MONACOIN

MonaCoin launched in December 2013 and was billed as “Japan’s first cryptocurrency.” The creator, Mr. Watanabe, signals two things right away
to Japanese citizens: 1. The name’s commonality is a subtle, humorous choice for anonymity—like using John Doe in the USA.
2. It’s a nod to Satoshi Nakamoto’s generic but more serious name and anonymous launch. Mr. Watanabe feels like Satoshi’s quirky, funny stepbrother
who also launched a decentralized coin.

Let’s back up and see how MonaCoin really happened. In 1999, Hiroyuki Nishimura created an online forum called 2channel (now 2ch.sc), which
quickly became a wildly popular space for democratized free speech in Japan. It faced criticism for its lack of controls and there was an eventual split
between the founder and the forum host that led to 5channel being created in addition to 2channel. I'm sure this split was nasty and there is a big story,
but while avoiding going down that rabbit hole, I will say that I think it is funny that the forum host decided to name his new creation 5channel.
Why not 3channel? Anyway, 2channel in places was a true wild west, but also a wonderful gift of the internet with expression, valuable insights, and the free
exchange of cultural ideas. 2channel is like Satoshi’s forum, bitcointalk.org. Maybe Satoshi was inspired by 2channel?

Mona, a cat-like character, a digital Hello Kitty spawn, was born in this Japanese internet humor and grew up on the 2channel forum. Its origins trace back to an ASCII
art figure of a cat (see picture) with an upside-down ‘A’ for a mouth. The phrase "omae mo nā!"—meaning “You too!” or “So do you!” was also incredibly important to this
origin story. “Mo na” is a shortened version of this phrase which was often used as a response in forum threads. The cat became Mona and it all turned into a meme; maybe
one of the original memes. Mr. Watanabe captured this cultural trend and turned it into a decentralized cryptocurrency. By the time MonaCoin was introduced, Mona was
already a widely recognized figure, so it was easily accepted and appreciated as a crypto symbol for Japan. People identified easily with Monacoin. It was fun.



MonaCoin, a fork of Litecoin, mirrored Dogecoin’s creation arc by it beginning as a funny meme and becoming a cheeky cryptocurrency that was part joke and part functional.
It was used for tipping on 2channel, popular in gaming, accepted by vendors, ATMs, and even used for Tokyo Olympics promotions.

Physical coins or Tokens representing MonaCoin have been around since the 2014 beginning. Another web3 forum, AskMona, was created for the community. In this forum, threads
archive the creation of these coins, with different community members rallying to make them. Here is a list of the coins born out of Monacoin community on Ask Mona:

MONACOIN TOKENS
•   2014 – The Original Mona: Gold & Silver-plated brass, designed by Aruhi-san. Distributed in 2014, with leftover coins given away at an event in 2017. Mintage: 500. A coin on
a chain was also created and given away as a promotion for the crypto currency. Pictures show a promotional vending machine of coins and the original receipt from the mint for the coins that were made.
        

•   2014 – Kumacoin: A crypto that mostly failed. Distributed in 2014, with leftovers given away at a 2017 event. Mintage uncertain, but I think 500 is right.
        

•   2017 – Girl with Mona Headband: Two coins—silver-plated brass and gold-plated brass. A Mona Lighter is also pictured below.
        

•   2017 – Girl with Mona Headband (Pure Gold): 1 oz, pure gold. Mintage 3.
        

•   2018 – Girl with Cherry Blossoms: One coin type, gold-plated brass. Mintage unclear. Two types of coin cases and two types of stickers were made.
              1. COIN                                 2. Case for coin design #1     3. Case for coin design #2
        

•   2018 – Mona Aluminums: Blue, green, gold, pink, silver. Mintage unclear.


•   2022 – MonaCard: Theme highlighting the popular collectible cards being made for MonaCoin. In 2022, the community started making a collectible card (last pic below) commemorating the annual token.
Seems like the cards might be more popular than the coins.


•   2023 – Tribute Coin to the Mona Shrine: An actual place honoring MonaCoin. Two coins—silver-plated brass and gold-plated brass. Mintage unclear, but I think 500 each.


•   2024 – 10th Anniversary Coin with Mining Theme: Mona and a girl, each holding pickaxes. Two-coin set, gold- and silver-plated brass. Mintage unclear. Stickers and a collectible card were made.


•   2025 – Mona Lisa Theme: Two-coin set, gold- and silver-plated brass. Mintage unclear. Stickers and a collectible card produced.



And, in the near future, I plan to hold a free raffle for a 2025 Monacoin Set.

Really awesome write-up on Monacoin physicals!!

There are 2x more items that were made that I do not see on your list above:

1) 2014 gold/white "coin"-chain, 8.15g 23mm

2) 2014 "silver" coin with display stand/case, 8.15g 23mm

Both back sides feature the phrase "Made In Japan By 2CH With Love"

The silver one has a "silver 999" stamped at the bottom, but upon testing it, does not appear to be real silver

Guessing they are the "same" coin, but utilized in two different ways

Not sure when I got these, but if I had to guess somewhere around 2017-2019

Thank you. You just confirmed that there is a 2014 silver plated version of the original coin. I could not confirm this by looking on the forums but I suspected there was one. I also suspect that the 2019 girl with cherry blossoms was made as both silver and gold plated, but I cannot confirm the silver plated one.  The pendant I did see but chose to not add. This was original and created in 2014. I think what happened is that a little more than half were given away in 2014. Then in 2017, someone gave out the rest at a park in Tokyo. There was a big meet up of people trying to score these.

I will add these two items and go ahead and show other things as well. In 2017 there were a few lighters made. The full list of monacoin cards is extensive.  

Congratulations on creating this topic, and thank you for taking the time to summarise & illustrate the Monacoin physical coins.

I also wanted to add the SAKAMOTO monacoin physicals. Here are the direct links:

All Black Monacoin Fine Silver Neo Black (Double-sided polishing finish Neo-black plating)
https://store.medals.tokyo/items/61730461

Silver Mona Rose Gold (Double-sided polished finish ROSE GOLD finish)
https://store.medals.tokyo/items/64120148

Pure Silver Mona Silver (Double-sided polished finish Rhodium plated)
https://store.medals.tokyo/items/64120949


Silver Mona Blue (Double-sided polished finish Rhodium plated cloisonne baked)
https://store.medals.tokyo/items/64119760

Pure Silver Monacoin with Japan Mint Stamp (Surface letter heli polishing, back convex polishing - Engraved with the mint's sterling silver certificate )
https://store.medals.tokyo/items/12095582

Silver Mona Gold with Japan Mint Stamp (Finishing Surface letter heli polishing, back convex polishing - Engraved with the mint's sterling silver certificate)
https://store.medals.tokyo/items/45004530

Pure Gold Monacoin / K24 Gold Monacoin
https://store.medals.tokyo/items/15753945