Latinum

Fictional record. This page describes a mining commodity from a fictional setting, not a real material. Information is based on the cited canon, with adaptations and interpretation distinguished where necessary. It is kept separate from the real MineArchive corpus — see Fictional.

A rare, silver-coloured metal that exists as a liquid at normal temperatures, used as currency by the Ferengi Alliance, the Cardassian Union and other powers — valuable specifically because, unlike almost everything else in the Federation's economy, it cannot be replicated.

Where it occurs

No mining location for latinum has yet been established in this archive. Canon does not describe it in geological terms (a vein, a seam, a specific homeworld) in the material checked for this record.

How it's obtained

Not established in the sources checked for this record.

Properties

A liquid metal at ambient temperature. Cannot be replicated, which is the property that actually makes it function as money in settings (the Federation among them) where replicators otherwise make most manufactured goods essentially free.

Why it's valuable

Its unreplicable liquid form is precisely why it works as currency at all: value in the Star Trek universe generally collapses wherever a replicator can copy the thing in question, so a currency has to be something a replicator cannot produce.

Uses

For practical handling, latinum is suspended in gold as a binding medium — 'gold-pressed latinum' — cast into standard denominations: the slip, the strip, the bar and the brick, with 100 slips to a strip and 20 strips to a bar.

Canon & adaptations

Established in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ('Past Prologue', 1993), not in The Next Generation — recorded under the shared 'Star Trek' setting here because the currency is franchise-wide in later use, but the commodity itself has no TNG-era source.

Recorded claims

Each claim is marked with its basis — explicit canon, MineArchive inference, adaptation only, or fandom interpretation — and attached to the source(s) below. Where tellings disagree, both are kept.

• Latinum is a liquid metal at ambient temperature that cannot be replicated, which is what allows it to function as currency. (explicit canon) ¹
• For handling and trade it is cast in gold as gold-pressed latinum, in denominations of slip, strip, bar and brick — 100 slips to a strip, 20 strips to a bar. (explicit canon) ¹
• Used as currency by the Ferengi Alliance, the Cardassian Union and other powers. (explicit canon) ¹

Sources

1. (interpretation) Latinum (List of Star Trek materials) — Wikipedia, cross-referencing Deep Space Nine

Record created: 25 August 2026 · Last researched: 25 August 2026