Fox News-In New U.S. $100 Note, Ben Franklin Goes High Tech

A newly designed $100 note contains advanced security features to combat counterfeiters, but older $100 notes will remain in circulation after the new currency is released in February 2011.


WASHINGTON -- A newly designed $100 note contains advanced security features to combat counterfeiters, but older $100 notes will remain in circulation after the new currency
is released in February 2011, top U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve officials said on Wednesday.

The note retains the traditional look of the U.S. currency, with Benjamin Franklin's portrait, but contains a blue three-dimensional security ribbon with alternating images of bells and the number 100 that change as the viewing angle is tilted. It also has a bell image on the front that changes from copper to green when tilted.

"As with previous U.S. currency redesigns, this note incorporates the best technology
available to ensure we're staying ahead of counterfeiters," U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said in a statement.

The $100 note is the most often counterfeited denomination of U.S. currency outside the United States due to its wide circulation. It is the highest-denominated note issued by the Federal Reserve.

In recent years, U.S. officials have been trying to combat the continued production of extremely high-quality counterfeit $100 notes they say are produced in North Korea, dubbed the "supernote," which are undetectable to nearly all but the most sophisticated currency experts.
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The Dollar Bill Goes High-Tech

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said in a statement that unlike in the past when most cash dollars were held domestically, as many as two thirds of the $890 billion in Federal Reserve notes now in circulation are outside the United States.

He said U.S. officials will work to educate people around the world about the new design, but added that older notes will remain in circulation.

"It is important to understand when the new design $100 note is issued on February 10, 2011, the approximately 6.5 billion older design $100s already in circulation will remain legal tender," Bernanke added. "U.S. currency users should know they will not have to trade in their older design $100 notes when the new ones begin circulating."

Bernanke added that the $100 note was important to the U.S. economy.

"A sound currency is the bedrock of a sound economy. Therefore, the United States government must stay ahead of counterfeiters and protect the integrity of our currency," he said.

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/04/21/new-note-combat-counterfeiters/

Yahoo News-New $100 bill unveiled to thwart high-tech counterfeits

Last month, when the Treasury Department announced that it was revamping the $100 bill yet again to curtail counterfeiters, the Associated Press said that the new design — which employs a new "moving" microprint technology — was "like something straight out of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

To hype the new bill, the Treasury set up a website (www.newmoney.gov) featuring a clock counting down the hours, minutes, and seconds to its unveiling. That clock just ran down to zero, with Treasury officials unveiling the new bill at a news conference at 10:15 a.m. ET Wednesday. While Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke were on hand for the occasion, there was thankfully no sign of Lord Voldemort.

And the Treasury Department released video of the new note:



"This note incorporates the best technology available to ensure we're staying ahead of counterfeiters," Geithner said at the unveiling ceremony.

The makeover is Treasury's latest bid to keep a step ahead of counterfeiters. Officials are especially concerned with the $100 bill — the favorite target of counterfeiters, who continually upgrade their tech arsenals with new color-copying and other software.

One particularly high-quality type of counterfeit $100 bill — dubbed the "Superdollar" because it's the product of technology believed to be superior to that used in producing the real thing — has been thwarting Treasury enforcers for more than a decade now.

No one knows the true origins of the Superdollar — such mysteries are, after all, the hallmark of successful counterfeiting. In 2005, the U.S. government accused the North Korean government of forging the phony bill, though some believed that accusation to be founded on "shaky evidence." Pop-conspiracy theories swirl wildly around other candidates — including, but by no means limited to, the Iranian government, Chinese or Russian organized crime outfits, and the CIA.

According to a 2006 New York Times Magazine piece by Stephen Mihm, the government's failure to crack the Superdollar case prompted a 1996 redesign the $100 bill, its first since 1928. That version of the bill featured watermarks as its chief anti-counterfeiting tool. The new bill goes way beyond that, featuring a security thread decades in development: the microprinted mobile image that has inspired all the Harry Potter chatter. When the bill is moved side to side, the image on the bill appears to move up and down, and it's moved up and down, the image appears to move side to side.

