The Irish Government is set to launch the Sham Coin, Irelands first official cryptocurrency, as it aims to become number 1 crypto nation in EU

The crypto world has had an interesting 2025 so far. It all started in late January 2025 after President Trump, a big crypto fan took office. President Trump proclaimed his love for all things crypto before launching his meme coin earlier this year.

Elon Musk, his BFF and head of Trump’s new DOGE department has been promoting various cryptocurrencies. All of this has resulted in a big uptake in people buying cryptocurrencies.

Two days before President Trump was sworn in, Bitcoin hit a high of $104,536.90. This was due to the new American President being a big crypto fan, and the fact he is looking to launch an official American digital currency. All of this has helped to legitimise cryptocurrencies and prompt various countries to investigate launching their own digital currencies.

Irish Tech News can exclusively reveal that the Irish Government has kept a close eye on what President Trump has been doing in the Crypto World. Within days of the current Government forming, the cabinet took time out from the speaking row debacle to launch a feasibility study on Ireland having their own digital currency.

The Minister of Finance, Pascal Donohoe, got the boffins in the Department of Finance’s new digital hub, Crypto Revolutionary Universal Digital (CRUD). The head of CRUD, Professor Rashers O’Toole, quickly got the buckos under him working on this.

Professor O’Toole told Irish Tech News “With tariffs on the way, we had to act fast to protect the Irish economy.  The only logical way of doing this was to invest in our own digital currency. “

Once the feasibility study showed beyond doubt that an Irish digital currency had great potential, the next step was to think up a name for the new Irish digital asset.

Professor O’Toole explained what happened next. “The team in CRUD brainstormed over various names before coming up with a shortlist. The following names were on the shortlist, The Lucky Charms Coin, The Leprechaun Coin, and The Shamrock Coin.

“The shortlist was soon whittled down to the Shamrock Coin after various focus groups were held. One major point that was brought up in the focus groups, was that The Shamrock Coin name was too cliched and the name was shortened to the Sham Coin.”

When the Taoiseach met President Trump last month, he privately disclosed the idea of creating an Irish digital coin. President Trump was said to be enthusiastic and over the moon at what Ireland is planning to do. “This could be the second greatest thing after the Trump meme coin.” Is what President is said to have told our Taoiseach Micheal Martin before he left the White House.

The possibilities, for crypto is endless, and the Irish Government are convinced that they are on to a winner. After various setbacks involving, housing, health, bike sheds and phone pouch’s, the Government need to get the general public back on side.

Various opinion polls over the past couple of months have not been kind too the Government and something like this will help get them back in the general public’s good books. Ministers Martin, Harris and Donohoe, are not yet in the last chance saloon hoping this gamble pays off.

Crypto Coin future plans

Plans are now in full swing to launch the Sham Coin before the summer, but before that can happen a sale price has to be agreed. The consensus at this moment in time is to make the Sham Coin price affordable, so that as many as possible can buy it. In the next couple of months Minister Donohoe, and Professor O’Toole will hold a press conference to launch the Sham Coin, so keep an eye out for that.

See more stories here.

Ronan Leonard

Recent Posts

Why Agentic AI is a Catalyst for Better Government

Guest post by Paul Turley, ServiceNow, Senior Director Ireland Enterprise Sales  Artificial intelligence is reshaping…

4 hours ago

The MIT Siegel Family Quest [SQI] is for AI, not Human Intelligence

By David Stephen If an organization [academic, nonprofit or industry] say they want to solve…

6 hours ago

Qualcomm announces flagship €125m investment in AI transformation for Cork

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. a wholly owned subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, has announced a €125m investment…

23 hours ago

Chambers Ireland partners with Town & City Gift Cards to support local retailers

Chambers Ireland has announced a new partnership with Miconex, the founders of the trailblazing Town &…

24 hours ago

Renewables provide 44% of electricity in December

Provisional data from EirGrid, the operator and developer of Ireland’s electricity grid, shows that 44%…

1 day ago

More about Irish Tech News


Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too.


You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: https://anchor.fm/irish-tech-news


If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss.


Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience.


You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.