“A milestone in Swiss coin history”: Before the Goldvreneli Gate, the authorities celebrated themselves

The Federal Mint has been called Swissmint since 1998. However, the trendy name change cannot disguise the fact that this is an authority where the world is rarely reinvented: From the five-rappen to the five-franc coin, the Swiss circulation coins, the minting of which is Swissmint's most important task, have looked virtually the same since 1850.

Swissmint can only shine through the issuance of commemorative coins. Managing Director Ronnie Mocker and his team actively utilize this opportunity: In 2025, there were already commemorative coins for the artist Jean Tinguely (100th birthday), the Swiss Federal Supreme Court (150th birthday), and CERN, the Geneva-based research center for particle physics (just because).

This week, however, a very special commemorative coin went on sale: "100 Years of the 100-Franc Vreneli." Back in January, Swissmint promoted the "strictly limited edition" of 2,500 coins at the World Money Fair in Berlin, the world's largest coin fair: "The launch of the new gold Vreneli, with its homage to the original from 1925, marks a significant milestone in Swiss coin history," the agency wrote at the time.

The self-praise was not without effect: When the new Goldvreneli went on sale on July 1, the demand was so great that the authority's online shop crashed within a very short time. Only a very few of the "estimated several hundred thousand interested parties" were able to secure a Goldvreneli for 3,500 francs. And of those who appeared to be among the lucky ones, some were disappointed because their order was subsequently canceled by Swissmint. "A huge frustration," one affected person told "Blick." Instead of hymns of praise for the coin design, Swissmint received hate emails.

This isn't the agency's first IT glitch: In January 2022, when the commemorative "Platinum" coin was issued, the server also crashed. Among the "lucky" ones who were able to get a coin for 799 francs was Ronnie Mocker, then a mere employee and head of Swissmint since 2023.

Mocker, whose agency claims to work "for the good of the population," bought the coin not as an avid collector, but as a profit-driven speculator: A short time later, he sold the coin as "Ronnie_75" on Ricardo, making a profit of 2,500 francs.

In retrospect, Mocker may be annoyed that he backed the wrong horse: the new Goldvreneli make significantly more money. These are already selling online for more than 10,000 francs.