The decimal currency in the UK is essentially the same age as me - and I have
never heard this claim that an interpunct is somehow more official. So the claim stood out to me as being outlandish; not impossible, just super unlikely.
To show I have no ill will toward outlandish Britishisms, this one applied in Parliament until relatively recently...
"To increase their appearance during debates and to be seen more easily, a Member wishing to
raise a point of order during a division was, until 1998, required to speak with his hat on.
Collapsible top hats were kept for the purpose."
https://www.parliament.uk/globalassets/documents/commons-inf...