The First European conference on commemorative coins COINS-2008 took place on 25-26 June in St. Petersburg (the Park Inn Pribaltiyskaya hotel). 147 delegates from 24 countries took part in it. These are the representatives of the national banks, mints, commercial banks, distributors, equipment manufacturers.

Among the COINS-2008 participants were: the Bank of Russia, VTB Bank, Eurasian Development Bank, Sberbank of Russia, National Bank of Ukraine, National bank of Belarus, Central Bank of Armenia, National Bank of Kirgizia, National Bank of Kazakhstan, Saint Petersburg and Moscow Mints of Goznak, Mint of Finland, Mint of Kazakhstan, Austrian Mint, Mint of Poland, Royal Spanish Mint, Royal Dutch Mint, New Zealand Mint, Coin Invest Trust etc.

COINS is the only conference on commemorative coins which is held in Russia.

The Organizer of the conference is Water Mark Publishing House (the publisher of the Watermark and the Gold Chervonets magzines).

The Co-organizer of the COINS-2008 is Eurasian Development Bank.

The Gold Sponsor of COINS-2008 is VTB Bank.

The media partners of the conference: The Analytical Banking magazine, Bank Review, InterCrim-press, National Banking Magazine.

The conference was accompanied by the exhibition where the products of Saint Petersburg and Moscow Mints of Goznak (Russia), Coin Invest Trust (Lichtenstein), Tavex (Estonia), PAMP (Switzerland), Universal Mint (Hong Kong), Roesler (Germany), EMK (Germany).

Within the framework of the conferenceoOn 26 June the awards ceremony of the Second International commemorative coins contest “Coin Constellation-2008” was held.

The participants of the conference had the opportunity to visit Saint Petersburg Mint of Goznak.