This is the coolest-looking money in the world
Plastic bills! A 12-sided coin! This is high-tech currency from Australia to Vietnam.

You can spend it (though you may not want to)
The 12-sided British pound isn't here yet -- it'll be issued next year -- but it's already a member of the club: the international cool-money club.
We're talking currency from around the world that looks cool, feels cool and breaks ground with high-tech, anti-counterfeit features or other out-of-the-box thinking.

Physical bitcoin from Finland
Produced by the Finnish company Denarium, the coin comes in a variety of looks (including brass and gold), can be loaded with a range of bitcoin amounts and features an awesome hologram that protects your all-important private key.
Vietnam's plastic dong
This colorful and otherwise smashing-looking plastic banknote was introduced in 2003.
Australia's please-touch $5 banknote
Australia knows how to do cash. In 2016, the land Down Under issued this polymer bill with two little raised dots, the better to help the vision-impaired identify the currency.
China's ATM-stumping baller note
This bill, dubbed "high-roller gold" for the gold-colored 100, has so many security ribbons, lines and other high-tech security features that ATMs in China had to be upgraded in order to recognize and process it.
Canada's magic-leaf banknote
This bill not only stands on its own but also has a magic maple leaf: If you look through the leaf via a single light source, a ring of text appears, verifying the note's value.
Australia's surfer-friendly note
This rainbow of plastic cash, introduced in 1998 and still going strong, inspired a love letter by an Aussie columnist, who wrote of it in the Guardian: "It's optimistic money and it's durable...You can put it in your board shorts and take it surfing."
The locals-only Bristol pound
This concept is just cool: The Bristol Pound is local currency produced by and for its British-city namesake. Bristol merchants can choose whether to accept it or not.
New Zealand's 'stunning' money
The plastic banknotes from this series, introduced in 2015, are literally brighter and clearer than earlier versions. The $5 bill has been described as "stunning" by British press and was named "banknote of the year" by the International Bank Note Society.
The UK's 12-sided pound
In the works since 2014, this striking bit of currency is expected to delight consumers starting in March 2017. Per the Royal Mint, it's designed to vex counterfeiters with a mysterious, hidden high-tech security "feature."
Sri Lanka's plastic-flower banknote
This commemorative bill, issued in 1998, looked a little worse for the wear by the early 2000s, but it get points for being at the forefront of the polymer wave, and for featuring flourishes that are as decorative as they are security-minded, like a clear window in the shape of a lotus blossom.
Germany's cosmic coin
This 2016-issued coin, which may only be used as cash in Germany, is highlighted by a beautiful blue polymer ring that "visually represents the link between Earth and the cosmos."
Band-celebrating Bahamian quid
The Bahamas celebrates its Royal Bahamas Police Force Band on its money. Why? Because the Royal Bahamas Police Force Band is awesome.
The USA's all-new $100 bill
In 2013, the old Benjamin Franklin got a facelift highlighted by a "color-shifting Bell in the Inkwell," all in the name of foiling counterfeiters.
Britain's 5-pound potato-proof banknote
Sure, the Brits waited until this year to adapt to plastic, but their just-issued bill, hailed as "cleaner," "safer" and "stronger," makes our list because they're the only ones who thought to demonstrate polymer's durability by sticking it in what appears to be a tray of potatoes.
Badass Costa Rican shark dollars
Does your money have sharks on it? Exactly.
Singapore's plastic $2 bankote
The Asian financial powerhouse joined the wonderful world of polymer in 2005 with this understated, yet stately bill.
Plastic Mexican pesos
Mexico began going the way of plastic cash in 2002. The new peso was hailed as being harder for copycats to clone, thanks to the clear-window feature in the lower corner, and as being more durable than paper.