Currency
Tracking the changing cash cycle: a global analysis
Antti Heinonen highlights sharp declines in note-return frequency and destruction rates
Bank of Spain denies it is withdrawing €50 bills
Central bank says UK tabloid stories are the result of fake news rather than fake notes
Banknotes: January to March 2025
A round-up of news and salient issues that have affected central bankers in the past three months
US dollar dominance: beyond the ‘exorbitant privilege’
Biagio Bossone argues that dollar ‘seigniorage’ extends into the very structure of global finance and its ‘exorbitant privilege’ is worth up to $804 billion annually
Iran releases 2 million rial banknotes
New series of high-value notes introduced as value of currency continues to fall
Eurosystem sees small rise in counterfeiting over 2024
€20 and €50 notes remain the most popular denominations to replicate
Fed study suggests fewer fake dollar bills are in circulation
Research suggests number of counterfeit notes has fallen eightfold since 2006
Trinidad to remove Columbus imagery from TT$100 banknote
Bills will display new coat of arms featuring national musical instrument, the steelpan
Bank of Israel may consider paying interest on future CBDC
Survey finds substantial interest in digital shekel, particularly from older Israelis
Stablecoins can bolster dollar’s international role, says Waller
Fed governor also warns against domestic and international regulatory fragmentation
ECB could do more to internationalise euro – research
Becoming international lender of last resort, issuing safe assets could improve offshore use
Trump orders US Treasury to stop minting pennies
President says coins cost too much but activists blame US Mint’s accounting
Rivers, birds and cultural spaces to feature on new euro notes
Design contest to start in 2025, though introduction “several years” away
Afghanistan to issue jail terms for large dollar transfers
Move to clamp down on illicit inflows comes as central bank struggles to prop up afghani
Trump’s tariff threats fuel corporate FX hedging revamp
Treasurers mull options and longer-dated hedges in face of mixed signals on extent and timing of measures
Libya to issue new banknotes
Central bank announces plan for five, 10 and 20 dinar bills amid continued cash shortage
Conflict casts doubt on viability of Sudan’s new banknotes
Concerns over regime’s stability may undermine its efforts to swap out old currency, says analyst
Vietnam and Laos launch local currency settlement framework
Central banks also set up cross-border QR payments link
Finland’s fintech head on retail CBDCs versus instant payments
Payments unit leader Aleksi Grym discusses overlaps and synergies for retail CBDCs and instant payment systems in Finland and the eurozone
Danish kroner coins to be minted in Spain until 2029
National Bank of Denmark heads south ahead of Finnish mint’s impending closure
PBoC suspends government bond purchases
China's central bank moves after “persistent excess demand” causes yields to hit record lows