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March 18, 2008 - Efforts to stop counterfeit bills from entering the banknote system continued this month as the federal government moved into circulation a new $5 bill. The bill has security features that are easy to see by cash handlers, including splashes of purple at the center of the bill, two watermarks instead of one, and the relocation of the security thread.
The redesign will also help protect against a method of counterfeiting that bleaches or removes the ink from a $5 bill and prints over it to create a fake $100 bill. By eliminating as many similarities as possible between the $5 and $100 denominations, the new design helps foil counterfeiting and protects U.S. currency users. The bill is still easily recognizable yet difficult to reproduce.
A National Research Council report A Path to the Next Generation of U.S. Banknotes: Keeping Them Real identifies a range of security features to reduce counterfeiting from the petty to the professional criminal. The report also discusses new technologies that are cost-effective, easy to use, and make currency difficult to reproduce or simulate. Government efforts need to embrace a proactive strategy focused on innovation in order to stay a step or two ahead of the technologies available to counterfeiters, the report concludes.
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