European Central Bank Ends Production And Issuance Of €500 Banknote

Response to Walk2dwater
http://goccf.com/t/258616&whichpage=3#2895167
Thank you for the references at the Bank of Canada website.
The article "Is a Cashless Society Problematic?" dated October 2018 in discussing Sweden states that "More recently, the demand for SEK 500 notes has also started to decline."
The SEK500=CAD$73 is the dominate note for ATMs in Sweden,as the SEK1000 banknote is now only circulating in token quantities.

As the article probably used older data they wouldn't realize that the SEK500 banknote increased in circulation by 16% in the year 2018.

There is some evidence that the trend toward "cashlessness" may invoke a societal backlash at some point. People begin to worry about entrusting too much to banks and they almost become afraid that if they don't use cash it will vanish.

Iceland developed the most cashless society in the world in the mid 1980s. At the time Sweden had more cash in circulation than almost any country in the world (on par with Switzerland). They were still circulating a banknote denominated as 10,000 SEK which was worth roughly US$2000. Finland also went through a period of near cashlessness in the late 1990s. Iceland resurrected cash after all the banks went under in 2008, and Finland resurrected cash as it entered the Euro Area. The ECB instructed Finland to produce a certain number of notes worth far more than the supply of Finnish Markka. Cash began to circulate in Finland in increasing amounts since 2002.

While I applaud the South Korean to eliminate coins in an effort to speed up routine transactions, I think high denomination banknotes are comforting to people, and I am not sure if they will vanish.

The image of Demi Moore rolling on a bed covered in banknotes will never need explanatory closed captions for our children
https://s3.drafthouse.com/images/ma...426_81_s.jpg

As of 28 May 2019 €100 and €200 banknotes were issued to complete the Europa series. The number of €500 banknotes in circulation dropped 3% from 1 January to 30 April this year, but presumably many will be exchanged for the new Europa €200 series banknotes.

The ECB produced roughly a billion €200 note anticipating a newfound popularity for the series. The old €200 banknote never circulated more than 270 million, as the €500 banknote circulation got as high as 307 million notes at the end of 2015 before the ECB announced that it would be withdrawn from the Europa series.

You are right, of course, I meant to say 307 billion Euros in December 2015.

Since this war on the criminal banknote started, the 500 Euro notes in circulation are down to what they were 10-11 years ago. They should continue to drop as the new 100 and 200 Euro notes begin to circulate.

Does everyone in the EU feel safer yet?

BTW, in Sweden, the war on cash seems to have called a truce. The cash supply has returned to the level it was 2 years and 9 months ago when the last two banknotes were reissued. It will be interesting to see what happens if Sweden introduces central bank digital currency. Personally, I would wager that it makes no change to the cash supply.

-This may be the result of perceived (or real) Russian navy trespasses into various regions throughout Scandinavia (the Baltic Sea) and Sweden's recent efforts to prepare its citizens for possible emergencies. I believe the Swedish government realized that should their grid go down a large portion of their population wouldn't have any e-money available (or means of commerce). The BOC published a paper last year speculating on the pros/cons of going cashless & the authors suggested a similar scenario in times of crises/or emergencies. Instead of taking measures to protect/induce more of its population to use cash- the BOC then started to investigate employing its own cryptocurrency.



The Better Than Cash Alliance https://www.betterthancash.org is winning the battle towards a cashless society hands down. Several of its proponents like to dub high denominations (such as the 500 Euro) with terms like the "Bin Laden" note even though many of them also cite Bitcoin as the realm of mostly criminal commerce.

The €500 banknote seems to be getting destroyed at the rate of about 9 million per month for the last four months, so with 471 million in circulation there should be a reasonable supply for many years.

The €200 banknote, as predicted is gaining in popularity at 9.4 million per month for 2019. Overall there is no decreases in the cumulative value of Euro banknotes.

With over 470 million in circulation, it's value as a collector's item is minimal. It is just tying up a lot of money in a note which will be difficult to get rid of.

I have only met a few collectors who have a taste & budget for higher denominations. They would likely zero in on the 2002 Irish or Finish, Austrian or Spanish Duisenberg notes (though I heard the Irish 500 was pretty scarce too). I would consider this a "niche market" or "specialty" of the hobby.

As far as Euros on the whole go- I believe there's greater demand for the 2002 lower denominations (5,10,20) with the Duisenberg & Trichet signatures. I don't think the Draghi notes have the same demand. I have created a short video with more info on this topic on my signature panel & on my "Notaphilyc Culture" Website.