500 euro note

The euro was founded on 1 January 1999, when it became the currency of over 300 million people in Europe.[9] For the first three years of its existence it was an invisible currency, only used in accountancy. Euro cash was not introduced until 1 January 2002, when it replaced the national banknotes and coins of the countries in eurozone 12, such as the Luxembourgish franc.[9]

Slovenia joined the Eurozone in 2007,[10] Cyprus and Malta in 2008,[11] Slovakia in 2009,[12] Estonia in 2011,[13] Latvia in 2014[14] and Lithuania joined on 1 January 2015.

The five hundred euro note measures at 160 millimetres (6.3 in) × 82 millimetres (3.2 in)[19] with a purple colour scheme.[19] All bank notes depict bridges and arches/doorways in a different historical European style; the five hundred euro note shows Modern architecture (around the 20th century).[19] Although Robert Kalina's original designs were intended to show real monuments, for political reasons the bridge and art are merely hypothetical examples of the architectural era.[20] Nevertheless, the featured bridge is highly similar to Guadiana International Bridge.

Like all euro notes, it contains the denomination, the EU flag, the signature of the president of the ECB and the initials of said bank in different EU languages, a depiction of EU territories overseas, the stars from the EU flag and twelve security features as listed below.[3]

Security features

The EURion constellation on the 500 euro note.

The five hundred euro note is protected by:

• Colour changing ink[19] used on the numeral located on the back of the note, that appears to change colour from purple to brown, when the note is tilted.[21]
• A transparent number[19] printed in the top corner of the note, on both sides, appear to combine perfectly to form the value numeral when held against the light.[22]
• A glossy stripe,[19] situated at the back of the note, showing the value numeral and the euro symbol.[19]
• A hologram,[19] used on the note which appears to see the hologram image change between the value and a window or doorway, but in the background, it appears to be rainbow-coloured concentric circles of micro-letters moving from the centre to the edges of the patch.[21]
• A EURion constellation;[19] the EURion constellation is a pattern of symbols found on a number of banknote designs worldwide since about 1996. It is added to help software detect the presence of a banknote in a digital image.[19]
• Watermarks,[19] which appear when held up to the light.[19]
• Raised printing[19] in the main image, the lettering and the value numerals on the front of the banknotes will be raised.[23]
• Ultraviolet ink;[19] the paper itself does not glow, fibres embedded in the paper do appear, and be coloured red, blue and green, the EU flag is green and has orange stars, the ECB President's, currently Mario Draghi's, signature turns green, the large stars and small circles on the front glow and the European map, a bridge and the value numeral on the back appear in yellow.[24]
• Microprinting,[19] on various areas of the banknotes there is microprinting, for example, inside the "ΕΥΡΩ" (EURO in Greek characters) on the front. The micro-text is sharp, not blurred.[24]
• A security thread,[19] embedded in the banknote paper. The thread will appear as a dark stripe when held up to the light. The word "EURO" and the value is embedded in tiny letters on the thread.[22]
• Perforations[19] in the hologram which will form the euro symbol. There are also small numbers showing the value.[22]
• A matted surface;[19] the note paper is made out of pure cotton, which feels crisp and firm, but not limp or waxy.[23]
• Barcodes,[19]
• A serial number.[19]

One quarter of all 500 euro notes are recorded in Spain since its launch in 2002.

The value of the note is several times greater than many of the largest circulating notes of other major currencies, such as the United States 100 dollar bill.[25] Thus a large monetary value can be concentrated into a small volume of notes. This facilitates crimes that deal in cash, including money laundering, drug dealing, and tax evasion.[26] There have been calls to withdraw the note for this reason.[27][28][29][30][31] However, some of the currencies the Euro replaced had widely used high-value notes, including the 5,000 Austrian schillings (€363.36), and 1,000 Dutch guilders (gulden) (€453.78), although these did not exceed the value of the €500 note. Two exceptions were the 1,000 Deutsche Marks, which had an equivalent value of €511.29, and 500 Latvian lats, which had an equivalent value of €711.44.[25]

Even though there were some valuable banknotes in the national currencies of Germany, Austria and the Netherlands, the number of banknotes was relatively small compared to the Euro banknotes. At the end of the year 2000 there 89.20 million 1,000 Deutsche Mark banknotes, 13.97 million 5,000 Austrian Schilling banknotes and 13.28 million 1,000 Dutch Guilder banknotes in circulation. Latvia had a negligible number of 500 lat banknotes. In contrast the European Central Bank ordered the production of 371 million €500 banknotes before 1 July 2002.

