Money and its history dates back thousands of years.  With advanced technology the Czech National Bank has developed a new phone app helps people check the legitimacy of Czech banknotes and coins.

The Czech National Bank spokesman Marek Petrus said “The application allows you to view bank notes and coins of the Czech currency in detail on their mobile devices. They can familiarise themselves with the protective elements of various bank notes and they can also compare the banknotes they have in their own pocket.”

The app can tell if the security features of each individual koruna banknotes are legitimate by using the camera on an iPhone, iPod, or iPad. The app is free to download and is available in Czech and English, includes detailed photographs and descriptions of all valid Czech banknotes and coins.

“One can use the so called ‘look through’ feature and see how the various bank notes should look like,” said Petrus while using the new app on the iPad.

The Czech National Bank hopes that cash will remain king, by having others around the world copying this innovative idea. The internal backlight on the iPhone accelerometer which detects the device tilting allows the user to examine the notes in detail.

SOURCES:

The Globe and Mail Video: ‘Czech Bank app checks for counterfeit cash’

Reuters: ‘Czech Bank app checks for counterfeit cash’

On Monday at the Glasgow Sheriff Court, Ian Beaton admitted to creating the fake notes.

After police searched his car near Aberdeen and found £2000 of seized counterfeit notes with his fingerprints on the envelope the 44- year-old was arrested.

Around £28,000 of fake notes were recovered from his Shawlands home in Glasgow.

Between July 30, 2010, and January 22, 2011 Beaton pled guilty to making a quantity of Royal Bank of Scotland and Bank of Scotland notes.  He also admitted to having the materials needed to make the fake cash including a computer, printers, paper and guillotines for that purpose.

Procurator fiscal depute Mark Allan told the court that “No one was present within at that time, a search commenced, counterfeit money in particular Royal Bank of Scotland £20 and £10 notes and Bank of Scotland £20 notes were recovered in various locations within the flat.”

He also told the courts that police found paper, hard drives and disks from the computer’s internal memory as well as ink and other objects used to make the counterfeiting money.

“Towards the conclusion of the search which was by that stage 4pm, the accused arrived at the flat and identified himself as residing there. He was detained and taken to Cathcart Police Office, processed there, and interviewed there and at the conclusion of which he was cautioned and charged and made no reply,” he said.

Images of the Royal Bank of Scotland £20 notes which had been downloaded from an iPhone were found during the forensic analysis of the computer system, said Mr Allan. He added “The internet browser shows a record of a search for information relating to counterfeiting currency. There were other images on the hard drive of bank notes.”

Beaton was released on bail as Sheriff Charles McFarlane QC deferred sentencing until next month.

He said: “You have pled guilty to a serious counterfeit operation and the chances are, subject to anything that might be said, you will receive a substantial custodial sentence.”

SOURCE:

STV: ‘Counterfeiter made £30,000 in fake bank notes using digital images of £20′

Zambia Daily Mail newspaper on January. 26, 2012 quoted businessman Lubuto Simwanza as saying, “Zambia has the highest denominations in the region. If you look to South Africa, they still have cents and many other countries still use coins.”

On January. 23, 2012 it took 5,120 kwacha to equal one U.S dollar. Zambia’s Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda announced that Zambia would “rebase” the kwacha currency by lopping off three zeros from each denomination that is now in circulation. With this said it shouldn’t be a surprise coins have not been circulating in Zambia.

“The rebasing had to be done when all the fundamentals like inflation and GDP [Gross Domestic Product] growth were right and we think they are now right” said Chikwanda.

Typically, coins vanish from circulation when rampant inflation decimates their purchasing power like in Zambia. Also, the metal content of the existing coins is greater than the face value of the metal, which leads to scrapping and hoarding. The Bank of Zambia, the nation’s central bank has recently announced it is searching for a company that will mint coins and print new banknotes once the currency is rebased in Zambia.

“The process has begun. We will in due course update members of the public because this is a multi-faceted project” quoted Kanguya Mayondi, head of public relations for the central bank.

The newly denominated banknotes to circulate simultaneously with the notes they will replace until the notes are recalled which is not yet determined said Mayondi. Circulating coins are to be added to the mix when currency reform is introduced.

“Mr. Mayondi said the process of currency rebasing involves a wider review of the currency family and enhancing security features, but this does not change the value of the currency and the purchasing power,” according to the Zambia Daily Mail article.

The article continues, “He [Mayondi] said the rebasing of the kwacha has been due to the need to address costs associated with an accumulated loss in the value of the currency, which undermines its basic function as a store of value, medium of exchange, and measure of value.”

Inflation was the primary problem acknowledged Mayondi. According to Mayondi, Inflation was at 7.2 percent in December 2011, which is the lowest rate in some time. With this said it appears to this may be a good time to revalue the current currency system.

