Cash Lives — ECB Launches New €50 Banknote

The European Central Bank is aiming to keep the usage of cash alive with the launch of a new €50 note.

According to the ECB, the €50 accounts for nearly 45 percent of all euro banknotes used. Regarded as the most widely circulated note, the ECB said it is replacing the current €50 to help curb counterfeiting.

“The introduction of the new €50 will make our currency even safer,” Yves Mersch, ECB executive board member, said in a press release.

“Its state-of-the-art security features help protect our money. It is part of our continued efforts to preserve the euro as a stable currency, a currency that 338 million people across the euro area rely on day by day. The gradual launch of the new euro banknotes with new and enhanced features also underlines the Eurosystem’s commitment to cash as a trusted and efficient means of payment,” Mersch continued.

The new banknote will begin circulating in April 2017 and is the fourth denomination to be updated in the new Europa series of banknotes.

The new version of the currency will include a transparent window that will display a portrait of Greek mythology figure Europa when the bill is help up to the light. This security feature, along with the shiny “emerald number” that appears when the note is tilted, is designed to make it easier to confirm the authenticity of the new €50 using a “feel, look and tilt” method.

The Eurosystem has also launched a partnership program that will help to ensure banknote-handling machines and authentication devices are ready in time for the launch of the new banknote, the ECB confirmed.

“It involves more than 500 industrial partners across Europe and provides a wide range of educational tools and other resources related to the new banknote,” the ECB said. “More than 50 industrial partners also signed a memorandum of understanding on the adaptation of banknote equipment to the new €50 banknote on 15 June 2016 to underline their commitment to ensuring a smooth introduction of the new banknote.”