Canada’s New Currency
Nov 15th, 2011 by davidjhinku
What are the bills pictured above, a artistic rendition? The answer no, above we have the future of Canadian currency, the new 100 dollar bill and the soon to be released 50 dollar bill. These new bills represent the future of physical currency in Canada with BoC Govoner still believing that a “cashless society” is unattainable (Mark Carney). Sure the new bills look different but what makes them the future of money, its the polymer plastic used to make them
Unlike the current cotton fibre paper notes we currently have in Canada the new polymer notes will last nearly 2.5 times longer (Bank of Canada). The reduced environmental impact from the longer lasting notes as well as the ability to recycle the old notes (Bank of Canada) plays a large role in the switch. New security measures built into the polymer also help the currency fight off the wave of increased counterfeiting that the country has been exposed to in recent years.
The one current downfall of the new notes is its price tag, nearly double the price of the current bills. Given that these new bills are just beginning to be produced, one can expect the cost of producing them will drop from the current 19 cents.
Producing these new notes seems like a smart move for the government, despite a higher price tag, the bills will last over double the length of current bills while fighting off a wave of counterfeiting. New payment methods such as those through cell phones or the currently established credit card system are ventures the Bank of Canada needs to be concerned with, but in today’s current world physical money accounts for more then half of all purchases warranting the need to keep developing more efficient methods of producing it.
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