Some big changes are going to be made to the famous $100 bills. The Federal Reserve and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing are planning to redesign and improve security features on cash money as part of their ongoing fight against fake money.
There will be changes to more than just the $100 bill. All bills will be redesigned from time to time to make them harder to copy and stop the circulation of fake money.
History of the 100-dollar bill
When it was first made in 1861 as a Treasury Note during the Civil War, the $100 bill had a long history. At first, the bill had a picture of Salmon P. Chase, who was President Abraham Lincoln’s Secretary of the Treasury.
Over the years, the $100 bill has gone through a number of design changes. These changes have affected both the security features and the way the bill looks.
The current size of U.S. bills was lowered in 1929, and the $100 bill started to have a picture of Benjamin Franklin on it.
Over time, many security features have been added to the bill, such as watermarks, security threads, and holograms, to stop people from making fakes.
A new, redesigned $100 bill came out in 1996. It had better security features, like a security ribbon and a larger, more detailed picture of Franklin.
The most recent redesign came out in 2013 and added a blue security ribbon and a bigger, off-center portrait of Franklin. It also made these features better.
The fight against counterfeit money
In the U.S., the fight against fake money is still going on. The government, banks, and businesses are all working hard to stay ahead of counterfeiters who are getting smarter.
Through the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP), the U.S. Treasury has kept the design and security features of U.S. currency up to date to stop people from making fakes.
The Secret Service and the Advanced Counterfeit Deterrence Steering Committee (ACD) are also working on projects to help with this.
Part of the fight against fake money is to make sure that the real bills that are in circulation are kept safe, as well as the value of the money.
The value of any currency depends on how much people trust that it is real and trustworthy. When fake money is used, it hurts the trust that makes people not trust cash.
Also, counterfeit money increases the amount of money in circulation without increasing the amount of goods and services that are available.
When fake money enters the economy, it gives people a false sense of wealth, which makes inflation worse.
When there is more “money” in circulation, real money can lose some of its purchasing power. This can cause prices for goods and services to go up. This inflation can make the money less valuable over time.
Current plan to crack down on counterfeit cash
There are already steps the Federal Reserve has taken to fight counterfeit money. One of these is limiting how badly a bill can be damaged before it can be exchanged at an ATM, business, or bank.
In some banking locations, bills that have been damaged so badly that it is hard to tell if they are real will have to be inspected and exchanged. Damage from water and money being burned are the main types of this kind of mutilation.
There are not many details about the changes that will be made to the $100 bill yet, like what will happen to Benjamin Franklin’s face, but the security strip and other features that allow people to identify the bill are likely to be changed.
The new bill will go into effect sometime between 2034 and 2038. There will be a new ten-dollar bill even sooner than this. The updated bill could come out as early as 2026. A new five-dollar bill will also be released between 2032 and 2035.
