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(Washington, D.C.) New $100 bills will be showing up at banks this week.
The Federal Reserve Board says the new currency will start circulating today.
New security features include a blue, 3D security ribbon that makes it easier to authenticate and harder to counterfeit.
The bill was originally due to reach banks in 2011.
But three years ago the Federal Reserve announced that a problem with the currency’s new security measures was causing the bills to crease during printing, which left blank spaces on the
The image of Benjamin Franklin will be the same as on the current bill, but like all the other newly designed currencies, it will no longer be surrounded by an dark oval.
Except for the $1 and $2 bill, all U.S. paper currency has been redesigned in the last 10 years to combat counterfeiting.
The most recent statistics from the Fed show that as of Dec. 31, there were 10.3 billion $1 bills in circulation, 8.6 billion $100 bills and 7.4 billion $20 bills, followed by $5’s, $10’s, $50’s and $2’s.
A little more than 75% of the more than $1 trillion of currency in circulation is in $100 bills.
Much of it is held outside the United States.