6 Surprising Facts About the US Dollar

Most people in this world will come in touch with fiat currency in one way or another. Even so, the vast majority of those individuals hardly ever wonder about the aspects of physical money, especially where US Dollar bills are concerned. The following fun facts and interesting tidbits of information show a US Dollar bill is not as bland as it may seem.

Where Are the $100 Bills?

The Federal Reserve is the only institution in the United States which can effectively control the money supply in the country. Interestingly enough, it seems one of the biggest denominated bills is exiting the United States at an accelerating pace. Just over one in three $100 bills printed to date is located within the US. Banks, cash registers, and other facilities can only account for one-third of the entire $100 bill supply ever printed. A bit of an odd statistic when considering nearly 80% of the US currency comes in the form of $100 bills.

Counterfeit Bills Require a Spending Strategy

No one will be surprised to learn there is plenty of US Dollar counterfeiting taking place these days. While most forgers try to create the perfect bill, an individual known by the name of Emerich Juettner took a different approach. He was never good at counterfeiting US Dollar bills, but he managed to spend them wisely and evade being caught for quite some time. By solely focusing on the $1 bill  and never counterfeiting more bills than absolutely necessary, he managed to remain out of the Secret Service’s reach for over a decade

To make things even more interesting, Juettner only spent 4 months in jail for counterfeiting. A bit of an odd sentence, as printing fake currency will usually yield a far more severe punishment. That wasn’t Juettner’s only lucky break either. After he served his jail sentence, a movie of his life was made. That earned him more money than all of his counterfeiting efforts combined. Life has an odd way of working out for some, to say the very least.

Worn-out Bills can be Recycled Easily

No one ever wonders what happens to a Dollar bill if it has outlived its usefulness or is simply so old it is no longer usable without problems. There is a solution in place to actively recycle US Dollar bills after they are shredded to pieces. In most cases, the recycled material will be used as fireplace logs or even roof shingles. If more consumers decide to go cashless in the future, plenty of bills will be recycled in the years to come.

Monopoly Bills are More Common than US Currency

People active in the financial sector will know banks tend to print a lot of new currency on a  rather regular basis. Whether it is bills or coins, the supply is often increased ever so slightly. However, no bank in the world – not even the US banks – print the most paper currency in the world. That title still belongs to the company responsible for printing Monopoly currency. Even in 2019, more Monopoly currency is printed every year compared to US Dollars or other fiat currencies. Definitely something worth thinking about.

The $100,000 Bill did Indeed Exist

Physical money can come in many different denominations. In recent decades, the $1, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100, $200, and $500 bills have become the mainstream denominations. However, there was one a $100,000 bill which was brought in circulation as a gold certificate. This was never designed to be used by consumers and corporations, and only acted as a settlement method between banks. Its use quickly diminished, albeit it remains unclear if these “bills” still exist in 2019.

The One-ton Million Dollar Suitcase

The physical weight of a $1 bill is just one gram, which is something few people ever stop to think about. For those feeling adventurous, collecting $1 million in just $1 bills will be a very interesting achievement to earn. Moving that funds in a convenient manner will be a different struggle altogether. One million $1 bills weigh just over a ton, which makes it pretty much impossible to physically transport them.