Rumor: Trillion-dollar coins will be created by US Mint

Trillion-dollar coins: A rumor is circulating that the United States Mint will begin making trillion-dollar platinum coins. Pictured is a 22-karat gold version of the Sacagawea dollar. IMAGE

Reuters: The United States Mint. Trillion-dollar coins: A rumor is circulating that the United States Mint will begin making trillion-dollar platinum coins. Pictured is a 22-karat gold version of the Sacagawea dollar. IMAGE

1/4/13

The United States Mint will begin creating trillion-dollar platinum coins.

UNCONFIRMED: Minting the coin

While the minting of a trillion-dollar platinum coin is legal, as permitted by 31 USC § 5112, the U.S. Mint has not begun developing them. There are laws in place to regulate how much paper, gold, silver or copper currency can be circulated by the U.S. government, but not for large-denomination platinum coins. (Read more about its legality here.)

UNCONFIRMED:Paying down the debt

According to several sources, including Yahoo! and International Business Times, minting trillion-dollar coins has been proposed as a solution to the national debt. The process would involve President Obama asking the Treasury to begin printing trillion-dollar coins (read about that process here). A number of coins could then be deposited in the Federal Reserve and used to fulfill debt obligations in the event new legislation on the debt ceiling stalls in Congress. (Click here for more accounts of the story.) The national debt is currently at $16 trillion. (Click here for a real-time debt clock.)

Anticipating the debt-ceiling fight, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) proposed minting the trillion-dollar coin, Capital New York reported. The idea was then endorsed by Josh Barro of Bloomberg View and a Twitter campaign by Joseph Weisenthal of Business Insider.

A petition (click here to view the petition) has been submitted to the White House urging Obama to authorize the minting of the trillion-dollar coin. To date, the petition has brought nearly 2,000 signatures, well short of the 25,000 required for an official response from the government.

Philip Diel, head of the U.S. Mint from 1994 to 2000, said Nadler’s idea is perfectly legal.

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