TREASURY URGED $1 TRUMP COIN SPEND AT LIBERAL COFFEE SHOPS
The U.S. Mint made a gold-colored Trump dollar coin bearing the president’s face, and Treasury is now urging people to spend it.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced on July 15, 2026, that the Mint would produce the $1 commemorative coin as part of the nation’s 250th-anniversary celebration. The coin is gold-colored, not made of gold.
Bessent wrote on X that the coin was made “to honor the enduring legacy of liberty and a lasting symbol of patriotism,” PBS NewsHour reported.
He added: “Featuring President Trump, it celebrates the strength of American values, and the promise of a nation dedicated to preserving freedom for all.”
What’s on the coin
The front shows Trump in a suit and tie with a stern expression, along with the words “LIBERTY,” “1776-2026” and “IN GOD WE TRUST.”
The back features a bald eagle based on the Great Seal of the United States, with “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA” and “E PLURIBUS UNUM.”
Trump said in a Fox Business Network interview that having his image on a coin was “very unusual, but I was honored by it.” He added, “it’s very cute they gave me a coin.”
The final design is not the one the Commission of Fine Arts approved earlier. In that version, Trump’s fists rested on a desk as he leaned forward, and the Treasury Department did not explain why that was dropped.
The legal question
Federal law contains a general prohibition on depicting living people on U.S. currency. The Trump administration argued that a 2020 coin law allows this one.
The Congressional Research Service noted that the 2020 Circulating Collectible Coin Redesign Act authorized $1 coins with designs emblematic of the U.S. Semiquincentennial.
Legal experts were not convinced, NPR reported. “The law prohibits, currently, on currency, the likeness of any person — not just the president — who is alive,” said Jeremy Paul, a constitutional-law professor and former dean at Northeastern University School of Law.
Coin-law expert Scarinci called the move illegal and said Congress could confiscate and demonetize the coins, ABC News reported. The network also reported that review by the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee, a body Congress created, may have been skipped.
What happened next
The Mint began selling the coin as a collectible on September 2, 2026, the Associated Press reported.
The coins are legal tender but were not put into circulation. NPR reported they were made at the Philadelphia Mint.
A roll of 25 cost $61, or $2.44 per coin. A bag of 100 cost $154.50, about $1.55 per coin. Households were limited in how many orders they could place.
The Mint’s website later showed the coin as temporarily out of stock, with more inventory being made.
On October 14, 2026, Treasurer Brandon Beach posted a Treasury Department TikTok video. “This is the dollar coin. It will be in the banks next month,” he said.
Beach also challenged Americans to take the coins to “their favorite liberal coffee shop,” Fox Business reported.
The Treasury had not said which banks would have the coins or whether they would sell them at face value.
