UK set to introduce new 12-sided one pound coin

The UK is set to release a new 12-sided one pound coin into circulation on Tuesday, as it starts to edge out the old "round pound" after more than 30 years.

The new coin described as the most secure coin in the world, boasting high-tech features, including a hologram will replace the current “round pound” which superseded the old pound note first launched on April 21, 1983.

The state-of-the-art coin is an attempt to crack down on the tens of millions of counterfeit pound coins now in circulation. With an estimated 45 million fake coins out there in circulation, there is a chance that one in every 30 pound coin is fake.

The old coin and the new coin will co-exist together for a period of around six months, until the round pound ceases to be legal tender on October 15.

The new pound coin have a gold-coloured outer ring and a silver-coloured inner ring and are based on the design of the old 12-sided threepenny bit, which went out of circulation in 1971.

The government has previously described the new coin as "harder to counterfeit than ever before".

People have been urged to return their old round pounds before they eventually lose their legal tender status. They either be banked or spent.