Sample Coin of New ‘World Currency’

Bloomberg reports Russian President Dmitry Medvedev pulled from his pocket a sample coin at the G8 meeting that he claims will replace the dollar as the world currency -- a “united future world currency,” he called it.

“Here it is,” Medvedev told reporters...in L’Aquila, Italy, after a summit of the Group of Eight nations. “You can see it and touch it.”

The coin, which bears the words “unity in diversity,” was minted in Belgium and presented to the heads of G-8 delegations, Medvedev said.

The question of a supranational currency “concerns everyone now, even the mints,” Medvedev said. The test coin “means they’re getting ready. I think it’s a good sign that we understand how interdependent we are.”

Medvedev has repeatedly called for creating a mix of regional reserve currencies as part of the drive to address the global financial crisis, says Bloomberg, while questioning the U.S. dollar’s future as a global reserve currency. Russia’s proposals for the G-20 meeting in London in April included the creation of a supranational currency.