US Unveils New $100 Note
By Emele Onu and Zacheaus Somorin, 04.23.2010

ECONOMY

The United States Consulate has unveiled the redesigned $100 note to Nigerian users of the foreign currency at a ceremony in Lagos yesterday.

The US Consul General, Public Affairs Section in Lagos, Ms Dunna Blair said the unveiling of the currency is part of the public sanitisation programme on the new note as executed all over the world, adding that the essence is to get people familiar with the features of the note before it is put to circulation on February 10, 2011.

The note had earlier been unveiled in the United States by the US Department of Treasury, the Federal Reserve Board and the United States Secret Service.

Blair said at the unveiling ceremony in Lagos that the currency is completely designed with advanced technology for the purpose of combating counterfeiting, with the retention of its traditional look.

“The new redesigned $100 note includes two new advanced counterfeit –deterrent security features, in addition to effective security features from the previous design which are easy for consumers and merchants to check when verifying authenticity”, she said.

According to the United States Government, the blue 3-D Security Ribbon on the front of the new $100 note contains images of bells and 100s that move and change from one to the other as one tilts the note.
The US Consul General pointed out that the bell in the inkwell on the front of the note is another security feature; likewise the image of the bell which changes colour from copper to green when the note is tilted, an effect she explained makes the note to appear and disappear within copper-coloured inkwell.

‘’As with previous U.S currency redesigns, this note incorporates the best technology available to ensure we are staying ahead of counterfeiters’’ said Secretary of the US Treasury, Tim Geithner.
Blair pointed out that when the new redesigned $100 note is issued on February 10,2011, the approximately 6.5 billion old $100s already in circulation will remain legal tender.

She pointed out however that ‘’US currency users should know they will not have to trade in their old notes when the new notes begin circulate’’.

distribution to my pocket na im matter to me,