At the end of May 2019, the European Central Bank presented new euro-banknotes in denominations of € 100 and € 200, the last of the Europa series, which immediately went into circulation. Both monetary units include improved security features and can be easily tested using the “touch, see and turn” method. But how much gold can you buy on these new banknotes?

In this latest issue of euro notes of 100 and 200 euros (recall that banknotes of € 500 will no longer be issued), among the innovations of protection in the upper part of the silver band appears a hologram with small euro symbols “€” that move around when the ticket is tilted a number that indicates its value and can be more clearly seen in direct light.

The silver bar also features an architectural portrait of Europe and a large € symbol. Similarly, the new banknotes of 100 and 200 euros contain an improved emerald green number. Although the number is listed on other Europa tickets, in this enhanced version you can also see the “€” symbols inside the number.

The abbreviation of the European Central Bank appears in ten linguistic variants in the new banknotes due to Croatia's accession to the EU in 2013. Abbreviations appear in the official order of the countries and official languages ​​of the EU: BCE (Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese and Romanian); ECB (Czech, Danish, Slovak, Slovenian, English, Latvian, Lithuanian, Dutch and Swedish); ECB (Bulgarian); EZB (German); EKP (Estonian, Finnish); EKT (Greek); ESB (Croatian); EKB (Hungarian); BĊE (Maltese); and EBC (Polish).

New bills now have the same height as 50 euros, so they are easier to process at ATMs. They will also fit better in the wallets of citizens and will be more durable, as they are now less susceptible to wear.

As ECB Executive Committee member Yves Mersch said in his speech, “all bills will continue to provide adequate protection against counterfeiting.” This helps to further enhance the security of euro banknotes, as well as facilitates their management and authentication. ”

A bill of 100 euros is the third most popular denomination after 50 and 20 euros. The demand for banknotes of 100 and 200 euros is growing, respectively, by 7.6% and 8.6% per year. At the end of June 2018, 2.700 million euros were in circulation, which is 13% of all printed bills. Banknotes with a face value of 200 euros account for 1% of the total number of euro-banknotes in circulation and 4% of their total value.

When developing the Europa series, the ECB worked closely with people with vision problems to develop notes that would contain useful functions for them, as manifested, for example, in larger images with high contrast in order to be easily identified by their color. On the edges of the notes are tactile marks for each denomination.

The design of 100 € banknotes reflects the architectural styles of Baroque and Rococo from 1600 to 1750, while those of 200 € are elements of 19th century architecture. As for the question, how much gold can you buy today for a new 300 euros? - in fact, as much as on previous banknotes, about 8 grams.