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Crash Course coin

merch · in 26 videos (2021–2026)

A limited-run coin, minted in Arkansas from hand-engraved dies, that viewers buy to fund Crash Course, each coin standing for learners reached, such as 2,000 for $100 or 10,000 for $500. Hank's idea, first sold in 2021, it is now Crash Course's most important source of funding, and since Complexly became a non-profit it counts as a tax-deductible donation.

Part of: Crash Course

Videos by year: 2021: 3 · 2022: 5 · 2023: 4 · 2024: 6 · 2025: 3 · 2026: 5

Also known as: Crash Course coins

Threads

Also named in the threads: Hank asks viewers to fund Crash Course through Subbable (2013) · Subbable: launch of the brothers' pay-what-you-want subscription service, starting with Crash Course (2013) · John asks viewers who value and can afford it to support Crash Course and SciShow on Patreon (2015) · Awesome Socks Club: monthly sock subscription (2016) · Complexly: the brothers' production company, renamed from EcoGeek (2016) · Study Hall: Crash Course and Arizona State University's free learning-playlist series (2020) · Hank asks viewers to donate to Complexly's Learnathon (2024)

Often together

What comes up in the same parts of the videos; the number is how many parts.

Crash Course (36) · Complexly (16) · SciShow (6) · Journey to the Microcosmos (2) · collective action (3) · Orin Green (4) · Dear Hank and John (3) · chemotherapy (2) · YouTube (7) · education (2)

What the videos say

The most important statements of each year; all statements.

2021

  • 2021-06-15 · VLOGBROTHERS REUNITED!!!! — ask: The description asks viewers to support Crash Course with the Crash Course coin. — video description
  • 2021-06-25 · The Surprising Origin of Crash Course — ask: The description says the Crash Course coin is available until midnight tonight, linking crashcoursecoin.com. — video description
    • The description says that while most viewers can't get a coin, the few who can make the resource available to all, outside a system designed to capture value rather than lower barriers. — video description
    • Hank says Crash Course and Complexly have funded themselves creatively: advertising, grants from organizations that understand the mission, Subbable, then Patreon, and now the Crash Course coin. — 00:02:40
    • Hank says today is the last day of the Crash Course coin: a $100 and a $500 coin, each a piece of the budget to reach 2,000 or 10,000 students. — 00:02:54
    • Hank shows the first coin minted, numbered 001, going to the first buyer of a $500 coin: their mom; he meant to fake cry and started to really cry. — 00:03:09
    • Hank says each coin is minted at a small family-owned mint in Arkansas from hand-etched dies. — 00:03:09
    • Hank says the coin has been so successful that there will be a different 2022 coin next year (2022), but today is the last day for the 2021 coins. — 00:03:09
  • 2021-09-03 · What the Heck am I doing? — Hank: In the evenings Hank assembles Crash Course coins himself, as a way to thank the people who supported Crash Course through them, though it takes longer. — 00:00:47
  • …and 2 statements more in 2021 — all statements of 2021

2022

  • 2022-04-22 · My Life is on My Walls — Hank shows prototype Crash Course coins with different looks, made while planning the first coin and for future ones; he loves them because the coins and their buyers keep Crash Course going. — 00:02:47
  • 2022-05-31 · A Casting Announcement — announcement: John: The 2022 Crash Course coin is on sale for two weeks: a $100 coin sponsors 2,000 learners and a $500 coin 10,000; its design draws on the Lascaux cave paintings. Coin funding helped launch three series last year (2021). — 00:03:07
    • John asks viewers who can afford it to get a coin at CrashCourseCoin.com; most can't, which is fine, since Crash Course is free for everyone forever. — 00:03:37
  • 2022-06-10 · My Embarrassing Dermatology Story — announcement: Hank says the coin is minted in Arkansas from hand-engraved dies, and the 10,000-learner coins have sold out. — 00:02:55
    • Hank says Crash Course reaches many people on a low budget that still costs a lot, and 37% of that budget comes from Patreon and the Crash Course coin. — 00:02:55
    • Hank asks viewers who want to help Crash Course and have $100 to spare to buy a coin via the link in the description, saying he understands if they cannot. — 00:03:24
    • Hank says the 2022 200-learner coins remain available through this weekend and then never again. — 00:03:24
  • 2022-09-02 · How A YouTube Company Actually Makes Money — Hank: Just under 20% of revenue is crowdfunding through Patreons or the Crash Course Coin, given because people know their work isn't sustainable under current internet business models. — 00:01:17
  • …and 2 statements more in 2022 — all statements of 2022

