Royal Australian Mint launches new 50-cent coins with secret code
The Royal Australian Mint has released a new batch of 50-cent coins with a special secret mission.
The coins, which contained an encrypted message akin to those used during the Cold War, was launched on Monday in celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO).
There are 20,000 coins available, sold for $10 each.
Now, Australians are being challenged to crack the code through the online Coincryption competition.
Codebreakers can attempt to decipher the message and submit their answer to the Coincryption website for a chance to win the only ASIO-designed coin in history until December 2.
“The Royal Australian Mint is honoured to commemorate the last seven decades of ASIO’s important work with the very first coin produced by the Mint featuring an encrypted code similar to that used by operatives during the Cold War,” Royal Australian Mint CEO Ross MacDiarmid said in a statement.
“Spooks and spies is an intriguing theme and often the stuff of novels and film,” said ASIO’s director-general of security Duncan Lewis. “It is exciting to see this theme interpreted in such a creative and enduring way.”