There has been a lot of talk over the years about the redesign of the U.S. $20 bill. After a thorough selection process, it was decided that the likeness of abolitionist Harriet Tubman will replace Andrew Jackson on the U.S. $20 bill starting in 2030. But, what about a facelift for other paper currency in the U.S.? Changing Our Currency There is a lot that goes into changing U.S. currency. The Treasury Department’s Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) states that “Federal Reserve notes are a global reserve currency that must meet broad, unique needs:  authentication, counterfeit deter ..read more

In March 2022, the Biden White House released a signed Executive Order regarding the issue of ensuring responsible development of digital assets. Naturally, this caused conspiracy theorists to take to social media to tout their egregious claims that the Biden Administration was mandating a cashless America. This is simply not true. In August, the Associated Press (AP) published an article debunking the theory. The AP studied the claim that “President Joe Biden signed an executive order in March 2022 that will introduce a cashless society, make paper money worthless, give the government new p ..read more

The U.S. Treasury Department puts a lot of thought and effort into the design of U.S. currency. These efforts are largely to thwart criminals who seek to counterfeit U.S. paper currency for their own financial gain. There are ways, however, for retailers and business owners to help detect counterfeit currency if it passes into their hands. There are 5 easy ways for everyday people to detect counterfeit cash. Detection of fake cash starts as simple as looking at the bill’s size. Size It seems like common sense that all cash bills are the same size and weight. This can be, however, difficult f ..read more

During the summer of 2022 the marketing group, Mercator Advisory Group, released its 2022 ATM Market Summary: Coping in a New Cash and Digital Era. It became evident during the COVID-19 pandemic that the way consumers used cash changed. While in-person cash purchases declined during the heart of the pandemic, there was an increase in the amount of cash that people kept safely at home. And while businesses were largely shut down for months at a time, ATMs became a lifeline for customers still needing to conduct financial transactions. The Top 5 Uses for an ATM According to the Mercator Adviso ..read more

The Institute for Monetary and Financial Stability (IMFS) recently published a new working paper titled, On the Stabilizing Role of Cash for Societies.  In the paper’s introduction, authors Gerhard Rösl and Franz Seitz write, “It is uncontroversial that there should be a sufficient supply of money in the economy without any inflationary or deflationary pressure. However, it is less clear of what components the money stock should consist of: Private money (usually in the form of bank deposits) and/or public money in the form of cash or even Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) in the fut ..read more