2023

  • 2023-05-05 · New Office Tour!! — announcement: Hank: On a set of shelves where everything is something he loves, Hank shows the prototype of this year's (2023) Crash Course coin, showing only its front because the rest is secret. — 00:02:23
  • 2023-05-30 · How Does He Do It? — John says supporters keep Crash Course free for everyone forever, some through Patreon but many through the Crash Course Coin, which was Hank's idea. — 00:01:45
    • John announces this year's (2023) Crash Course Coins, available only for the next 11 days and minted in Arkansas from hand-engraved dies; he finds them beautiful. — 00:01:58
    • The coin's engraving was inspired by a JWST photograph showing a patch of sky the size of a grain of sand at arm's length, vast and teeming with galaxies. — 00:02:15
    • For John the coin image represents how learning illuminates unseen parts of ourselves and the universe, and how building knowledge leads to more knowledge. — 00:02:32
    • John lists this year's (2023) four coins: one for three-year patrons, a $100 coin supporting 2,000 learners, a limited $500 coin supporting 10,000 and a more limited $1,000 coin supporting 20,000. — 00:03:07
    • John says the coins are vital: the Patreon and coin campaigns are the single largest slice of Crash Course's annual budget, not a tiny slice of a corporate pie. — 00:03:30
    • Thanks to coin support, Crash Course this year (2023) launched courses in Black American History, Botany and Biology and Crash Course en Español, among many others. — 00:03:48
    • John asks viewers who can afford it to get a coin at crashcoursecoin.com, with no worries if they can't, to help Crash Course reach more learners. — 00:04:11
  • 2023-06-02 (said on 2023-06-01, implied) · Chemo is Weird, Y'all — ask: The description reminds viewers to get a Crash Course Coin. — video description
  • 2023-06-20 · Reflections from a Terrible CEO — John jokes that Hank kept working anyway: making ads for the Socks Club and Crash Course Coin, shooting SciShow, pitching business ideas daily and making Vlogbrothers videos while in pain. (playful) — 00:00:29
  • …and 1 statement more in 2023 — all statements of 2023

2024

  • 2024-04-12 · Feeling Like a Failure (During an Eclipse) — Hank says free educational resources on YouTube exist because everyone helps by buying Crash Course coins and supporting Crash Course on Patreon, as do internet stores that give all profit to charity. — 00:04:13
  • 2024-05-28 · A Midlife Crisis — announcement: John announces the Crash Course coin, on sale from today for one week only at CrashCourseCoin.com; buyers sponsor 2,000, 5,000 or 10,000 Crash Course learners and help keep it free. — 00:04:02
    • John says upcoming Crash Course videos, from biology to art history to world religions, are possible only because of supporters through the coin and Patreon. — 00:04:02
  • 2024-05-31 · The People I Hate Most in the World — ask: Hank invites viewers who think Crash Course's work by dozens of people is worth more than YouTube ads deliver, and who can help, to buy one of three coins. — 00:02:55
    • Hank says Crash Course spends around five cents for every learner it reaches, which is the currency of the coins. — 00:03:24
    • Hank lists the coins, expensive by design: a copper 2,000-learner coin for $100, a bimetallic 10,000-learner coin for $500, and a $1,000 laser-anodized titanium coin reaching 20,000 learners. — 00:03:24
    • Hank says there is also a secret patron coin, available only to people reaching their three-year anniversary as Crash Course patrons. — 00:04:22
  • 2024-06-04 · how it all ends — John says the podcast was made with funds from last year's (2023) Crash Course Coin. — 00:04:52
    • John says the Crash Course Coin, an essential part of how Crash Course is funded, is available only for the next few days at crashcoursecoin.com. — 00:04:52
  • 2024-06-07 · Eating an 11,000 Year Old Fruit — announcement: Hank says this story is why a fig is featured on the reverse side of this year's (2024) Crash Course coin, which people have been asking him about. — 00:03:12
    • Hank says today is the very last day to get the Crash Course coin; each coin lets Crash Course reach 2,000, 10,000 or 20,000 learners, and the coins will never be available again. — 00:04:01
  • 2024-11-03 · Hank's very messy post-cancer year of mistakes, meaning… — Hank: Complexly (SciShow, Crash Course and more) is the most impactful thing Hank has helped start; it could always use him, from promoting Study Hall and the Crash Course coin to SciShow thumbnails. — 00:07:34
  • …and 3 statements more in 2024 — all statements of 2024

