Geek Trivia: The First Country To Switch Completely To Polymer Banknotes Was?

Canada Vietnam Israel Australia geek-trivia-the-first-country-to-switch-completely-to-polymer-banknotes-was photo 1

geek-trivia-the-first-country-to-switch-completely-to-polymer-banknotes-was photo 2

Answer: Australia

Although currency has long been paper-based in the United States (and remains so), many countries around the world are slowly switching to polymer (plastic) banknotes. Why polymer? Although the diversity and sophistication of paper printing techniques are slowly catching up, there are more security features available in polymer currency as you can use traditional paper-based methods (like intaglio printing, security fibers, and such), but add in additional features that are difficult or impossible to recreate with paper (like transparent windows and watermarks).

The very first countries to experiment with polymer money were Costa Rica and Haiti starting in 1982. The process was strictly an experiment, however, and a very limited number of bills were circulated without widespread adoption. Over the next ten years, other nations dabbled with polymer money via small releases, commemorative banknotes, and the like, but none switched completely over to polymer money.

A decade after Costa Rica and Haiti took polymer banknotes for a spin, Australia released its first plastic currency in 1992. By 1996, they switched to producing all their banknotes on polymer. In the intervening years, the Australian government has continued to refine their polymer currency with increased security features and even increased usability; in early 2015, the Reserve Bank of Australia announced that the next generation of Australian currency would have tactile features to help visually impaired people distinguish between the different denominations.

Since Australia switched to polymer notes, additional countries have followed suit including:  Brunei, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Romania, Vietnam, Fiji, Mauritius, Canada, Israel, and Kuwait.

Article Geek Trivia: The First Country To Switch Completely To Polymer Banknotes Was? compiled by Original article here

More stories

How to Share Your iTunes Library with Your iPhone or iPad

You can keep a lot of music and videos on your Mac because it likely has a larger storage capacity than your iPhone or iPad. Fortunately, you can still easily share your entire iTunes library with all your Apple devices without physically transferring a single media file.

How to Easily Back Up and Migrate Your Browser Bookmarks

Most of our browser data isn’t too important – cookies expire and histories are cleared. However, bookmarks are different, which is why browsers allow you to import and export your bookmarks – ideal for creating backups and migrating between browsers.

Running an .exe File via Command Prompt

Most of the time our programs work just like we need them to, but every once in a while you have one that is less than cooperative and leaves you looking for a way to fix its ‘attitude’ problem. Today’s SuperUser Q&A post has some great suggestions to help a frustrated reader get the results he

How to Add Nicknames to Your Facebook Profile

Recently, Facebook has renewed its efforts to force users to use their real names, annoying many and causing a lot of confusion. Here’s how to add an other name such as a nickname, alias, or maiden name to your Facebook profile.