This article provides further light on a topic addressed in Currency News™ last May, namely the development of the number of banknotes in circulation. The estimate then was like a first trial and resulted globally in 921 billion banknotes. It was based on data available at the time consisting mostly of end-2023 or 2024 figures.

Formerly known as Money Matters, this article is a continuation of the periodic series utilising information drawn from DataVault, the powerful online database which enables users to search, sort and aggregate data on all of the world’s banknotes and circulating coins.

On 8 March Switzerland is asking its citizens whether cash acceptance should be included in the constitution, something Slovakia introduced in December last year. On 1 January Australia introduced (limited) cash acceptance legislation and on 4 February the Netherlands passed its Cash Payments Act. It feels as if wherever you look action is being taken to safeguard cash.

The readers of this article are likely to agree that cash, whether banknotes or coins, is a wonderful thing. Although the siren call of convenience is luring people to digital alternatives, cash remains part of the fabric of our societal DNA.

This heading paraphrases words attributed to Mark Twain when his obituary was published while he was still alive. They seem strangely apt right now when it comes to cash.

In last month’s Currency News™, we reported on a new programme for financial inclusion called MoneyBox. In this interview, we provide more detail on this far-sighted and far-reaching initiative.

Jörg Eigendorf, Chief Sustainability Officer at Deutsche Bank recently posted on LinkedIn about monetising the protection of the rainforests. Coincidently, almost to the day, Biobanknote wrote to us about a project to reforest the Amazon.

PerceptNote® is the brainchild of two experts working in the area of banknote analysis, Jane Raymond from Secure Perception Research Ltd and Ernesto González Candela from UnderCurrency SA de CV. Each recognised the value of perception analysis for banknote design but also saw the problems and challenges of conducting perception testing with physical samples. In this article, they explain their solution.

In the northern hemisphere, August has become the ‘go away’ month. Everything slows down and you can’t be sure that you’ll get a response. In those circumstances, we are risking affront by suggesting the need for a radical and fundamental review of cash and the cash cycle. Replies welcome!

At the recent HSP™ Latin America conference in Rio, the winner of the Regional Commemorative Banknote of the Year award was Banco de Guatemala (Banguat) for the Q1 quetzal. The Governor, Alvaro González Ricci, who received the award, also spoke about the banknote in his presentation at the conference.