After discovering irregularities in the quality and production of banknote paper, security paper maker De La Rue has suspended production of banknotes at their printing plant in Overton, Hampshire for the time being.

Though no specific details have been provided, the company said last week that the paper used for making banknotes was not being printed on par with company standards.

“It is apparent that some paper production has failed to meet certain quality specifications,” a spokesperson said in an article written for the UK’s Sky News.

The company produces banknotes for 150 countries around the world but has not confirmed that any “inferior” banknotes have made their way into circulation.

The quality of paper can play a big role in ensuring the security of a banknote in order to prevent it from being counterfeited. Unlike writing paper, for example, banknote paper is produced from different types of pulp blends.
Thus, cotton based banknote paper has a unique feel different from other papers. This feel is considered to be a trigger, leading people to know whether or not the banknote is fake.

Banknote paper is also the first place producers go to include security features. Intaglio printing (raised printing) is embedded on the paper allowing consumers to instantly recognize whether a banknote is genuine by simply examining its tactile functions.

Details about how long the plant was producing inferior paper are not known. Other banknote producers around the world are not reporting any problems with the quality of their outputs.

In addition to banknotes, De La Rue also supplies security documents such as passports, authentication labels and fiscal stamps, but has not said there was a problem with these products.

SOURCES:
Sky News: “Printing Error May Undermine Banknotes”
This Is Money: “Banknote Production Suspended Due To Paper Flaws”
Polymernotes.org: “Mould-made cotton bank note paper and plastic substrate alternatives”

A new series of Scottish banknotes celebrating Scotland’s heritage, people and culture took home for award for Best New Banknote at the International Association of Currency Affairs (IACA) Excellence in Currency Awards last month.

The banknotes are not only complete with a rich pictorial history, they are also specially designed for the visually impaired using vibrant colours, different izes, bold fonts and raised bars to help in the identification of the note.

The new series – which was released by Scotland’s Clydesdale Bank – also contains a number of important security features such as a distinguishable watermark, a security thread visible when the note is titled, a see-through emblem on the bottom of the note, microprinting, UV markers, and a latent image.

The series also earned the award for Best Currency Public Education for the bank’s year-long media initiative leading up to the launch of the series earlier this year.

The Bank of Mexico’s Pixelating Watermark won the award for Best New Security Feature while De La Rue’s Depth Image and Magic Verifeye received both runner up awards.

The IACA awards – which some have deemed the “Oscars of the Currency Industry” – have been taking place since 2007 with the goal of promoting and recognizing excellence in currency production, processing, management and distribution.

Aside from the awards mentioned above, the IACA also distributes awards for Best New Coin or Coin Series, Best New Currency Innovation, Best Currency Website and Outstanding Achievement/Lifetime Achievement Award.

The next IACA awards will take place in October 2011 in Singapore.

SOURCES:

Counting On Currency: “2010 IACA Currency Awards”

Currency Affairs: “Excellence In Currency Awards”

The Committee of Scottish Clearing Bankers: “Current Banknotes: Clydesdale Bank”

Researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research are developing new ways to use fluorescence as an enhanced security feature for banknotes

The security paper industry is no stranger to the use of fluorescence. Often used in banknotes, fluorescence provides a unique security device that can only be revealed under ultra violet (UV) lights.

On the Canadian $20 bill, for example, the words “Bank of Canada/Banque du Canada” glow red and yellow on the bill’s left side when placed under UV lights. Similarly, a security thread on the US $100 bill containing the text “USA 100” glows red under UV lights. Numbered panels printed in fluorescent ink on Indian rupees can also only
be detected under UV lights.

Scientists from the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research, however, are finding new ways to use fluorescence in way that is not only new and revolutionary, but also more secure.

Instead of adding individual fluorescent devices on one specific part of the banknote, researchers at Fraunhofer are testing ways to add fluorescent dyes to the entire banknote.

To understand how this research may prove to be revolutionary, you first have to understand how fluorescence works.

