WASHINGTON - Banks were scheduled to start receiving shipments of the new $50 bill from the federal government Tuesday.
Officials said the biggest change in the bill, which still bears the likeness of Ulysses S. Grant, is the addition of light patches of blue and red on both sides. When the $20 bill was redesigned in October of last year, patches of green, peach, and blue were added. Both bills have enhanced security features, including color-shifting inks, a distinctive watermark, and a security thread than runs vertically inside the bill.
Eugenie E. Foster, the Federal Reserve Board's cash project leader, said regulators have been distributing brochures, posters, and CD-ROMs to banks since the summer to educate customers and tellers about the new bills' characteristics.
About 1 in 25,000 $50 bills is counterfeit, according to the Fed. Government officials say they are especially worried about high-tech fakes - about 40% of counterfeit bills are now being produced with digital technology, up from 1% in 1995, the Fed says.
"We're staying ahead of the problems so the banks are not at risk and their customers are not at risk," Ms. Foster said. "Banks are particularly aware of that counterfeiting threat. Their tellers are very much a part of that line of defense."
To get the 76.8 million new $50 notes into circulation, the 12 Federal Reserve banks have stopped distributing old $50 bills until Oct. 15, she said.
Unlike $1 bills, which usually last less than two years, $50 bills stay in circulation for more than four years, Ms. Foster said. They are often used for business-to-business transactions and for gambling, she said.
The agencies plan to continue to redesign bills; a new $100 bill is due next year, to be followed by a new $10.
