With recent election results demonstrating many Greeks want to back out of the country’s Eurozone agreement, financial analysts say the drachma could return to Greece soon. Following three years of economic struggle and several bailouts totally nearly $800 billion, Greece could reinstitute its old currency should they pull out of the Eurozone. Hartmut Grossman, an [...]
China will begin issuing electronic passports containing biometric information, such as fingerprints, to citizens on May 15. Officials said the new passports will better protect citizens’ personal data and national security. “In this way, no one can copy or use an e-passport that is lost or stolen,” Tang Lei, head of e-passport management for Beijing [...]
The Bank of Canada unveiled a new $20 bill last week, the latest banknote in their polymer series. The note is the third bill to be released in the series and features several security features to prevent counterfeiting. There are nine distinctive features on the new $20 bill: – Raised Ink: This feature appears on [...]
The Bank of Canada is set to unveil its new $20 bill this week, the third in its series of new polymer banknotes. The new $20 note will feature an updated portrait of Queen Elizabeth II on the front and the Canadian National Vimy Memorial on the back. According to a press release, the design [...]
Nearly a year after Sweden’s central bank announced the country’s banknotes would be changing design, Sveriges Riksbank unveiled the first glimpse of the new notes. The new notes will span all the denominations – 20, 50, 100, 200, 500 & 1,000 kronor – and the design will feature famous Swedes such as film director Ingmar [...]
On the heels of coins embedded with QR codes released by the Royal Dutch Mint last year, Sweden unveiled a glimpse at what could be the world’s first banknotes embedded with QR codes. QR codes – also known as Quick Response codes – play the role of an enhanced barcode. The pattern consists of black [...]
The US Government Printing Office (GPO) announced this week that it has produced a total of 75 million electronic passports, and called the achievement “a milestone.” “This is a significant accomplishment for GPO and one more step forward in our long history of producing the passport for the Department of State,” said Acting Public Printer [...]
Five months after the United Arab Emirates (UAE) introduced new Dh500 bills, the Central Bank said it is still experiencing problems with automated teller machines (ATMs) accepting the new banknotes. The bills feature new anti-counterfeiting devices such as transparent windows that are proving to be incompatible the existing ATMs. Rashid Al Fandi, executive director of [...]
The States of Jersey unveiled a special commemorative banknote that features a holographic portrait of Queen Elizabeth this week. Available June 1, the £100 banknote is a special edition note that marks the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. In order to manufacture the note, a law dating back to 1959 that limited the maximum denomination of any [...]
Weeks after the Canadian government announced the abolition of the one-cent coin, the Royal Canadian Mint says it’s preparing to launch a digital alternative to coinage and small denomination banknotes. Called “MintChip” the proposed system would be a virtual payment method accessible through microchips, microSD cards and USB sticks. “The easiest way to describe it [...]