Professor Julian Gray of the Georgia Mineral Society explains:

“Minerals are composed of atoms, which in turn contain electrons at specific energy levels. Ultraviolet light is an energy source. When we shine an ultraviolet lamp on a mineral that fluoresces, the atoms that make up the mineral absorb energy from the light by moving electrons to higher energy levels. However, the electrons cannot remain in this unstable, excited state. When the energized electrons return to the original lower energy level, they give back the difference in energy by emitting visible light. This is what causes the mineral to produce light. As long as the ultraviolet lamp energy source is on, electrons are continually jumping from lower to higher energy levels and back, in the process producing the wonderful fluorescent colors that we see. If the mineral only produces light when ultraviolet light is shining on the mineral, this is called fluorescence.”

When it comes to security devices, typically only one or two mineral dyes are used to create the feature. Since various dyes react to different properties, the researchers at Fraunhofer decided to add multiple dyes to the whole banknote producing “an individualized marker” that is “exceedingly difficult to imitate.”

Moreover, because the mixture of dyes is a not only unique (and presumably one that will be kept secret) but is also relatively minimal (just a few parts per billion), researchers assert that it will be “virtually impossible to decode the type and quantity of the dye additives thus making the product counterfeit proof.

Because the dye is added to the entirety of the banknote, counterfeiters cannot remove the feature. Whereas fluorescent spots can – in theory – be removed from a secure document, say researchers, this feature permeates the entire material and is “itself a component of the identification label.”

Beside counterfeit protection, the process is also suitable for an effective quality assurance, such as with coatings: With the aid of various dyes, manufacturers can monitor the chemical composition, degree of dryness and the thickness of the coat during the production process.

Dr. Andreas Holländer, one of the scientists at Fraunhofer, says if this fluorescent security device is adopted by the security paper industry, the key to its success will be the creation of dye mixtures specific to individual products so a standard solution for products across the board would be highly discouraged.

“One reason for the high degree of security of our technology is precisely because there are only material-specific solutions,” says Holländer.

SOURCES
Nanowerk: “Brilliant Counterfeit Protection”
Science Learning: “UV and Fluorescence”
Bank of Canada
Banknote.org: “USA Banknotes’ Security Features”
Reserve Bank of India: “Fluorescence”
Georgia Mineral Society: “Fluorescence by Julian C. Gray”

It may sound like something straight out of the crime-drama CSI, but scientists in Brazil and the US are developing a method of identifying “fingerprints” on banknotes in order to spot counterfeits.

The process is done using what chemists call a “mass spectrometric technique” that can detect the authenticity of a banknote in seconds.

This technique allows analysts to recognize the chemical makeup of the banknote by identifying individual structures of the note’s particular molecules.

The “fingerprint” is determined by conducting tests on the molecules. By vaporizing a sample, and breaking the sample down into ions with the help of a laser beam, distinct patterns emerge in the mass-to-charge (m/z) ratio of the particles. Studies of authentic banknotes will reveal that multiple samples contain the same m/z ratios, while fake banknotes reveal a different set of distinct markets that is noticeably different.

Obviously, this is not a security feature that the average citizen will be able to employ, but researchers say this mode of identification could help speed up investigations at forensic laboratories that are bogged down with increasing forgery cases. Though this process sounds complex, the identification of a fake note using the mass
spectrometric technique only takes seconds.

In addition to being used to detect counterfeited currency, Brazilian researchers are working together with the Brazilian Federal Police and banknote manufacturers to find ways of adding unique chemical signatures to bills, either as an ink splotch, an invisible stamp, or a bar code.

SOURCES:
RSC.org: “Revealing Fake Money”
“Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization”
“Mass Spectrometry”

In an effort to keep up to date with anti-counterfeiting technology and increasingly high-tech security features on banknotes around the world, the Bankgko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) in the Phillipines announced this week that it will launch a new series of banknotes in December 2010.

“We want to take advantage of these technologies,” BSP Monetary Stability sector Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo told the Phil Star.

As a result, the new generation notes (the Piso) – issued in the P20, P50, P100, P200, P500, and P1,000 denominations – will contain heightened security features that aim not only to deter counterfeiting but also help make it easier for the public to detect fraudulent bills among their currency.

“As a matter of practice, central bans regularly change the designs of the money – whether coins or banknotes – to guard against counterfeiters,” another BSP source said. “By making it very difficult and costly for counterfeiters to produce exact copies of our money, we protect the integrity of our currency against criminals.”

