November 12 — The United States Mint hosted a ceremonial strike at its Philadelphia Mint, where Brandon Beach, Treasurer of the United States, struck the final circulating one-cent coin. The event marked the official end of the penny’s 232-year production run as a circulating coin.

In February 2025, Donald Trump directed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to halt what he described as the “wasteful” minting of pennies. Suspending penny production is expected to save the U.S. Mint approximately $56 million annually. The United States Department of the Treasury cited rising production costs, along with rapidly changing consumer habits and payment technologies, as making continued penny production financially “untenable.”  Treasury has not addressed the cost of producing the next lowest denomination—the U.S. nickel—which, according to the FY24 Mint Annual Report, costs 13.78 cents to manufacture.

First authorized by the Coinage Act of 1792, the penny has played a central role in daily American commerce from the nation’s earliest days to the present. Pennies will remain legal tender, with an estimated 300 billion currently in circulation. However, retailers—including gas stations, fast-food chains, big-box stores, and others—will now need to adjust pricing practices and round cash transactions to the nearest nickel.

To commemorate the milestone, the Philadelphia Mint produced 232 Omega-stamped coin sets for auction, each representing a year of the cent’s lifespan from 1793 through 2025. Each three-coin Omega set includes one 2025 Philadelphia Lincoln cent, one 2025-D Denver Lincoln cent, and one 24-karat gold Lincoln cent.