New $20 a month away

On Oct. 9, the greenback will go pink.
September 9, 2003: 2:56 PM EDT
By Gordon T. Anderson, CNN/Money contributing writer

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - If federal banking officials have their way, retailers across America will be seeing pink on Columbus Day. That's because on Oct. 9, the new, peach-colored $20 bills will enter into circulation across the United States.

The front of the new $20 bill. The vertical red printing reads 'specimen'.



The Federal Reserve announced Tuesday that distribution of the new $20 notes will begin next month, the first in a series of redesigns that will take place over the next few years.

The eventual redesign of the $50 and $100 bills has already been announced, and the government is considering making changes to the $5 and $10 notes as well.

The Fed, the nation's central bank, says it expects to introduce new currency designs every seven to 10 years, and will use different colors on different denominations.

The new $20 is intended to thwart counterfeiters with an array of security features. "This is the most secure note the U.S. government has ever produced," Fed governor Mark Olson said in a statement.

Among the features are a watermark image engrained into the paper itself; a vertical plastic strip embedded into the note; and color-shifting ink, whose appearance changes in hue from copper to green as the bill is tilted against light.

For most people, of course, the most obvious change is that the greenback won't be all green anymore. The new $20 contains background colors of pink (peach) and blue, in addition to different shades of green.

It is the first time since the early part of the twentieth century that U.S. currency has prominently featured a color other than green.

Besides consumers and retailers, the people most affected by changes in the currency may be those who make vending machines.

The Bureau of Engraving and Printing, which oversees the roll out, has been working with the industry for more than a year to ensure vending machines are compatible with the new bills, according to Tom Ferguson, the Bureau's director.

what do you think of the idea of colorful US money and it's possible deterance to counterfeiters?

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The US has the most boring currency in the world. Not only do other countries' currency tend to be more colorful, some also put poets, writers, and artists on their currency, rather than presidents.

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