Currently, the Piso banknotes contain standard security features such as security threads, security fibres, watermarks, invisible fluorescent inks, optically variable ink, microprint, moiré pattern and an iridescent band.
Other banknotes around the world have been outfitted with some of the most modern security devices known in the banknote industry recently. The new American $100 bill, for example, contains 3D holographs. Other up-and-coming anti-counterfeit devices include quantum dots (nanoscale dots that emit intense light), pixelating watermarks (photos that appear to be 3D because of the way the shades are printed), the reproduction of intricate patterns akin to butterfly scales, and see-through windows rooted between the layers of a polymer banknote.

Though the BSP hasn’t said which new features will be embedded in the notes, the central bank has said they will undertake a nationwide information campaign to educate Filipinos on the new features and help them learn how to tell genuine banknotes from counterfeits.

In terms of design, the new banknotes will pay tribute to Filipinos who played significant roles at various moments of the nation’s history and will also feature world heritage sites and iconic natural wonders of the Philippines.

The BSP also has plans to issue a new series of coins which aren’t expected to be circulated until 2012.

The current Piso series, which includes both coins and banknotes, hasn’t received a re-vamp in nearly 30 years.

SOURCES:
PhilStar.com: “BSP To Redesign Banknotes and Coins”
PhilStar.com: “BSP to Release 1st Batch of New Banknotes In December”
Philippine Coins and Banknotes: “FAQs: BSP Banknote and Coin Resdesign”
Bankgko Sentral ng Pilipinas: “BSP Notes & Coins”

Trying to scan a banknote with Corel Paint Shop Pro would result in this message popping up on your computer screen

While security features embedded in banknotes are the first line of defense when it comes to protection against counterfeiting, businesses and governments outside of the industry also take steps to help avoid forgeries.

In 2004, the European Union drafted legislation to try and compel computer and software manufacturers to make products that were not able to counterfeit banknotes. That year, the Central Bank Counterfeit Deterrence Group (CBCDG) – an organization of 27 leading world banks – developed and distributed anti-counterfeiting software that computer and software manufacturers could voluntarily incorporate into their products.

Many companies latched on to the idea.

Adobe Photoshop – a mainstay graphics software – would generate an error message if a user attempted to scan banknotes, and a number of printer manufacturers used the software in such a way that only an inch of a banknote would reproduce followed by the web address of a site displaying regulations governing the reproduction of money.

Another graphic program, Corel Paint Shop Pro, would automatically flash this message on the screen should a banknote try to be copied:

“This application does not support the unauthorized processing of banknote images. For more information, select the information button below for Internet-based information on restrictions for copying and distributing banknote images or go to www.rulesforuse.org.”

Similarly, Hewlett Packard introduced printers able to detect similarities only found on currencies. When printed, the printer automatically altered the colours so the difference between the final product and the original banknote were unmistakable.

Though these developments began some six years ago, many of these companies have kept up to date with anti-counterfeiting measures. Photoshop, for example, continues to include what they call a “counterfeit deterrence system (CDS)” which prevents users from opening detailed images of banknotes altogether.

However, since every country has different laws about banknote reproduction (banknotes can be copied in the US for example for artistic representation), the CBCDG is still in operation, and provides detailed instructions on its website about the rules and regulations regarding banknote reproduction around the world.

SOURCES:
Adobe: “Counterfeit Deterrence System”
Central Bank Counterfeit Deterrence Group
The Guardian: “Security Clampdown On the Home PC Banknote Forgers”

In an attempt to revive the life of the £5 banknote, British banks will soon make the notes available in automated teller machines (ATMs).

The Bank of England says the £5 was beginning to fall out of circulation because many people now consider the denomination to be “small change.” As a result, a bank source told UK’s The Daily Mail this week, the five pound notes end up “being stuffed into people’s back pockets, rather than returned to banks in the form of deposits” and therefore not a likely candidate for ATMs.

Last year, in conjunction with HSBC, the Bank of England launched a pilot project asking street lenders to stock more of the notes and are beefing up the project this summer with their focus on ATMs.

According to the Daily Mail, “In the early 1990s, just 25 per cent of cash was withdrawn using hole-in-the-wall machines, but their use has exploded and ATMs now dispense around 70 per cent of all cash in circulation. But as banks prefer to dispense larger denomination notes from their cashpoints, the fiver has suffered in comparison.”

This isn’t the first time England has sought more lower denomination bills to be introduced into circulation. As we wrote back in November, British business leaders urged the Bank of England to increase the number of £10 claiming that “those who frequently use cash dispensers who don’t want ‘to carry higher-value denominations, especially £20 notes, around in their purses and wallets.’”

