5 changes Trump could make to U.S. currency

• Trump has overseen several changes made to American coins, many of which are being produced to celebrate the country's 250th anniversary.
• The penny was also discarded, and the dime has been redesigned.

Reality check: The proposed Trump coins could face legal challenges.

• The Circulating Collectible Coin Redesign Act of 2020 prohibits portraits of living people on the "tails" side of a coin. And 31 U.S. Code § 5112 says no coins shall be made that "may bear the image of a living former or current President," or any dead president within two years of their death.
• The Presidential $1 Coin Act of 2005 restricts $1 coins to only honoring deceased presidents.

Read more about the coin moves below.

Trump's gold coin

Driving the news: The Commission of Fine Arts on Thursday approved a 24-carat commemorative gold coin of Trump in celebration of the country's 250th anniversary.

• The commission, which consists entirely of members appointed by Trump, signed off on a design that shows the president in the Oval Office with 1776 on one side of the coin and 2026 on the other.
• Congress has the power to authorize the U.S. Mint to produce coins and medals. The Treasury Secretary also has the power to authorize the Mint to create coins and their designs, too, as well as issue those coins, according to the U.S. Mint.

Flashback: Issuing a coin featuring a sitting president would be a nearly unprecedented move.

• President Calvin Coolidge is the only president to have a U.S. coin featuring his image while he was in office; a half-dollar coin featuring himself and George Washington to commemorate the nation's 150th birthday in 1926.

The $1 coin draft

In October 2025, reports surfaced that the U.S. would possibly mint a $1 coin featuring Trump.

• U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach posted a coin draft to X at the time, showing Trump pumping his fist in front of a U.S. flag on the back, and a traditional image of the president in silhouette on the front.
• A Treasury spokesperson told Axios that the initial draft "reflects well the enduring spirit of our country and democracy, even in the face of immense obstacles."

Dime: No olive branch

A new commemorative dime released by the U.S. Mint in celebration of the nation's 250th anniversary does not include the olive branch — a symbol of the balance between peace and war that has appeared on the dime since the 1940s.

• The new coin — called the "Emerging Liberty Dime" — will temporarily replace the current coin, which shows former President Franklin D. Roosevelt and an eagle.

This change has caused controversy, with some wondering if the olive branch's absence is a political statement by the Trump administration.

Abolition, civil rights quarters

Flashback: The Trump administration pushed back on a set of quarters last year that aimed to feature the abolition of slavery, women's suffrage and the Civil Rights movement, the Wall Street Journal reports.

• Instead, the Treasury Department replaced those designs with ones celebrating the Mayflower, the Revolutionary War, and the Gettysburg Address.
• Other quarters meant to show Frederick Douglass and Ruby Bridges were changed to George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and James Madison, according to WSJ.

The penny (kinda) returns

Even though the U.S. Mint stopped producing pennies, there will soon be a new penny in town — though not exactly the same.

• The U.S. Mint unveiled a collectible "1776 ~ 2026 Penny," which features Lincoln on one side and the words "one cent" on the back.
• It will be available in the U.S. Mint's annual sets.

Go deeper: $1 Trump coin: Treasury shares draft design for America's 250th