The new bill will go into circulation later in the year. Also coming this year: a new design for the $5 bill. Apparently, for some U.S. currency users, it's still not all about the Benjamins.









— Brett Michael Dykes is a national affairs writer for Yahoo! News.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/20100421/ts_ynews/ynews_ts1718

The Wall Street Journal-U.S. Unveils New $100 Bill

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, from left, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, and U.S. Secret Service Deputy Director Keith Prewitt, watch the security features of the new design of the $100 bill as it is unveiled at the Treasury Department.

By DARRELL A. HUGHES

WASHINGTON—Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke unveiled a new $100 bill equipped with two new security features.

The bill will go into circulation Feb. 10, 2011.

The Fed, along with the Treasury Department, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the U.S. Secret Service, "continuously monitor the counterfeiting threats" for each denomination and redesign decisions are made based on those threats, Mr. Bernanke said.

"This job has become more complex in recent years as technology advances and U.S. dollar flows expand and increase," he added.
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* Real Time Econ: Treasury Introduces New $100 Bill

The bill—the highest denomination of all U.S. notes—circulates widely around the world, with circulation in the past 25 years growing to $890 billion from $180 billion.

About two-thirds of all $100 notes circulate outside the U.S.; Mr. Bernanke said the agencies must ensure people around the world are aware of the design change. Over the next several months, officials at the agencies will work to educate cash handlers, consumers and others about the design and explain how to use its security features.

The 6.5 billion or so $100 notes in circulation now will remain legal tender, Mr. Bernanke said.

The new bill's security features include a blue 3-D Security Ribbon on the front of the note that contains images of bells and 100s, which move and change from one to the other as you tilt the note, according to joint release from the agencies.

Another security feature is the "Bell in the Inkwell" image that changes color from copper to green when the note is tilted, an effect that makes it appear and disappear within the inkwell. (For more on the redesigned note and its features, visit www.newmoney.gov.)

"As with previous U.S. currency redesigns, this note incorporates the best technology available to ensure we're staying ahead of counterfeiters," Mr. Geithner said.

The new design for the $100 note retains three effective security features from the previous design: the portrait watermark of Benjamin Franklin, the security thread, and the color-shifting numeral 100.

Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704133804575197990310606472.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines

Wallet Pop-New $100 Bill has more Ben, more safeguards

Apr 21st 2010 at 1:45PM

His stringy hair still needs a wash, but it's a bigger, better, safer Benjamin Franklin on the refurbished $100 bill introduced today. The bill goes into circulation in February, tricked out with new security measures that might have pleased the tinkerer in Franklin, a Founding Father who invented the lightning rod.

A blue 3-D ribbon on the front casts images of bells and 100s that shift from one to the other when the bill is tilted. The "Bell in the Inkwell" changes from copper to green as you alter your perspective. See for yourself.


Of course all the high-tech snazziness is to counter the counterfeiters -- especially important considering that the $100 bill, last redesigned in 1996, is the largest denomination still produced by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. It remains the most counterfeited note outside of the United States, according to the Treasury.

"To ensure a seamless introduction of the new $100 note into the financial system, we will continue global public education of retailers, financial institutions and industry organizations to ensure that consumers and merchants are aware of the new security features," Treasurer Rosie Rios told WalletPop and every other outlet that read the government memo.

The currency retains its '90s-embedded protection of a watermark portrait of Franklin and a color-shifting numeral 100. The new and old technology make for easy examination to separate the authentic from the bogus.

"Protect yourself -- it only takes a few seconds to check the new $100 note and know it's real," Larry R. Felix, director of the Treasury's Bureau of Engraving and Printing, said in the release, which accompanied an unveiling ceremony headed by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

The Treasury didn't forget to give Franklin and the tableau its version of cosmetic surgery. Franklin's round countenance occupies more of the bill, and we now get a rear view of Independence Hall. Also adding to the aesthetics are phrases from the Declaration of Independence and the quill used to sign the document.