These same business leaders said that “despite credit and debit cards, small-ticket items are [still their] lifeblood,” highlighting a continual need for banknotes not only in England, but the world over.

SOURCES:
The Daily Mail: “£5 Notes To Be Available From Cash Machines”
The Daily Mail: “Give Us More Tenners, The Bank of England is Urged”
Global Paper Security: “British Business Leaders Demand More Ten Pound Banknotes”

Currency makers are fighting a constant battle to stay ahead of counterfeiters, and the bills in your wallet are the product of countless hours of R&D, combining some of the latest developments in chemistry, physics and material science. And with both Canada and the U.S. introducing new bills next year, they’re about to become a lot more sophisticated.

U.S. officials recently unveiled the new $100 bill, which features a wide ribbon that displays moving images when tilted. A stream of bells and the number 100 float along the ribbon in counterintuitive directions; tilt the bill side-to-side, and the images move up and down. The illusion is created by a layer of nearly one million tiny lenses overtop the images.

“The security ribbon is going to pose a tremendous burden to counterfeiters,” says Michael Lambert, an assistant director at the Federal Reserve Board. The technology had been under development since 2004 by Crane & Co., the Massachusetts-based company that has supplied the U.S. with currency paper since 1879. Even though the ribbon is complex, counterfeiters will no doubt try to replicate it, forcing central banks to explore new features.

An emerging tech­nology called quantum dots could be­come a widespread anti-counterfeit measure. These particles, about 10 to 20 nanometres in diameter, consist of a semiconductor material, such as cadmium, in a zinc shell, and emit an intense light. Many currencies already have watermarks, but quantum dots can display a whole range of colours under a UV light, whereas current dyes can only display a single band. “There’s no other chemical entity like them,” says Vicki Singer, senior consultant for corporate development at Life Technologies in California, which manufactures quantum dots. The process to create them is mind-bogglingly complicated, unlike today’s dyes. Singer won’t divulge which central banks are interested in the technology, nor if it’s being used in some form already, and others in the industry are not aware of any currency using quantum dots today.

“It’s certainly an area that’s interesting,” says Doug Crane, vice-president at Crane & Co. “But it’s not an overt security device for the public.” Crane argues ideal security features are instantly recognizable to anyone, without the use of equipment. Cost is always a factor when implementing a new feature, as well. The new U.S. $100 bill, for all of its purported advances, costs only an extra 3.5¢ to produce.

The Bank of Canada is also ushering in a new era of currency security, but won’t reveal much about the bills debuting next year, other than that they will be made of plastic. “The material permits us to incorporate security features that are more difficult to counterfeit,” says Bank of Canada spokesperson Julie Girard. Canada was among the worst countries for counterfeiting a few years ago, but increased enforcement measures are reducing the problem. Plastic banknotes may help even further.

The first plastic bill was introduced in 1988 in Australia. The primary benefit is durability (the bills supposedly last two to four times longer than paper), but research on the material began as a way to thwart counterfeiting. Plastic allows manufacturers to easily include a transparent window in bills, and laser etching a hologram into the window, as Australia does, makes accurate forgery very difficult. Counterfeiting is negligible in Australia today.

Those who manufacture paper currency are skeptical. “Nobody around the world was trying to counterfeit the Australian dollar,” counters Chad Wasilenkoff, CEO of Fortress Paper in Vancouver. “It’s a relatively closed geographic area.” Fortress is the sole manufacturer of Swiss banknotes, and last December launched a new bill with a layer of plastic sandwiched between two layers of paper. The bill allows for a window without sacrificing the feel of a banknote.

Texture is generally the first line of defense against counterfeiting, which is where plastic currency runs into difficulty. “It’s not very hard to replicate from a feel point of view,” Crane says. While both sides of the paper-versus-plastic debate may claim superiority, neither is bold enough to assert a bill can deter counterfeiters entirely — no matter how advanced the technology becomes. “For criminals who make their livelihood out of counterfeiting currency,” says Lambert at the Fed, “they’re always going to look for ways to do it.”

By Joe Castaldo for Canadian Business Magazine.

