# Cecil's column comes to life - U.S. announces plan to mint mill coins

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecils-column-comes-to-life-u-s-announces-plan-to-mint-mill-coins/297211>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [April 1, 2005, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecils-column-comes-to-life-u-s-announces-plan-to-mint-mill-coins/297211 "2005-04-01T10:39:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\
**Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecils-column-comes-to-life-u-s-announces-plan-to-mint-mill-coins/297211/1 "2005-04-01T10:39:33Z")

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In the classic column, [Has the U.S. ever minted a mill coin?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_336b.html), included in the first _Straight Dope_ collection, Unca Cece noted that “…states issued ‘mill tokens’ that were used in collecting sales taxes, which, in 1935, prompted Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau to ask Congress for a license to make a coin to replace the states’ homemade substitutes. Unfortunately, they thought he was kidding.” [A mill is 1/10th of a cent] However, the times they are a-changin’, and:

> [@](#):
>
> …it turns out that microscopic mill coins, minted from .999 fine silver, are the perfect medium of exchange for Internet micropayments. Because their tiny value translates into a tiny size, a mill coin is invisible to the naked eye, therefore small enough to be physically transmitted along highspeed internet lines. So, soon persons with broadband access will be able to make direct payments, via peer-to-peer networks, using the new mill coins. (Because of bandwidth limitations, dial-up users will have to continue using traditional forms of electronic payment, such as Paypal).
> 
> There was some concern that this innovation could be used for organized crime or “the underground economy”, but the intrinsic limitations make this form of monetary exchange impractical for large transfers. For example, to use two international pricing standards, even using a T1 line it would take about 4.7 Earth days to transmit enough mill coins to pay for the average automobile, or 163 Earth days to purchase a mid-priced U.S. Senator.

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**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\
**Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecils-column-comes-to-life-u-s-announces-plan-to-mint-mill-coins/297211/2 "2005-04-01T11:20:28Z")

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The problem, of course, with such tiny pieces of currency is that examining them causes them to change in value, a la Schrodinger’s Cat.

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**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\
**Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecils-column-comes-to-life-u-s-announces-plan-to-mint-mill-coins/297211/3 "2005-04-01T12:42:19Z")

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Cite? 😃

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**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\
**Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecils-column-comes-to-life-u-s-announces-plan-to-mint-mill-coins/297211/4 "2005-04-01T20:13:10Z")

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::: checks watch ::: yep, right on time.

Good one.