The National Bank of Ukraine has taken part in the World Money Fair 2025 annual international numismatic exhibition in Berlin.
The World Money Fair 2025 international exhibition featured more than 300 exhibitits from over 50 countries. According to Goetz-Ulf Jungmichel, the managing director of the World Money Fair team, this year's event attracted record attention of numismatics connoisseurs: over 13,600 people visited the event in three days. "The World Money Fair shows that our industry is not only preserving history, but actively shaping the future," Jungmichel said.
At the fair, the NBU presented to the global community a Ukrainian collection of more than 20 commemorative coins and medals that were issued in 2022–2024. The presented Ukrainian commemorative coins were dedicated to the events of the russian-Ukrainian war, architectural monuments and multinational cultural heritage, sports victories, and artists and heroes of Ukraine.
"Over the years since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, we have significantly rethought the importance and role of numismatics as a channel of public communication," said NBU Governor Andriy Pyshnyy. "We’re looking for a new style and tone that would meet the challenges of today. And it is extremely valuable for us that this creative search echoes in the hearts of our consumers and international experts."
For the second year in a row, the Ukrainian stand combined the history and current wartime reality of Ukraine, introducing Ukrainian numismatics to visitors to the exhibition and telling them about the identity, resilience and strength of the Ukrainian people.
The idea of the stand was inspired by the design of the "Pliontanism" commemorative coin, which is dedicated to the world-famous Ukrainian artist Ivan Marchuk. The stand features a fragment of one of his paintings, "Awakening." The image of a girl with a blue and yellow ribbon on her head against the backdrop of the blooming vastness of the Ukrainian land symbolizes the awakening of Ukraine. The NBU believes that this subject has never been more relevant for Ukraine.
In addition, during the exhibition, the NBU also took part in the 2025 World Mints Passport program, which provided visitors with comprehensive information about each country participating in the program and their monetary systems, while also allowing visitors to collect in a special booklet examples of these countries’ circulation coins with the participant’s stamp. As part of this program, the NBU presented to visitors "The Medical Branch of Ukraine’s Armed Forces" commemorative 10-hryvnia circulation coins, which are dedicated to the selfless and heroic work of the Armed Forces' military medics, who provide qualified and specialized medical care to both military personnel and civilians in the combat zone.
Overall, both professional exhibitors and a wide range of visitors, including those from Central and East Asia, Central Europe, the United States, and Canada, highly appreciated the NBU's exhibition. As expected, the collection of Ukrainian commemorative coins and banknotes demonstrated a high technological level, creative design, and the country’s unique cultural traditions and values.
"Participation in such an event is an important and responsible step in strengthening the country's international image and popularizing the NBU's numismatic products," said Yevhen Kondratenko, Head of the Numismatic Products and Cash Operations Office, Cash Circulation Department, who participated in the World Money Fair 2025 as a member of the NBU’s team. "It is also a great opportunity to expand international cooperation, study modern trends and technologies, and share experience with professional market participants. We believe such cooperation will boost interest in Ukrainian coins and open up new opportunities for development."
Events like these allow for a deeper study of international experience and current trends in the production and distribution of numismatic products, and a better understanding of customer requests, while also providing new opportunities for production and international cooperation. During the exhibition, NBU experts held dozens of meetings with representatives of leading mints and national banks from around the world, including those of Poland (Mennica Polska S.A.), Lithuania (Lietuvos monetų kalykla), the United Kingdom (The Royal Mint), Switzerland (Eidgenössische Münzstätte). They also held meetings with a number of private mints and dealers. The main topics of discussion were current trends and modern technological approaches in coin production, as well as joint projects and future cooperation.
The World Money Fair is the largest regular numismatic event, bringing together global manufacturers of numismatic products and special equipment, wholesale and retail dealers and collectors, which is held every year in Berlin (Germany).
In addition to the exposition section, the main events this year included, in particular, the opening ceremonies of:
- a technical forum: the day before the official start of the exhibition, experts, technology providers, and visitors gathered to discuss the latest technological developments
- a media forum, which included presentations of many innovations in the area of numismatics
- a minting center, which included an interactive area where visitors could get an up-close look at the minting process and make their own collectible medal.