Europe is getting some high-tech high-value new bills, completing a shift from the originals, first issued in 2002—but it’s the end of the line for the €500 note, which has not been printed since April.
The new notes contain a host of new security features, as seen below, as well as some that the European Central Bank is not making public, all in the interest of defeating attempts at counterfeiting, which had become a problem with the old notes.
Don’t expect to see a lot of the new notes, by the way. The 200s represent less than 1% of all Euro currency, and even the 100 accounts for only 6%. The new notes will appear gradually as banks withdraw the old.
