The UK is getting its own “colored coins” as the Royal Mint rolls out a color edition of the 50 pence piece.
The four coins, which will feature characters from Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit books, join a similar set released in 2016 to commemorate 150 years since the author’s birth.
Each features a character from the series on the tails side in colors mimicking the stories’ original illustrations.
“The enormous popularity of the 2016 set exceeded everyone's expectations... The coins sold out almost instantly as people raced to collect a complete set," a spokesperson from the Royal Mint commented.
While not serving any additional function beyond standard currency, the coins’ popularity is being replicated in the UK by an increasing number of truly “alternative” legal currencies.
So-called "local" pounds - operating in cities such as Bristol - have seen keen uptake since their introduction in recent years.
This year, however, has seen cryptocurrency become involved in a noticeable way. Both Scotland and the city of Liverpool now have local cryptocurrencies, known as Scotcoin and the Liverpool Local Pound respectively.
The latter is orchestrated by Israeli startup Colu, itself formerly dedicated to colored coins, and features a smartphone app allowing users to trade and use local currency on the Blockchain.