Steve Jobs and Cray-1 to be featured on 2026 American Innovations $1 coin
58 comments
·October 16, 2025themafia
ahoka
The title was editorialized and not accurate. These are two separate coins celebrating innovations in their respectable states.
amelius
And on the side it reads "you're holding it wrong".
duxup
That is one ugly coin and doesn’t look like Steve Jobs.
It also makes no sense to not include a computer. I get the “California theme but Steve and hills and trees doesn’t jive.
contrarian1234
weird design for steve jobs.. without context it looks like the depiction of some spiritual leader (which maybe is a bit funny given the early apple fanbase)
> His posture and expression, as he is captured in a moment of reflection
i dont associate "reflection" with him. not to disparage him in the slightest, but its just not in the top ten of things i associate with him.
I then made myself laugh by trying to imagine a depiction of Bill Gates in the same pose
vanderZwan
> I then made myself laugh by trying to imagine a depiction of Bill Gates in the same pose
That is funny, although nothing will ever top Deborah Feingold's 1985 photoshoot where he lies on his desk and flirts with the camera
contrarian1234
see, now that's a coin I'd actually get! I'd get a whole roll and give it out to friends
FloorEgg
And then you made me laugh as well.
baxtr
From: Steve Jobs, sjobs@apple.com
To: Steve Jobs, sjobs@apple.com
Date: Thursday, September 2, 2010 at 11:08PM
I grow little of the food I eat, and of the little I do grow I did not breed or perfect the seeds.
I do not make any of my own clothing. I speak a language I did not invent or refine.
I did not discover the mathematics I use.
I am protected by freedoms and laws I did not conceive of or legislate, and do not enforce or adjudicate.
I am moved by music I did not create myself.
When I needed medical attention, I was helpless to help myself survive.
I did not invent the transistor, the microprocessor, object oriented programming, or most of the technology I work with.
I love and admire my species, living and dead, and am totally dependent on them for my life and well being.
Sent from my iPadcontrarian1234
yeah, i don't wanna shit of steve jobs. I'm sure he reflects on stuff. (though this thing seems to suggest.. he needs to reflect on some real basic human stuff..) I'm sure you can find some cute quotes from Bill Gates too. It's just not really what he's known for
just out of pure curiosity.. what's the context of this? He wrote a poem.. to email to himself? and.. how did he get access to his private emails?
I can't think of any other example of people writing and mailing poems to themselves
lelandfe
Steve Jobs quite famously did the hippie trail in India seeking spiritual enlightenment and practiced Buddhism and Zen mindfulness
You’re going to have quite the uphill battle to convince he wasn’t known for being reflective. If anything he was a total navel gazer
keiferski
The Jobs picture looks to be based on this famous photo of him in an empty house:
derektank
I love how much Iowa embraces the man who saved a billion lives. He's also one of their two representatives in the National Statuary Hall Collection
lelandfe
If you haven’t read it, I loved The Wizard and the Prophet and think about it a lot
boomboomsubban
It's not a major deal as nobody will use them, but it's strange to have a company on US legal tender. I wonder what percent of the run Cray will buy?
keiferski
There isn’t a company on the coins, just the supercomputer device itself.
The Jobs coin has Jobs himself.
fredoralive
Presumably some, although HPE don’t use the old Cray logo, and the name is a bit downplayed when they talk about their supercomputer stuff, although it is still used (like most old computer companies, naturally they’ve ended up owned by HPE, who seem to collect them).
boomboomsubban
Ah, I noticed they had been acquired by HPE, but their Wikipedia article still listed revenue so I assumed they were a subsidiary. Looking again, the revenue is from the year before the acquisition. My mistake.
mettamage
Hmm.. I would’ve preferred Wozniak.
They got the wrong Steve.
blauditore
Not American myself, and never been there - are there really $1 notes and coins, or am I missing something here?