Those of you who have one or more of the 6.5 billion $100 bills currently in circulation can relax. They'll remain legal tender.

Source: http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2010/04/21/new-100-bill-has-more-ben-more-safeguards/

BusinessWeek-U.S. Unveils New $100 Bill to Foil Counterfeiters (Update1)

April 21, 2010, 12:11 PM EDT

By Vincent Del Giudice

April 21 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke introduced the latest remake of the $100 bill, featuring advanced security designs and a larger portrait of founding father Benjamin Franklin.

The bills, viewable at www.newmoney.gov/, will go into circulation in February 2011.

The new look, aimed at thwarting counterfeiters, has several new security features, including a “3-D Security Ribbon” and an image of a bell on the front of the note that, when tilted, changes in color from copper to green. The reverse side of the bill includes a new vignette of Independence Hall in Philadelphia.

“As with previous U.S. currency redesigns, this note incorporates the best technology available to ensure we’re staying ahead of counterfeiters,” said Geithner, whose signature appears on the bills.

The bills also retain from the previous version a portrait watermark of Franklin, who signed the Declaration of Independence, as well as a security thread and a “color- shifting” numeral 100, officials announced at the unveiling ceremony at the Treasury in Washington.

“When the new design $100 note is issued on Feb. 10, 2011, the approximately 6.5 billion older design $100s already in circulation will remain legal tender,” Bernanke said. “U.S. currency users should know they will not have to trade in their older design $100 notes when the new ones begin circulating.”

The $100 bill is the largest denomination note printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, a division of the Treasury. Larger denominations of $500, $1,000 and more are no longer issued but remain in circulation, especially among collectors.

Source: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-04-21/geithner-bernanke-unveil-new-100-bill-to-foil-counterfeiters.html

CNN-Treasury to unveil new $100 bill

April 21, 2010 1:47 p.m. EDT
Washington (CNN) -- Benjamin Franklin gets a facelift as the Treasury Department unveils a new $100 bill Wednesday, the first remake of the denomination since 1996.

The new design for the $100 note will make its debut during a 10:30 a.m. ceremony at the Department of the Treasury's Cash Room that will be attended by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

"The $100 note is the highest value denomination of U.S. currency in general circulation, and it circulates broadly around the world," according to a statement from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. The denomination is popular when large amounts of cash need to be carried internationally.

Anti-counterfeiting measures are the main reason the United States has been making changes in currency.

The currency changes started in 1996 with the $100 bill, followed by a new $20 bill in 2003. The $50 bill got an overhaul in 2004, and the $10 was redesigned in 2006. The $5 bill was upgraded in 2008.

Security features added to the paper help people to spot bogus bills. They include watermarks and an embedded security thread.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/04/21/hundred.dollar.bill/index.html

MSNBC-With new $100 bill, Franklin gets a makeover

Treasury to debut note April 21 at Treasury Department ceremony

For decades, U.S. manufacturing jobs have been slipping away even as American factories churn out billions of dollars worth of goods.

WASHINGTON - Aiming to stay a step ahead of counterfeiters, the government is planning a new design for the $100 bill that will be unveiled next month, the Treasury Department said Friday.

Wraps will come off the facelift for Ben Franklin at an April 21 ceremony in the ornate Cash Room at the department, the site of Ulysses Grant's first inaugural ball in 1869. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will do the honors.

The government says its decisions on redesigning currency are guided by assessments of counterfeiting threats, from digital technology or old-fashioned printing presses.
The C-note — the highest value of all U.S. bills — circulates widely around the globe.

The unveiling of the new design is the first step in a global campaign by the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve Board and the Secret Service to inform users of the bill of the changes before it starts circulating, Treasury said in a news release.

Training materials on the new $100 bill for those who handle cash and educational information will be available in 25 languages beginning on April 21 at www.newmoney.gov.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35752803