Today the highest bank note in circulation is the 50,000 kwacha.

The currency “rebasement” now being planned would revalue this 50,000-kwacha note at 50 kwacha.

SOURCES:

NumisMaster: ‘Zambia Returns Coins to Circulation’

Zambia Daily Mail

Dr. Perks Ligoya, Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) Governor said that the new banknote will be in circulation in the next six months at a news conference in Blantyre on Friday.

Ligoya said “We are introducing a complete new series of banknotes; in the process will have a new banknote of K1, 000”.

The new series of banknotes are “much smaller in size,” he said.

Ligoya said “The move is aimed at easing the pressure on inflation, the rise in the cost of basic goods and services”.

Ligoya said that “we have done this in order to reduce the cost of printing money as the sizes of the currencies have been significantly reduced. At the same time we have also increased some additional security and visually impaired-friendly features”.

The new K 1,000 banknote will be the largest one in value, economic commentators observed.

SOURCE:

Nyasa Times: ‘Malawi announces new K1, 000 bank notes’

Nearly 82 billion drachmas ($320 million) in banknotes were unaccounted for when the deadline for withdrawal ended on March 1 by the Bank of Greece, said Kathimerini daily. Drachma coins had an acceptance deadline of March 2004.

Most of the higher-value banknotes that were worth 10,000 and 5,000 drachmas have been cashed in over the past 10 years, but many 50 and 100- drachma notes were kept as souvenirs by Greeks and millions of tourists who visited the country over the years, reported the newspaper Kathimerini daily.

On January 1, 2002 the euro replaces the drachma as Greece’s legal tender.

The drachma was first introduced by ancient Greeks, and was introduced by the modern Greek state in 1832 after the Ottoman Empire- the country’s war of independence.

Greece on Friday completed a deal with private creditors to erase 107 billion euro’s of it’s debt in a bond swap of unprecedented value that is crucial for its economic survival.

SOURCES:

France24: ‘Greek drachmas worth 240 ml euros unclaimed as swap deadline ends: report’

Business Report: ‘Millions of Greek drachmas unclaimed’

Kathimerini daily

Krisztina Haraszti, the head of a centre for autistic children in the impoverished north-eastern town of Miskolc said “It’s a very useful charitable act, a vital aid for our foundation because we can save part of our heating costs.”

She said that this is a “considerable sum in this time of crisis” which provided aid to autistic adults, and saved them between 50,000 and 60,000 forints (€180-€200) a month.

For the last four years, the central bank has been converting unusable notes into briquettes.

Since September the centre for autistic children have been receiving compressed old notes, and on Tuesday a truck from the central bank’s cash logistics centre arrived to unload four tons of old notes.

This monthly delivery is expected to continue until March of April.

Haraszti said that there “one only needs to add a few bits of wood and the rooms are really warm.”

“Our examination showed that the heating properties of these shredded currency briquettes are similar to brown coal so they are pretty useful for heating … and resolve the problem to find fuel” said the head of the central bank’s cash logistics centre, Barnabas Ferenczi.

The centre decided to compress the notes into briquettes for better heating efficiency, as when the initiative started the notes were simply burnt.

“Approximately, 200 billion Hungarian forints are turned into briquettes that are useful for heating in poor regions.

“For the central bank, corporate social responsibility is an important thing. That’s why we thought that since we destroy approximately 40 or 50 tons of currency every year, this thing can be useful for charities that have a problem finding fuel for burning.”

To make a single 1kg briquette it takes about 5 million forints (€17,000). No chemicals are added and the notes are cut into pieces of 1 to 5 millimetres and then the paper is compressed.

The central bank withdraws about a quarter of the notes in circulation every year, and replaces unusable or old currency with new money.

SOURCE:

International Business Times: ‘Burning Cash For Fuel in Hungary’

RTE News: ‘Hungary burns old banknotes to warm the needy’

The Telegraph: ‘Hungary’s central bank burns old currency notes to help needy in cold snap’

The Pixel Watermark not only produces different shades, it also makes the images - like this angel's wing on a commemorative Mexican 200-peso not - appear 3D

This article is part of a continuing series that looks at security features in development for the security paper industry.

One of the most familiar – and recognizable – banknote security features is the watermark. First introduced in the 13th century in Italy, a watermark is an image or pattern on the security paper that appears as various shades of lightness/darkness when held against the light.

A watermark can take many forms, but some of the more identifiable marks are usually found elsewhere on the bill. The Canadian $20 bill, for example, features a watermark which is a smaller version of the note’s portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, while the new American $100 bill’s watermark is a smaller portrait of Benjamin Franklin.

