Inside Crash Course Coin

How does a Crash Course Coin get made?

Every year we come up with a theme and a new design for one side of the Crash Course coin.

This year, the coin is inspired by our goal and commitment to being signal in the noise. Someone had the idea to feature a sound wave that represents our commitment to offering clarity, context, and meaning.

And our in-house designer Elliott Zheng ran with it!

This is the first draft of the 2026 Crash Course coin and everyone immediately fell in love with it.

And fun fact, this is the actual sound wave for the words "knowledge weighs nothing," which is part of a phrase we've printed on every Crash Course coin to date. "Knowledge weighs nothing: carry all you can."

The Crash Course Coins are minted in Arkansas at Shire Post Mint. They sent us some videos of them laser engraving some of the dies!

Here's a close up look of the final product!

And this is the first year we made a BIG coin! Our normal coins have a 1.25 inch diameter, the big 200,000 Learner coin is 1.525 inches!

Thank you for being a Crash Course Patron! We truly appreciate your commitment to helping us make education free, fun, and accessible to everyone.

We're not asking you to buy a coin, but maybe consider whether you can. If everyone does that, then some people will, and that’s all it takes! https://complexly.info/CCcoin26-17