Tuna-Fish
The $1 dollar notes are very economically inefficient (they don't last all that long, haven't had enough value to justify notes for a long time), and the mint has been trying to get people to stop using them and switch to coins for a long time. However, there is significant popular opposition to that, people seem to massively prefer notes.
At one point you could order $1 coins from the mint at face value and with free shipping, and they were really happy when they thought that lots of people were starting to use them. They were less happy when they realized just a few people were purchasing them on credit card with cashback, and just instantly depositing them back at the nearest bank to pay their credit card bill.
contrarian1234
There are 1 dollar coins and 50 cent coins. The issue is that they've never had consistent designs/sizes so machines don't take them and people don't recognize them. To my mind, this is the primary reason they haven't caught on
rkomorn
Yes. $1 coins aren't super common but they're not so odd that someone wouldn't believe it's real.
There are also collector-oriented coins but pretty much none of those are actually intended for use.
Edit: fun fact, there are also $2 bills (but those are way more rare and someone might not believe it's real).
happymellon
I remember using the light rail in DC when I visited, and that used $1 coins.
jo-m
yes, there are.
ta12653421
are these meant for regular circulation or are these "collection items"?
(Im not from the US, so Im not aware of local specifics)
RobotToaster
The answer is an awkward "yes"
They are "designed" for circulation, but only ever get sold as collectors items. Banks won't stock them but you can order rolls or bags of them from the US mint for a little over face value (I ordered a roll of the space shuttle ones to the UK)
I'm not sure what stops the USA using dollar coins in circulation, I assume there's no legal requirement for banks to stock them?
(The fact that's there's currently at least three different sizes of US dollar coin that is legal tender probably doesn't help either)
sschueller
The toll booths in Massachusetts used to accept dollar coins.
thaumasiotes
If they're meant for regular circulation, the program is being led by a buffoon. $1 coins have failed to circulate every time they've been introduced.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_B._Anthony_dollar
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacagawea_dollar
Dollars are worth a lot less now than they were. If vending machines start charging integer numbers of dollars, maybe dollar coins will catch on.
rkomorn
You remind me of the time (probably around 2002) I used a 20 to pay for some transit card/ticket somewhere and ended up with something like 15 dollar coins in change. I want to say it was a metro card in NYC.
Concurrent dismay and delight.
trenchpilgrim
All the vending machines I've used in the past 5 years were tap to pay.
actionfromafar
No coin with the Supreme Leader?
ErikCorry
That's coming in 2026: https://san.com/cc/us-money-cant-feature-living-people-why-t...
Findecanor
Weird design. The side with "Liberty" has the face of Donald Trump and "1776–2026", but he isn't dead.
Oh ...
fredoralive
As someone living in Europe, I know it’s perfectly normal to have living monarchs on coins. It’s only normal people who have to be dead before getting on them.
actionfromafar
What I wonder is, if ever the Trump lineage of emperors should come to an end, (God forbid, all hail Trump and all that) and we have a Republic again, could staff be prosecuted for breaking Federal law during this term?
Cthulhu_
(not a lawyer / legal expert but) Yes, the law and constitution take precedence over an individual's order. "I was just following orders" is not a valid defense.
Of course, many people get away with stuff because the decision to prosecute and the effort needed is not universal. And new presidents have often pardoned previous administration's criminals.
Thing is though, for people like e.g. the national guard that is illegallly being deployed to bring peace to toad-infested Portland it's either follow orders or get fired and lose their income, benefits, and pension - at least temporarily, but they'll need to file a long and expensive civil suit under a hopefully better future administration to get their back payment and / or job/honor reinstated. But they don't have the financial reserves or plan B to do so, thanks to decades of reducing the population's spending power, using pverty as a means to control people.
overflyer
Steve Jobs was an absolut malignent narcissist and a copycat. Why not Dennis Ritchie for example? This is ridiculous.
Why Steve Jobs and not the Apple II? Or even the iPhone?
Alternatively why not Seymour Cray instead of the Cray-1?
Or why not use one side for the inventor and the other side for the invention?
Jobs sitting there in an empty field just throws the whole set for me.