Newly Redesigned $100 Bill Just Introduced

The new $100 bill make its debut Tuesday, October 8, several years later than originally planned. The bill was originally due to reach banks in 2011. The new design counters counterfeiting as well as impacts money laundering. It is estimated that more than 60 percent of the bills are held outside the United States.

The new bill has several features designed to make it easier to authenticate and more difficult for counterfeiters to replicate. Those measures include a blue, 3-D security ribbon, as well as color-shifting ink that changes from copper to green when the note is tilted. That ink can be found on a large 100 on the back of the bill, on one of the 100 on the front, and on a new image of an ink well that is also on the front. The image of Benjamin Franklin will be the same as currently, but like all the other newly designed currencies, it will no longer be surrounded by an dark oval. Except for the 1 and 2 dollar bills, all U.S. paper currency has been redesigned in the last 10 years to combat counterfeiting.

From Tuesday on, only the new design will be issued to banks. But previous versions, there are real, will still he honored. The most recent statistics from the Fed show that as of Dec. 31, there were 8.6 billion $100 bills in circulation.