DNB Banknote checker - phone app

Phone app identifies counterfeit euros

The Dutch National Bank (DNB) has released an app which can be used to identify if a euro banknote is genuine or counterfeit. The app, which can be used on the iPhone 5 or higher, uses the device’s camera to scan the banknote and, the DNB claims, in many cases can identify straightaway whether the…

Maldives banknotes to use Safeguard® polymer substrate

The Maldives Monetary Authority, the country’s Central Bank, has announced that its next series of banknotes will be printed using De La Rue’s Safeguard® polymer substrate. The new family of notes will consist of denominations currently circulating (10, 20, 50, 100 and 500 Rufiyaa), the new 1,000 Rufiyaa note which is due to be issued in…

Trinidad & Tobago banknote

Trinidad & Tobago wins 2014 Bank Note of the Year

The International Bank Note Society (IBNS) has announced that the winner of the 2014 Bank Note of the Year award is the 50 dollar polymer note from the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago. The note, collaboratively produced by the Central Bank and De La Rue, commemorates the Bank’s 50th anniversary and has been in…

Burundi 2000 banknote

Burundi Issues New Banknotes

On the 29th April 2015, the Bank of the Republic of Burundi (BRB), the country’s Central Bank, launched a new series of banknotes consisting of BIF 500, BIF 2000, BIF 5,000 and BIF 10,000 notes. The paper notes are designed using bright colours, different to the design of the denominations before them: the 500 is…

Solomon Islands_100 banknote_small

Solomon Islands issue new $100 banknote

The Central Bank of the Solomon Islands has issued a new $100 banknote. The new note is the second to be issued from the Solomon Island’s latest series of banknotes, following the $50 banknote issued in 2013. The theme of the note, which was designed and printed in collaboration with De La Rue, is rural…

Upgraded ECCB security thread

ECCB upgrades banknote security threads

The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) has today issued a press release advising of a security thread upgrade to all its banknote denominations except for the $5. The Bank advises that the upgrade is “in keeping with the advancement in technology to prevent counterfeiting”.   Read the ECCB press release here.  |  See ECCB banknote…

Scottish 5 polymer banknote_Small

Scottish polymer banknote begins circulating

The first fully polymer banknote to be circulated in Great Britain has been launched this week by Clydesdale Bank. The new plastic £5 banknote is available from Clydesdale Bank branches from today, a year before the Bank of England plans to issue its own polymer banknotes. The limited edition banknote is being launched to coincide…

New 1 pound coin design

Royal Mint reveals new pound coin design

The Royal Mint has today revealed the design of the new one pound coin, which has the same shape as the old 12-sided threepence piece (3d) last used in 1971. The reverse (“tails”) side of the coin has been designed by 15 year old David Pearce from Walsall, who took part in a competition launched…

T-Mobile Poland accepts Bitcoin

Mobile phone operator T-Mobile has begun accepting Bitcoin payments for pay-as-you-go phone top-ups in Poland. T-Mobile, one of Poland’s leading mobile phone operators, has begun a 3 month trial offering the virtual currency Bitcoin as an alternate payment option in partnership with Polish payments processor InPay. To help launch this new payment option, T-Mobile is…

Thailand to launch new 100-Baht banknote

The Bank of Thailand has launched a new 100-Baht banknote. The new banknote is part of the 16th series of banknotes issued by Thailand’s Central Bank, and entered circulation on the 26 February 2015. According to the Bank’s press release, the new banknote continues to use the same colour and dimensions as its predecessor, but…