New $100 Bill Debuting Tomorrow After 2-Year Delay

Hey, Ben!

Hey, Ben!

The Benjamins are coming, the Benjamins are coming! And they’re all new, these fancy $100 bills that had been expected back in 2011. The Federal Reserve had to delay the new currency over creasing problems during the printing process, which left blank spaces on the bills. But now they’re on their way, finally.

The government shutdown can’t stop Benjamin Franklin’s new look from rolling out, notes CNNMoney, because the Fed’s budget isn’t tied up in the current congressional appropriations standoff.

These new hundreds come with security features that will make it easier for the general public to tell that they’re real, but are trickier for counterfeiters to fake. There’s a blue 3-D security ribbon and ink that shifts from copper to green when the bill is tilted, both in a large “100” on the back of the note and one of the “100” designations on the front. There’s also a new image of an ink well on the top side of the bill

Benjamin Franklin still peers out from the money like he does on the $100s around now, but he won’t be nested in a dark oval, unlike the other new bills out there in recent years.

While you might not have a plethora of hundos on hand at any given time, the $100 bill is second in popularity only to the $1 bill, outdoing the $20 bills and all other denominations in circulation popularity.

Don’t go throwing your $100 bills out the window any time soon — not that you would because that would just be insane, and if you do please let me know where to be and when — as the old bills will still be legal tender and are likely to stick around for a while. New bills will only be issued in the new design starting tomorrow, however.

New $100 bill to debut Tuesday [CNNMoney]

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