SOURCE:
Canadian Business Magazine: “Counterfeiting Cat-and-Mouse”

An Indonesian Peacock or Swallowtail butterfly Photo: Cambridge University

In the world of banknote security, anti-counterfeit technology has to be developed at a feverish pace. To keep ahead of counterfeiters, banknote producers have to be consistently inventing and innovating new features to deter the future creation of bogus bills.

Recently, a number of security devices have been introduced that are proving to be revolutionary to the banknote industry. From the new US $100 bill’s 3D Liberty Bell, to Bermuda’s Optiks thread on its $2 bill, to Fortress Paper’s see-through window, banknote makers across the globe show that high-tech security features are the key to a secure banknote.

Teams of researchers and industry professionals are at the helm of developing these new technologies, but sometimes the idea for a security feature comes from an unexpected source – such as butterflies.

Research conducted by scientists at the University of Cambridge found distinctive iridescent patterns on the Indonesian Peacock Swallowtail butterfly that could – with some work – be reproduced as a near-impossible-to-copy security device for banknotes.

The wings of the Swallowtail have an intricate, multi-layered, microscopic makeup that produce intense depth and colour, and it is this multiplicity of layers (which look a little like the inside of an egg carton) that may open the doors to new security technology in banknotes.

Long a mystery to scientists, a butterfly’s colours are produced by light bouncing off microscopic structures on the insects’ wings instead of relying on pigment. The researchers at Cambridge were one of the first teams to devise a method of reproducing these intense colours and patterns.

Using a combination of nanofabrication procedures (recreating things on an miniscule atomic level) the Cambridge scientists made structurally identical copies of the butterfly scales, and these copies produced the same vivid colours as the butterflies’ wings.

So what does all this have to do with banknotes?

The idea is that now that scientists understand how to reproduce these colours and patterns on a microscopic level, they can apply this knowledge to banknotes to create specialized security features that will not only mimic the vividness of the colours and the intricacies of the patters, but also be near impossible to copy.

“These artificial structures could be used to encrypt information in optical signatures on banknotes or other valuable items to protect them against forgery. We still need to refine our system but in future we could see structures based on butterflies wings shining from a £10 note or even our passports,” says Mathias Kolle, one of the lead researchers for the Cambridge study. “Although nature is better at self-assembly than we are, we have the advantage that we can use a wider variety of artificial, custom-made materials to optimise our optical structures.”

Though the research is complete, and the findings have been published in Nature Nanotechnology Journal, there is no word yet on whether security paper makers have taken the next step to begin applying this research to security papers such as banknotes and passports.

SOURCES:
Science Daily: “From Butterflies’ Wings to Banknotes: How Nature’s Colours Could Cut Bank Fraud”
TG Daily: “Butterflies’ Wings Could Cut Bank Fraud”
The Telegraph UK: “Scientists Use Butterflies In Fight Against Banknote Forgery”

The big business of fake money: The new $100 bill is the U.S. government’s latest bid to stay one step ahead of counterfeiters.

How widespread is counterfeiting?

At any given time, some $200 million in bogus U.S. bills is in circulation worldwide, authorities say. About $60 million of those fakes circulates through the U.S. each year. Counterfeiting represents only a tiny fraction of the $800 billion in circulation, but it can be a nightmare for merchants or consumers who end up with the phony bills, because counterfeits can’t be exchanged for the genuine article. “It’s like a hot potato,” says Secret Service agent Bill Leege. “Whoever’s stuck with it is stuck with it.” In 2005, counterfeiters in Washington, D.C., laundered $3,900 through the Amen Gift Shop’s Western Union terminal, paying for wire transfers with phony money and collecting real cash on the other end. Shopowner Nwaka Egbulem had to reimburse Western Union out of his own pocket and shuttered his business. “It was devastating,” he says.

How old a problem is this?

Older than U.S. currency itself. During the Revolutionary War, the British circulated counterfeit Continental dollars throughout the Colonies, aiming to mess up their economies. The effort was so successful that an object deemed to have no value was said to be “not worth a Continental.” After the Revolution, the U.S. government allowed private banks to issue their own notes, theoretically redeemable for gold or silver. But with hundreds of private currencies in circulation, it was virtually impossible to distinguish real notes from the fakes, and by some accounts, half the bills in circulation were bogus. During the Civil War, the Confederates circulated so many counterfeit notes from Northern banks that in 1865, Abraham Lincoln established the Secret Service to track them down. It was the beginning of a cat-and-mouse game that continues to this day.

