Around the world, 166 issuing authorities circulate 1,007 banknote denominations in regular use, excluding commemoratives. According to data from the Reconnaissance DataVault, Asia leads the global charts with 314 active denominations, reflecting the region’s scale, diversity, and rapid monetary development.

The Bank of Botswana has unveiled a 50 pula banknote commemorating its first Olympic gold medallist, sprinter Letsile Tebogo, who won the 200 metres, and the men’s 4 x 400 metre relay team that he anchored to a silver medal, at the Paris Olympic Games last year.

KURZ Banknote Security’s production site in Sulzbach-Rosenberg in Germany celebrates its 30th anniversary this year (see HOT News August 2025), in honour of which the company has produced a series of celebration ‘Tree of Life’ notes themed around the beauty and strength of nature and the passage of time.

Brunei Darussalam Central Bank (BDCB) has announced its new family banknotes series in the denominations of BND1, BND5, BND10, BND100 and BND500, scheduled to enter circulation in the first half of 2026.

In the July edition of Holography & Optical Technology News®, we spotlighted Q&T Hi-Tech Polymer’s POLYSECURE SHIELD – the polymer banknote substrate with an embedded OVD. In this issue, we continue our coverage of banknote anticounterfeiting innovations with a look at the CBRI’s new approach to window security features, blending fluorescent effects with fine-pattern transparency directly in paper substrates.