Despite the fact that watermarks are one of the most common security features for banknotes, and one of the most effective anti-counterfeit devices, some countries have taken watermark technology a step further to prevent currency forgery.

In 2009, the Bank of Mexico was the first to introduce the world to a new watermark called the Pixel Watermark. Consisting of patterns of dark dots of varying sizes on light backgrounds, the Pixel Watermark sets itself apart from regular watermarks in that the colouring of the pixels in the image creates an almost 3D effect.

Though the first bill to feature the Pixel Watermark was a commemorative 200-peso note, countries in Asia and Latin America have since adopted the security feature.

And the Pixel Watermark is picking up steam elsewhere. Recently, the security device won the award for the Best New Currency Feature at the 2010 Excellence in Currency Awards held in Buenos Aires. The watermark beat out other high-tech, new-to-the-industry security features like the Depth Image, a 3D hologram with strong colour switching and contrast.

SOURCES:
Currency News: “2010 Excellency in Currency Award Winners”
“Watermark”
Banknote News: “Pixel Watermark Debuts on Mexico 200-Peso Commemorative”
Bank of Canada: “Security Features”
Personal Money Store: “New 100 Dollar Bill Debuts To Help Fight Counterfeit Rings”
“Depth Image Hologram”

Funny money: The wacky world of Asian currencies
by La Carmina @ CNNGo.com

#1- India: Thumbs-up and peace sign rupees

India’s one-rupee coin has an image of a hand giving the thumbs up. On the two rupee, the fingers form a peace sign. These coins were designed with the blind in mind, but they’re also useful for the numerically illiterate (just count the fingers.)

#2 – Hong Kong: Plastic dollars
Plastic money is no longer a nickname just for credit cards. In July 2008, Hong Kong issued bright, high-detail HK$10 bills made from polymer, potentially making dirty money a thing of the past: these notes can be washed with water and even soap.

#3 – China: Fake and real Chairman Mao yuan

In China, counterfeit bills sometimes slip into circulation, like the topmost 100-yuan bill. How to tell? Rub Mao Zedong’s jacket. The genuine note has ridges while the fake one is smooth. The black line is also more pronounced on the real deal.

#4 – Indonesia: Big money rupiahs

Quite a few visitors to Indonesia will have spread out their freshly-exchanged currency and rolled around in it, squealing “I’m rich!” It’s not unusual for locals to carry around millions of rupiah. Too bad a 50,000 bill is worth a paltry US$5.

#5 – North Korea: “The Eternal President” on three denominations

North Korean money lives up to the country’s topsy-turvy reputation. Visitors are issued a separate currency: Red banknotes for socialists and green ones for capitalists. The national system is just as confusing. The 100, 1,000 and 5,000 won bills have the exact same Kim Il-Sung design, only in different colors.

#6 – South Korea: Controversy over a historical armillary clock

In 2007, the Bank of Korea released 10,000 banknotes with a Joseon dynasty astronomical clock on the back. Historians went up in arms because the image depicted a similar invention, the Chinese honchonui, and not the 17th century Korean honchonsigye. The bank dismissed their demands for a re-design as nitpicking.

#7 – Macau: The Motherland stakes its claim

Macau was a Portuguese territory until it was handed back to China in 1999. Although Banco Nacional Ultramarino currency is still legal tender, China flexed its muscle by issuing four million 20-pataca banknotes that commemorate the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The press release explains: “In this way, citizens of the MSAR are able to share the joys of hosting such a magnificent international event by the Motherland.”

SOURCE:
CNNGo.com: “Funny money: The wacky world of Asian currencies”

North Korea's won has rapidly depreciated to Chinese traders

Nearly a month after North Korea redenominated its currency at a rate of 100 to 1 (read North Korea changes currency and rates 100 to 1), North Korea changes currency and rates 100 to 1), its international value has also begun to plunge.

Reports from South Korea’s Yonhap news agency this week stated the new North Korean currency was trading in neighboring China at a rate of 1,000 won for 1 yuan (the Chinese currency).

Shortly after the currency shift in early December, Chinese trade rates were steady around 50 to 1. Since then, the value of North Korean won has been rapidly depreciating.

The government of North Korea cited the country’s decade-plus run of economic hardship and increasing evidence of runaway inflation as their reason for redenomination, though many critics agree it was a direct attack on emerging private markets.

Citizens were only given one week to exchange their old currency for new currency in December, and were only permitted to exchange 150,000 won regardless of how much won they owned or had saved.

On New Year’s Day, North Korea banned the use of any international currency within its borders.

SOURCES:
AFP: “North Korea banknotes plunge in value: report”
Argentina Star: “North Korean banknotes find no favour with locals”