Next year, that wallet full of drab greenbacks you're carrying around will bloom into a paper bouquet of colored money.
The U.S. Treasury plans to combat high-tech counterfeiting by adding subtle background colors to our bank notes, with fall 2003 as the target date for brighter bills. The $20 will roll off the government presses first; $50 and $100 bills will sport new looks 12 to 18 months later. There are no plans to alter the
rarely-faked smaller denominations.
The coming currency changes were officially announced on June 20 by the Federal Reserve and Treasury department. Government officials offered no hint as to what hues will be used, but did say the money will contain enhanced security threads that will glow under ultraviolet light, as well as color-shifting ink so the eventual shade will change when a note is tilted.
"The idea behind the proposal to place subtle background colors on the money is really twofold: it will help consumers to differentiate between denominations while also deterring counterfeiters from attempting to duplicate currency with computers and those types of technologies," says Jim Hagedorn, spokesman for the Treasury's Bureau of Engraving and Printing.
"It is purely a security feature and something to aid the public. It isn't just something to make it pretty and different."
