The Teknianian Pound

As a confederative state, the Teknianian pound reflects their multinationality that is united under the banner of Tekniania. The currency doesn’t bear any specific landmarks or features, rather, they have the faces of important persons from Teknianian history, species of plants or animals that are endemic to all of Tekniania, etc.

For greater economic stability and inflation control , the price of 1 pound is pegged to the price of 100 mg of pure gold. In other words, 1 Teknianian pound (abbreviated tp in most cases) is equal to 6.30 US dollars. The gold standard has been controversial in recent years, but is still quite popular with most people.

The Teknianian pound comes only in coins, with banknotes issued only for commemorative purposes and with no actual monetary value. This is due to the high value of the pound and the fact that most Teknianians are now choosing with credit or debit cards, or with other forms of digital payment. Tekniania never made the switch to or used paper currency, as it was always believed to be too fragile and inconvenient.

For subunits, the pound is subdivided into 100 cents, with half-cents also issued. These cents are square coins, with the metal they're made of differentiating between different denominations. All of the coins that follow have the coat of arms and denomination printed on the front and the national animal, the Teknianian rabbit, on the front. All of these coins also have their denomination printed in Braille. The half-cent is made of aluminium, the cent from zinc, the 5 cent from steel, the 10 cent from iron, the 25 cent from titanium and the 50 cent from copper. The side length, and, by extension, the size of the coin, increases depending on how much the coin is worth: the half-cent’s side length is a mere centimeter, the cent is 1.5, 5 cents have a side length of 2 cm, and so on and so forth.

The pound coins are all hexagonal, made of a zinc-copper alloy, and designed to be more unique than any other nations coins.

The pound coins are where it gets interesting: the 1-pound coin, the most widely used, bears the image of the national unifier and first Speaker, Selai Vaitayaki, on its obverse, with her signature thin smile and thick Kivolian scarf. On the reverse can be found the “A-Z of Tekniania” letters.

For those of you unacquainted with Teknianian currency, here’s an explainer: every pound coin issued since 2018 bears one letter of the English alphabet on its reverse, alongside a quintessentially Teknianian thing starting with that letter. It is a popular pastime for children to try to collect the full set by picking these coins out of their pocket money.

The 2 tp coin has the symbol of the Allied Guard on its reverse, a large shield with a Spartan helmet on top of it. From here on, all of the coins have the flying Teknianian flag on their obverse, defaced with the coin’s denomination in place of the coat of arms.

On the 5 pound coin, a Bluefin tuna, the national fish, can be found, swimming through the vast oceans of Tekniania. This coin is especially favoured for use by the visually impaired community, due to the wave relief on the obverse, which can easily be identified by touch.

The crystal structure of alpha-quartz, the main chemical component of Tekniania’s many beaches, is found on the 10 pound. It is there as both a celebration of the nation’s beaches and its scientific achievements. One of the people who worked on discovering the structure was from Tekniania, adding another layer of meaning to the design.

Finally, on the 50 pound coin, which is worth a whopping 315 US dollars, is a simple circle of paper-cut humans holding hands with a dove holding an olive branch in the middle. This being the final and highest denomination symbolises that peace, unity and freedom are the final goals of Tekniania and are something that every Teknianian strives for.

All coins have differing notches in their sides, as well as Braille text, to make them easier to use for people with sight issues. This Braille text is found near the rims of the coins, so it can easily be found.
The Teknianian pound is regulated and issued by the Bank of Tekniania, who have their central office right across the tram tracks from the General Council building in Tekniania City. Under the main building, where all the bureaucracy takes place, are the main vaults (which have the gold that the pound is pegged to) and the Main Mint, where the coins are emitted.

Updated designs with all the newest security and accessibility features are released every 10 years, but the current and older issue of coins still remain valid for the next 50 years. For example, the newest security feature is a small computer chip inside every pound coin, which can be scanned by cash registers or other such devices to verify that the coin is authentic.. Unless the device which encodes these chips, of which there is only one, is obtained by criminals, Teknianian coins are essentially impossible to fully and undetectably fake.

Seeing as the pound is pegged to the price of gold, every citizen has the right to exchange their pounds for gold at any Bank of Tekniania branch, which are located on most major islands. Inversely, they also have the right to turn their gold into pounds. Recently the Bank has also introduced a pilot program where people can exchange silver and platinum for pounds too, but it remains to be seen if this will become more widely available.