The euro's most widely used banknote is about to get a security upgrade.
A new €50 banknote incorporating state-of-the-art security features allowing users to verify a note's authenticity using "feel, look, tilt" methods was unveiled by the European Central Bank today.
The note, which will enter circulation on April 4, is part of the ECB's second generation of euro banknotes, and follows second series €5, €10 and €20 notes.
"The introduction of the new €50 will make our currency even safer," ECB Executive Board member Yves Mersch said. "Its state-of-the-art security features help protect our money. The gradual launch of the new euro banknotes also underlines the Eurosystem’s commitment to cash as a trusted and efficient means of payment.”
The ECB had come in for criticism earlier this year after announcing that it would end the production of €500 notes - the largest banknotes in circulation - by September 2018, citing concerns that the notes were being used to launder money and other illicit activities.
In addition to already-existing security features such as watermarks and a raised feel, second generation €50 banknotes will also include:
A portrait window revealing a...