents as long as they have them, but the coin’s story will stand as a reminder of how far the value of fiat money has fallen and why some see Bitcoin as a logical, if very different, solution.