By Marshall Thomas, Founder at Aurbitrage
Ryan Peterson (CEO of Flexport) recently asked Elon Musk and DOGE to look into the economic viability of the US Mint SF branch. It got me thinking, so I started digging through the Mint’s 2024 annual report.
I’ll be writing a longer article about my findings, but here’s one interesting takeaway:
Total Circulating Coin Production for the U.S. Mint in 2024 was near 50-year lows. Banks just didn’t need as many coins.
The last time production dropped this low? The Great Recession (2008-09)—when consumers saved more and spent less, reducing demand for new coins.
Surprisingly, 2020 (COVID) didn’t see the same decline. The U.S. Mint produced around 14 billion circulating coins, roughly the 50-year average. Why? While cash transactions slowed, fewer people were spending their existing coins, creating a shortage that the Mint had to overcome with increased production.
So what happened in 2024?
• Digital payments kept growing but didn’t spike.
• The 2020 coin shortage was resolved by mid-2023.
• Crypto adoption may have played a bigger role.
Is this a one-year anomaly or the start of a bigger trend? Worth watching.
(Image: U.S. Mint 2024 Annual Report)