Who are the players?

Until the advent of personal computers and printers, counterfeiting was dominated by skilled specialists backed by criminal organizations, which could afford engraving tools, special inks, and printing presses. The government countered them with technological advances, such as presses that printed black ink on the front of bills and green on the reverse—hence the term “greenbacks”—and highly detailed engraving. These days, lower-quality bills tend to be made by small-time criminals out for a quick buck. Instead of printing thousands of bills at a time, says Treasury official Ringan Doty, counterfeiters “just print enough to get them through the day.” Higher-quality fakes, known as supernotes, are produced mostly by regimes hostile to the U.S., which according to the State Department use government presses equipped with the latest technology.

Is it easy to produce fakes?

Too easy. Today’s counterfeiters can simply scan a bill into a computer and print out an accurate copy on a high-resolution printer. Even finding the right paper poses little problem. Since 1879, the U.S. Mint has used a proprietary blend of linen and cotton fibers produced solely by Crane Paper in Massachusetts. It’s virtually impossible for amateurs to duplicate, but counterfeiters can create reasonable facsimiles using high-rag-content paper. Such fakes are not hard to spot—as long as the person receiving the bill is paying attention. That’s why counterfeiters like to pass bad bills in dimly lit bars or during busy periods at fast-food restaurants. “When it’s lunchtime at McDonald’s and everyone is screaming for their Big Macs, it’s hard for an employee to check out every bill they’re handed,” says Thomas Farrell of the Secret Service.

Aren’t there machines that detect fakes?

Yes, but even they can be defeated by one popular counterfeiting technique. Counterfeiters have been bleaching $5 bills and superimposing Ben Franklin’s portrait and the $100 denomination on them. Melody Shimmel, a bank security expert in Florida, admits she’s been fooled by such fakes. “I’m an old teller from 35 years back,” she says, “and I can’t feel a difference.” About the only way to spot one is to hold the bill up to the light and look for the watermark. If it’s a portrait of Lincoln rather than Franklin, the bill is a phony. Always trying to stay ahead of the counterfeiters, the U.S. redesigns its bills every seven years or so. The new $100 note is the latest such effort, and it’s considered the most sophisticated paper money ever printed.

What’s so special about it?

The new C-note features ink that changes color when the bill is twisted, multicolored magnetic threads embedded in the paper, and images, including the Liberty Bell, that appear and disappear when the bill is turned this way and that. But criminals can still fake older designs. And passing them may be getting easier, ironically because the government has been so good at removing counterfeits from circulation that most people don’t expect to see bogus bills. “To some degree,” says Tom Ferguson of the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing, “we’re a victim of our own success.”

The elaborately redesigned $100 bill won’t hit the streets until February 2011, but it’s already got people talking, both here and abroad. As the most-widely circulated bill in the world, the Benjamin is also the most counterfeited — thus the colorful and technically complex new bells and whistles. Here are some numerical facts and figures about the C-note:

11.8: The cost, in cents, to make each new $100 bill, up from 8 cents currently

650,000: Number of light-shifting “micro lenses” in the new 3-D security thread on each bill

$46 million: Estimated value of the government’s contract with Crane & Co., the Mass. company that makes the threads

89: Life span, in months, of the typical $100 bill

1996: The year of the $100 bill’s last redesign

1862: The year of the first $100 bill issued by the U.S. government

1914: The year Benjamin Franklin first appeared on the $100 bill

1:10,000: Ratio of counterfeit to legitimate U.S. currency notes in circulation, according a 2006 U.S. Treasury report

1:3: Ratio of counterfeit to legitimate U.S. currency notes in circulation during the Civil War

$45 million: The amount of counterfeit $100 bills, or “supernotes,” made by North Korea, according to a 2009 Congressional Research Service report

$200,000: The amount of counterfeit cash passed in New York City each week, according to one expert

6.5 billion: Number of $100 bills in circulation

66: Estimated percentage of C-notes circulating outside U.S. borders

25: Number of languages the Treasury is using to spread information about the new bills

$31.4 billion: Increase in the volume of $100 bills in circulation in 2009

4:10: The time on Independence Hall’s clock on the back of the $100 bill

SOURCES:
The Week: The Big Business of Fake Money”
The Week: “100 Bill Redesign By The Numbers”