It’s All About the Benjamins: New $100 Bill In Circulation Beginning Today

October 8, 2013

The new redesigned $100 note went into circulation Tuesday. This note, which incorporates new security features such as a blue, 3-D security ribbon, is designed to be easier for the public to authenticate but more difficult for counterfeiters to replicate.

The new design for the $100 note was unveiled in 2010, but its introduction was postponed following an unexpected production delay. To ensure a smooth transition to the redesigned note when it begins circulating in October, the U.S. Currency Education Program is reaching out to businesses and consumers around the world to raise awareness about the new design and inform them about how to use its security features.

The U.S. Treasury offers the following information about the new $100 bill:

It Is Not Necessary to Trade in Old-Design $100 Notes for New Ones. All U.S. currency remains legal tender, regardless of when it was issued.

Know Its Features. Know It’s Real. The fight against counterfeiting depends on the public knowing how to use the security features in U.S. currency.

  • Although less than 1/100th of one percent of the value of all U.S. currency in circulation is reported counterfeit, the $100 note is the most widely circulated and most often counterfeited denomination outside the U.S.
  • Protect yourself by using the new and enhanced security features in the redesigned $100 note that thwart potential counterfeiters from producing high-quality fakes.

Two Security Features:

3-D Security Ribbon: A blue ribbon on the front of the $100 note with images of bells and 100s.

  • Tilt the note back and forth while focusing on the blue ribbon. You will see the bells change to 100s as they move.
  • When you tilt the note back and forth, the bells and 100s move side to side. If you tilt it side to side, they move up and down.
  • The ribbon is woven into the paper, not printed on it.

Bell in the Inkwell: A color-shifting bell, inside a copper inkwell, on the front of the note. o

  • The inkwell and bell are both copper until you move the $100 note.
  • Tilt it to see the bell change from copper to green, an effect which makes the bell seem to appear and disappear within the inkwell.

Comments

5 Responses to “It’s All About the Benjamins: New $100 Bill In Circulation Beginning Today”

  1. David Huie Green on October 10th, 2013 7:19 am

    Committees move slowly. (This makes the date proper.)
    It avoids mistakes in general to act slowly and deliberately. Congress, a couple of committees, sometimes bullies its members with narrow passage of bad legislation.
    TOO FAST
    Now they blame others for opposing digging deeper the hole of our debt which they dig more rapidly with every new administration (even though it is the duty of Congress to decide such things)

    David for better committees
    and more hundred dollar bills for everyone

  2. Cking on October 9th, 2013 2:55 pm

    Looking at the images used on this particular $100 bill -
    Did you know how they are all related to each other?
    The Declaration of Independence wasn’t signed on July 4, 1776 (note printed date).
    On July 1, 1776, the Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia, and on the following day 12 of the 13 colonies voted in favor of Richard Henry Lee’s motion for independence. The delegates then spent the next two days debating and revising the language of a statement drafted by Thomas Jefferson. On July 4, Congress officially adopted the Declaration of Independence, and as a result the date is celebrated as Independence Day. Nearly a month would go by, however, before the actual signing of the document took place. Benjamin Franklin was the oldest signers on the Delclaration of Independence at age 70 and the Liberty Bell is an iconic symbol of American independence.

    Let’s hope Congress doesn’t take a month these days to sign important documents. How ironic???

  3. Just sayin' on October 9th, 2013 8:01 am

    In today’s economy, I don’t think too many of us are going to be seeing a lot of these.

  4. Cassandra basemore on October 8th, 2013 6:49 am

    I think that they are great and so colorful. This should definitely give the counterfeiters a run for the money!

  5. baebae on October 8th, 2013 6:20 am

    I have some amazing $100 bills…they all disappear without a trace

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under FEATURE TOP STORY, Features, News