Banco de Guatemala put into circulation a new Q100 (quetzal) banknote in July. It is one of the most widely used denominations in the country and features a new dynamic Galaxy® Saturn thread.

In the session at G+D’s July Currency Technology Symposium on cash initiatives around the world, a number of speakers described their cash cycles and access to cash. While the Dutch National Bank (DNB) is insourcing cash processing as cash volumes fall, cash volumes in Canada are now stable and the private sector is investing and innovating. In contrast South Africa is focused on working with stakeholders to manage note quality in circulation. It too, is looking at how to protect cash.

One of the discussions at G+D’s July Currency Technology Symposium centred on how efficiency can be leveraged to build resilience across a wide range of scenarios through rethinking cash centre operations.

Of the c. 1,000 circulating banknotes in the world from 166 issuing authorities, 35 denominations from eight issuers have a vertical (portrait) orientation on both the front and the reverse, 14 denominations from two issuers on the front only, and 54 denominations from 10 issuers on the reverse only.

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.

The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) and Bank of South Sudan have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish a comprehensive cooperation framework in the areas of security printing, developing innovative solutions for switching and processing payment card transactions in South Sudan, and exchanging knowledge, experiences, and technical training.

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.

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!

The focus for this month’s summary of news from central bank annual reports and other sources are Mozambique, South Africa, and the UK.

We have recently read that the US Treasury has confirmed that the production of US one cent coins will stop once the stocks of blanks have been used up. Respectively, on the other side of the Atlantic, the German National Cash Forum advocates rounding up or down to the nearest 5 euro cent for cash payments in Germany. It even proposes that the rounding rule (applied from the beginning in Finland) should be applied across Europe as uniformly as possible. Cash means both notes and coins. Therefore, the monitoring of both is important to the future of cash.

In China, commemorative banknotes are more than just banknotes; they serve as carriers of significant historical memories, reflections of Chinese culture, and symbols of national achievements. Because of this, the country sets a high store on quality standards for each note. Among the features most valued by collectors is the presence of consecutive serial numbers – the more unique and uninterrupted the sequence, the greater the collectible value.

At the Currency Conference in May, Bundesdruckerei presented visuals of the latest house note in its ExNihilo series. To do so, it used an ingenious new tool from Koenig & Bauer Banknote Solutions (KBBS) – Nota-Live™, which provides accurate live simulation of security documents, complete with realistic optically-varying effects, offering an exceptionally accurate and dynamic way to visualise the designs of these documents.

Perhaps this feels like a nugatory question. But when you consider that between 2003 and 2024 there were five times as many studies about the cost of cash than about its value, and that the cost studies were mostly based on numbers while the value studies were more theoretical or descriptive, then the question starts to make sense.

Amidst the gradual introduction of a new banknote series, Banco Central de Bolivia (BCB) has also launched a new bicentennial commemorative banknote, which was unveiled earlier this month at a special event attended by the country’s President at the Casa de Libertad in Sucre, a heritage museum and former church where the country signed its declaration of independence in 1825.

In this version of Banknote of the Month, we are focusing on some of the latest and best house notes, specifically those which have been released at the Currency Conference in May or the High Security Printing (HSP) Latin America conference in June.

The Royal Mint (TRM) has announced that just over 30 million new £1 coins are entering circulation across the UK, including 23.3 million of the final £1 coins featuring the effigy of the late Queen Elizabeth II.

In last month’s Currency News™ we mused on whether inviting the public to provide input into new currency designs was a good or a bad thing. It has undoubted benefits, but also carries risks.

The ultra-fast trading platform Fastex recently announced the release of a series of collectible currency notes, each backed 1:1 by FTN token, the platform’s native cryptocurrency. Unveiled in early July at the Harmony Meetup 7 in Yerevan, Armenia, the annual event that unites top minds from Web3 and iGaming, these notes feature banknote-grade anti-counterfeit features provided by Authentix.

Currency News™ will publish its third special supplement, ‘Concept Notes: Art, Design and Security in One’, in Spring 2026 – featuring the latest concept (house) notes from across the industry.