In particular, Spain had a quarter of all these high-value bills within its borders in 2006.[27] This concentration of €500 notes is far greater than expected for an economy of Spain's size, as prior to conversion to euro the largest banknote was 10,000 Spanish pesetas, worth €60.10. These notes are rarely seen in every-day commerce – they have been nicknamed "Bin Ladens" by the populace (as the presence and appearance of the notes are well-known, but the notes themselves are very difficult to find).[32][33] British and Spanish police are using the bills to track money laundering.[27][28]

As of 20 April 2010, money exchange offices in the United Kingdom were banned from selling €500 notes due to their use in money laundering.[34] The Serious Organised Crime Agency claimed that "90% of all €500 notes sold in the UK are in the hands of organised crime", revealed during an eight-month analysis.[34] The €500 note is worth in the region of £400,[6] depending on exchange rates (around eight times the value of the Bank of England's largest publicly circulated note), and had, according to SOCA, become the currency choice for criminal gangs to hide their profits.[34]

The EU directive 2005/06/EC "on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purpose of money laundering and terrorist financing" tries to prevent such crime by requiring banks, real estate agents, tax and business advisors or agents, casinos and more companies to investigate and report usage of cash in excess of €15,000.[35]

The European Central Bank is closely monitoring the circulation and stock of the euro coins and banknotes. It is a task of the Eurosystem to ensure an efficient and smooth supply of euro notes and to maintain their integrity throughout the euro area.[36]

The €500 banknote peaked at the end of March 2009 at 36.9% of the value of all Euro banknotes. Circulation by numbers of notes peaked at 613,559,542 banknotes in December 2015 when the decision to not include this denomination in the new Europa series was made. The lowest number of €500 banknotes in recent years is 464,732,705 in September 2019.[36]

Besides the date of the introduction of the first set to January 2002, the publication of figures is more significant through the maximum number of banknotes raised each year. The number is higher the end of the year, except for this note between 2011 and 2013 until 2015. The figures are as follows:

The latest figures provided by the ECB:

The European Central Bank announced on 4 May 2016 that it would stop issuing the 500 euro notes "by the end of 2018". "Authorities increasingly suspect that they (€500 notes) are being used for illegal purposes, an argument that we can no longer ignore," according to a high-ranking bank official, Benoît Cœuré.[37][38] The notes were last printed in 2014 and the demand was satisfied since from stocks.[39][40]

On 27 January 2019, 17 of 19 Eurosystem's central banks stopped issuing and distributing €500 banknotes. To ensure a smooth transition and for logistic reasons, the Deutsche Bundesbank and the Oesterreichische Nationalbank opted for longer period and issued banknotes until 26 April 2019.[41][42][40] Circulating 500 euro notes remain legal tender and can continue to be used as a means of payment and store of value until further notice.[37][43][44] Banks, bureaux de change and other commercial parties can keep recirculating the existing notes.[5] The date when euro banknotes of the first series cease to be legal tender will be announced "well in advance" by ECB. Banknotes will always retain their value and can be exchanged for an unlimited period of time at the Eurosystem central banks.[45]

There was some concern that elimination of the high denomination may result in reduction in the overall value of banknotes in circulation. In 2017 and 2018 the ECB produced 88% of the circulating value of old €100, €200 and €500 banknotes in the new Europa €100 and €200 banknotes. As the old notes will be retired slowly, there is little reason to believe that the overall value cash circulating will decrease.

Legally, both the European Central Bank and the central banks of the eurozone countries have the right to issue the 7 different euro banknotes. In practice, only the national central banks of the zone physically issue and withdraw euro banknotes. The European Central Bank does not have a cash office and is not involved in any cash operations.[9]

• Media related to 500 euro banknotes at Wikimedia Commons