**The End of the U.S. Penny: A Historic Shift and What It Means for Bitcoin**
Bitcoin proponents have taken note as the U.S. Mint struck the final penny in Philadelphia on Wednesday, bringing to a close 232 years of one-cent coin production. Each penny costs about 3.7 cents to make, so ending its production is expected to save roughly $56 million annually.
This change highlights a stark reality: a cent can no longer buy anything meaningful—a clear sign of the eroding purchasing power of fiat currency. For market watchers, the penny’s retirement is largely symbolic, but it has reinforced the narrative that Bitcoin, with its fixed supply, stands in sharp contrast to depreciating government-issued money.
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### A Historic Milestone: A 232-Year Era Comes to an End
On November 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. This facility has produced pennies since 1793, a year after Congress passed the Coinage Act.
As Beach noted, this marks the first time since 1857 that a U.S. coin has been discontinued.
The cent’s retirement aligns with a broader shift toward digital payments. While pennies remain legal tender, they are expected to gradually fade as more consumers opt for cards and smartphones to make transactions.
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### The High Cost of the Penny
Policymakers have long pointed to the steep costs of penny production. Currently, the U.S. Mint reports that a penny costs roughly 3.7 cents to produce. In fiscal 2024 alone, it lost about $85.3 million manufacturing pennies.
“Far too long, the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents,” former President Donald Trump wrote in February, calling the practice “so wasteful.”
Halting penny production is expected to save approximately $56 million per year. For perspective, the dime costs less than 6 cents to produce, and the quarter costs about 14 cents.
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### What Led to the Penny’s Demise?
Ending the penny was hailed by many fiscal conservatives as a sensible budget cut, although some retailers say the shift was abrupt.
The penny’s demise was set in motion by a presidential order in February, directing the Treasury Department to “rip the waste out of” the budget by halting new penny production. The Mint had originally planned to run out of penny blanks by early 2026 but exhausted those dies over the summer, accelerating the timeline.
With production ended, several retailers have reported a “coin shortage.” Lacking official guidance, businesses are responding creatively—some are rounding prices to the nearest nickel, while others offer incentives for customers who bring in rolls of pennies.
Beach remarked that modern wallets and registers have made pennies “not fiscally responsible or necessary” in today’s economy.
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### Inflation’s Role and Bitcoin’s Deflationary Appeal
Economists see the penny’s obsolescence as a reflection of broader inflationary trends. In 1793, a penny could buy a biscuit or a candle; today, it’s essentially pocket lint.
Author and longtime Bitcoin advocate Saifedean Ammous points out that rising prices often indicate that the dollar is falling in value. As he explains, “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 retirement is a subtle sign that 100 cents today no longer equal the purchasing power of a dollar from decades past.
By contrast, Bitcoin was designed as “hard money.” Its protocol caps the total supply at 21 million coins, making new issuance scarcer over time. Instead of wasting resources on uneconomical coinage, Bitcoin’s blockchain issues a steady, predictable reward every block.
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### Inflation Made the Penny “Useless”
Because Bitcoin issues a fixed, diminishing supply per block, it 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 exact opposite of inflation.
In recent months, Bitcoin has approached new price highs even as the dollar has weakened. Analysts say this underlines a common narrative: while the U.S. dollar has lost much of its purchasing power since the last century, Bitcoin’s fixed supply acts as a safeguard against currency decline.
Economist Paul Krugman acknowledged that though the dollar remains widely used, its steady loss of value leaves many searching for alternatives.
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### The Penny’s Legacy and What Lies Ahead
The U.S. penny is officially retiring from circulation. Americans can still spend old cents as long as they have them, but the coin’s story serves as a reminder of just how far the value of fiat money has fallen.
For some, Bitcoin represents a logical, if very different, solution to the challenges of inflation and currency devaluation—a digital hard money designed to preserve purchasing power in an ever-changing economic landscape.
https://bitcoinethereumnews.com/bitcoin/the-u-s-axed-the-penny-to-save-56-million-bitcoin-does-that-every-block/