You Are In: USINFO > Products >Washfile

28 September 2004

New $50 Bill Enters Into Circulation Worldwide

All existing U.S. notes remain legal tender, officials say

The United States has put into circulation a new $50 bill featuring enhanced anti-counterfeiting elements and subtle background colors of red, white and blue.

In a September 28 joint news release, the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Department of the Treasury said the new design -- the most recent in a series of updates to U.S. banknotes -- aims to protect the integrity of the notes against increasingly sophisticated counterfeiting networks.

"We believe that redesigning the currency regularly and enhancing security features is the way to keep U.S. currency safe and secure from would-be counterfeiters," Deputy Treasury Secretary Samuel Bodman said in the release.

The Federal Reserve -- the U.S. central bank -- estimates that for every 25,000 genuine $50 notes in circulation less than one is counterfeit.

Nearly $700 billion in U.S. banknotes are currently in circulation, two-thirds of them outside the United States.

A new design for the $10 will be unveiled in 2005 and the $100 note will be redesigned some time in the future, officials said. A redesigned $20 bill was put into circulation in 2003.

The U.S. government is supporting a worldwide public education program to ensure a smooth transition for redesigned currency notes. Training materials such as posters and brochures are available in 24 languages and can be downloaded from the World Wide Web at www.moneyfactory.com/newmoney

Outreach efforts include training for cash-handlers, merchants, business and industry associations, as well as the media.

The redesigned $50 bill is the same size as the older version and still features former president Ulysses S. Grant on the front and the U.S. Capitol building on the back. The borders around both Grant and the Capitol have been removed.

In addition to fresh touches of color, new or upgraded elements of the design include a watermark, security thread and color-shifting ink.

U.S. officials stress that notes of both the new and old design will continue to be accepted as long as they remain in circulation. According to a Treasury fact sheet, all forms of paper currency issued by the U.S. government are considered legal tender and redeemable at full face value. The U.S. government has never devalued its currency.

"As we introduce this beautiful new note into the monetary system, we want the public to remember that the old designs will remain in circulation and maintain their full face value," Michael Lambert, the Federal Reserve Board's Cash Manager, said in the news release. "It has always been the tradition with U.S. currency for the old and new designs of the same denomination to circulate together -- all notes are good for good."

Following is the text of the Treasury/Federal Reserve news release:

(begin text)

Newly Redesigned U.S. $50 Notes To Be Issued by the U.S. Government Beginning Today

Local Banks to Begin Distributing the Note over the Next Several Weeks

Washington, September 28, 2004 -- The newly redesigned U.S. $50 note will soon be showing up in wallets around the world. Today marks the day the U.S. Federal Reserve System issues the new note and begins distributing it through the international banking system into the hands of consumers around the world.

The U.S. $50 note includes enhanced security features, subtle background colors of blue and red, images of a waving American flag and a small metallic silver-blue star. "The stability and integrity of U.S. paper currency is something the U.S. government takes very seriously," said Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Samuel W. Bodman. "We believe that redesigning the currency regularly and enhancing security features is the way to keep U.S. currency safe and secure from would-be counterfeiters."

"As we introduce this beautiful new note into the monetary system, we want the public to remember that the old designs will remain in circulation and maintain their full face value," said Michael Lambert, the Federal Reserve Board's Cash Manager. "It has always been the tradition with U.S. currency for the old and new designs of the same denomination to circulate together -- all notes are good for good."

The new $50 note is the second denomination in the Series 2004 currency, the most secure series of notes in U.S. history. The first denomination in the new design series was the $20 note, which began circulating in October 2003. "The next denomination in the series will be a new $10 note," said Tom Ferguson, Director of the U.S. Treasury's Bureau of Engraving and Printing. "We are currently working on the design and expect to unveil it in 2005." The $100 note is also slated to be redesigned, but a timetable for its introduction is not yet set. The government has no plans to redesign the $5 note at this time, and the $1 and $2 notes will not be redesigned.

Public Education

With as much as two-thirds of the nearly $700 billion in U.S. currency circulating outside the United States, the U.S. government is supporting a worldwide public education program designed to inform people around the world about the note's updated security features. The program will ensure a smooth transition of each newly designed currency note into the public domain. The outreach includes cash-handlers, merchants, business and industry associations, and the media.

A variety of training materials such as posters and brochures are available in 24 languages. The materials can be downloaded from www.moneyfactory.com/newmoney or ordered through the website at no charge.

Since May 2003, more than 52 million pieces of training materials have been ordered by businesses and other organizations to help train their cash-handling employees about the notes' enhanced security features.

The New Color of Money

While consumers should not use color to check the authenticity of their currency (relying instead on user-friendly security features -- see below), color does add complexity to the note, making counterfeiting more difficult. Different colors are being used for different denominations, which will help everyone -- particularly those who are visually impaired -- to tell denominations apart.

Security Features

The new $50 design retains three important security features that were first introduced in the 1990s and are easy for consumers and merchants alike to check:

-- Watermark: A faint image, similar to the portrait, which is part of the paper itself and is visible from both sides when held up to the light.

-- Security thread: Also visible from both sides when held up to the light, this vertical strip of plastic is embedded in the paper and spells out the denomination in tiny print.

-- Color-shifting ink: The numeral in the lower right corner on the face of the note, indicating its denomination, changes color from copper to green when the note is tilted.

Counterfeiting: Increasingly Digital

Through a combination of improvements in security features, aggressive law enforcement and education efforts to inform the public about how to check their currency, counterfeiting has been kept at low levels. About 1 in 25,000 $50 notes is a counterfeit, according to the Federal Reserve.

However, since 1995, digitally produced counterfeit notes have increased from one percent of all counterfeits detected in the U.S. to 40 percent. To stay ahead of counterfeiters as advances in technology make digital counterfeiting of currency easier and cheaper, the government expects to redesign the currency about every seven to ten years.

(end text)

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)