Cryptonic is based in Latvia, and has made both Monero and Bitcoin themed coins. The
producers have a very positive opinion of the crypto-currency Monero, after which most of
their coins are themed. Monero was launched in April 2014 as ‘BitMonero’, but was later renamed
as a matter of branding.
Cryptonic was already working with a jeweler on a Bitcoin round in February 2014, two
months before Monero was released. After a second version of a wax model of the new coin
had been created, production was ready to begin until the artist reported that the caster had
gone on a holiday during which the wax prototype had been eaten by a mouse. With Monero
being released around the same time that the design needed to be re-done, Cryptonic
switched focus to the new crypto-currency.
A common theme in Cryptonic’s Monero rounds is the use of Esperanto, which is a
‘constructed language’, with the purpose of providing a global language that is politically
neutral, logical, and easy to learn. Quite interestingly, these ideals correlate with the values
of crypto-currency when considered from the perspective of money and trade as opposed to
communication. The reason Esperanto is relevant to these coins is that ‘Monero’ is actually
the word for ‘currency’ in Esperanto.
Cryptonic coins have a special element that makes them a little more than ‘rounds’, even
though they are categorized as such. Through the website, holders of a physical coin can use
the code that is engraved onto the side of the coin to ‘bind’ the coin to either a BTC, LTC,
DOGE, or XMR address.