As described in the Banknote of the Month feature in the February issue of Currency News™, Kazakhstan’s new 20,000 tenge is memorable on a number of fronts – not least because the use of the Durasafe® substrate enabled the first ever application of a stripe in a vertical orientation, but also because it is the world’s first circulating note to incorporate SICPA’s new SPARK Flow® feature.

The Banco de México has continued its award-winning streak with the International Bank Note Society (IBNS) Banknote of the Year award for 2021 for the 50 peso. It won the same award for 2020 for the new 100 peso. And both notes recently earned it the HSP Regional Banknote of the Year award.

In their mandate to help maintain economic stability and confidence in the currency, central banks must continually evaluate the cash cycle imperatives and pressures for business and community in their countries.

The Central Bank of Uzbekistan issued a new series last year, based on the theme of the ‘Great Silk Road’ – the network of trade routes which played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and religious interactions between the East and West.

Orell Füssli Security Printing and AUGENTIC’s Connected Banknote – the UTOPIAN DUAL – won the Advancement of Digital Currency Award at the Digital Currency Conference in Washington DC last month, which took place immediately after the Banknote & Currency Conference.

The Reserve Bank of Fiji has issued a commemorative $7 banknote to celebrate the achievements of its Rugby 7s teams at the Tokyo Olympics, where the men’s and women’s teams picked up a gold and a bronze medal respectively.

When handling cash, we normally glance at each banknote for less than a second. Central banks and banknote issuers are coming to realise that this brief glimpse provides a crucial opportunity for public authentication.

The switch from paper to polymer banknotes in the Caribbean is gathering speed, with two countries announcing in March that they will be making the change.

The Reserve Bank of India has opened a new security ink manufacturing unit, VARNIKA, which will be operated by its subsidiary Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran Private Limited in Mysore.

According to CCL Secure, the SPARTAN banknote has been engineered specifically for the note/coin boundary and is the result of researchers creating not only a brand new kind of polymer but also reimagining the banknote production process.