ECB unveils new EUR50 note

In the age of digital money, the European Central Bank is stressing its commitment to cash through the launch of a new EUR50 note.

  2 2 comments

ECB unveils new EUR50 note

Editorial

This content has been selected, created and edited by the Finextra editorial team based upon its relevance and interest to our community.

The EUR50 is the most widely used euro note - there are more in circulation than there are EUR5, EUR10 and EUR20 combined.

In May the ECB decided to kill off the EUR500 note over concerns that it "could facilitate illicit activities" but the central bank is keen to stress that it is still backing physical money.

Yves Mersch, ECB Executive Board member, says that the new paper "underlines the Eurosystem’s commitment to cash as a trusted and efficient means of payment".

To prepare for the introduction of the new note in April 2017, the ECB has signed up 500 industrial partners across Europe to ensure money handling machines and authentication devices are ready.

For security, the new EUR50 includes a transparent window near the top of the hologram that, when held up to the light, reveals a portrait of Europa, a figure from Greek mythology, which is visible on both sides of the note.

The front of the banknote also features an “emerald number”, a shiny number that, when tilted, changes colour from emerald green to deep blue and displays an effect of the light that moves up and down.

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Comments: (2)

Christopher Williams

Christopher Williams Chairman at RTpay

If there is any good to come out of the Brexit disaster, it could be a move to a limitation in the UK (or what is left of it!) of any notes above ten pounds, so we can eventually achieve a fully digital currency. 

I find it difficult to see how the ECB can justify this continuance of assistance to tax evaders with high value notes; the Weimar Republic was a long time ago - just let it go.  

A Finextra member 

What about the fight against terrorist financing? The demise of the EUR 50 Note was certainly going to assist the authorities to prevent terrorist acts by denying its money supply. While cash has certainly been a very useful commodity and will be for some time yet. Forward thinking is what is needed. Cash equals crime, the black market, tax evasion and terrorism.

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