2025

  • 2025-03-25 · Taylor, Dr Pepper, and My Anxiety Strats: It's Question Tuesday — John says Modern Health Crusader coins were minted by the US National Tuberculosis Association in the early twentieth century as a fundraiser against TB, like the Crash Course coin. — 00:02:26
  • 2025-05-23 · I Can’t Believe How Few People it Takes. — ask: Hank asks viewers who can help to get a Crash Course coin: about a week is left in the campaign as the video goes up. — 00:04:40
    • Hank says the coins are minted from hand-engraved dies at a mint in Arkansas, in four versions by ability to give, each representing thousands of learners reached. — 00:04:52
    • Hank invites people with significant business or personal wealth to email info at complexly.com, where they have ideas to share. — 00:05:05
  • 2025-05-30 · My Rare 'Disorder' — ask: Hank says this is the last chance to get a Crash Course coin and asks viewers who have $100 to spare and think Crash Course could do good with it to go to CrashCourseCoin.com. — 00:00:29
  • …and 2 statements more in 2025 — all statements of 2025

2026

  • 2026-02-04 · We Just Sold Our Company for $0 — Hank thanks viewers who for years knowingly gave a for-profit company money with no tax deduction, through Patreon, the Crash Course Coin, the Learnathon and SciShow fundraisers. — 00:06:23
  • 2026-02-13 · Project for Awesome 2026 Kickoff! — Hank shows that they keep the dies used to press their Crash Course coins, and sometimes destroy them with an angle grinder, to prove they will never make that coin again. — 06:05:30
  • 2026-05-22 · Why I Made Crash Course a Non-Profit — announcement: In a channel comment Hank says he forgot to say that he is no longer an owner because Complexly was converted into a non-profit, which is why coins are now tax deductible. — creator comment
    • Hank asks viewers to ask themselves whether they can afford a Crash Course coin, by far Crash Course's most important source of funding. — 00:05:22
    • Hank says that in its sixth year the coin can be part of a tax-deductible donation with no sales tax; the campaign is in its fifth day with about a week left. — 00:05:30
    • Hank says most of the $1,000 coins have sold out and fewer than 20 of the $5,000 coins are left. — 00:05:58
  • 2026-05-26 · Hank Green Is a Fool — ask: The description asks viewers to get the Crash Course Coin to support Crash Course's efforts to make educational video free for everyone forever. — video description
    • John says Hank's line that Crash Course is no longer owned by the brothers led people, justifiably, to conclude they sold to a private equity firm, and they disliked coin money going to Rich Uncle Pennybags. — 00:00:38
    • John argues becoming a non-profit keeps Crash Course free forever, means the brothers never profit from crowdfunded growth, and makes coin buyers' and donors' money a tax-advantaged donation. — 00:03:16
    • John says viewers who want to support Complexly can get a Crash Course coin for the next few days at CrashCourseCoin.com, supporting a charity. — 00:06:05
  • 2026-05-29 · Chemo Cow Body Odor YouTube Helen Hunt Commute — ask: Hank says now is the last chance to get a 2026 Crash Course coin, helping people make educational video; the sale ends sometime this weekend, before the next Vlogbrothers video. — 00:06:04
    • Hank notes Complexly is now a non-profit, so donations are tax-deductible and the coins carry no sales tax. — 00:06:34
  • …and 3 statements more in 2026 — all statements of 2026