Coin Collecting Is Making a Comeback, and It's All Thanks to Gen Z

Despite this decline in cash use, coin collecting is a growing trend among younger generations. A survey by the U.K.'s Royal Mint found that Gen Z is most likely to start collecting.

Coin collecting, an ancient hobby dating back to the Roman Empire, has seen a recent surge in popularity among younger generations despite the increasing digitalization of society.

A survey by the U.K.'s Royal Mint found that Gen Z is most likely to start collecting, with about 2 in 5 already having a collection and viewing it as an investment toward their future. Millennials and Gen Z are drawn to coin collecting due to nostalgia and the desire to hold on to tangible objects in a world that becomes more digitally focused every day.

Coin clubs may also have become spaces where young people can buttress themselves against the epidemic of loneliness and isolation, an issue the United States Surgeon General Vivek Murthy raised an alarm about in 2023. Tufts Coin Club Collective, which only started as an official university club in 2023, was characterized by coin collector Rowan Chetner as a "really fun and safe environment" to The Boston Globe.

Coin collecting has also become more accessible thanks to technology. Many young collectors are finding their fascination with coins is turning a profit. Matthew Tavory, who started collecting at age 9, began selling coins through Instagram in high school. Now, his hobby has become a full-time business selling to dealers at coin shows and on eBay, which helps him pay for college.

"People always ask me, what prevents coins from going the way of the stamps? And I tell them there are tons of young kids on Instagram. It's easy to share, it's easy to be very personal. And it's just always expanding, young people getting into it," Tavory told WLRN Public Media. Apps like LuckyCoin are also helping tech-savvy collectors buy and sell coins through eBay, as well as track their collections online.

Additionally, mints across the globe are drawing interest by creating new coins that glow in the dark, have unique colors, or can be scanned with a mobile phone to reveal more information. Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, even make collecting entirely virtual, with unique digital coins that can be bought and traded just like real currency.