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5th Pillar‘s zero-rupee note (in Tamil, front and back:), intended as a means of protest for those too poor to pay a bribes: they’re supposed to hand this over rather than actual currency. This seems ill-conceived all around: a private protest likely to transform impersonal corruption into personal persecution (where shouting, say, at least can [...]

The Zimbabwean (.co.uk, “a voice for the voiceless”), which offers among other things “daily cholera updates and alerts,” writes: One of the most eloquent symbols of Zimbabwe’s collapse is the Z$100 trillion dollar note, a symptom of their world record inflation. This note cannot buy anything, not even a loaf of bread and certainly not [...]

Zimbabwean billion-dollar note: A Zimbabwean one hundred billion dollar “special agro check” is going for US$0.99 on Fleabay. See also: “What’s a few zeroes between friends?,” “Currency design software,” “Like printing money.” (dibbell)

Who says economic collapse is dreary? Hundreds of examples of notgeld: (German for “Emergency Money” or “necessity money”) was special money issued primarily in Germany and Austria to deal with economic crisis situations such as a shortage of small change or hyperinflation. It was not issued by the central bank (Reichsbank) but by various other [...]

“Coinstar Machines Turn Change into iTunes Credit” and a company that sells a variety of white noises for ten bucks a pop. (tidbits)

Zimbabwe’s acting finance minister Patrick Chinamasa, commenting on what used to be called “dollarization,” the declaration that foreign currencies are legal tender: “[I]t requires a paradigm shift in terms of acknowledging the reality that we cannot eat what we do not have.” Independent Online (.za) offers some context: The budget’s estimates of state expenditure were [...]

Just kidding. Currency printer samples: See also: “Promo currency,” “Like printing money.”

Via RISKS, B. Elijah Griffin (a/k/a eli@panix) points out that the LA Times staff writer (Matt Moore?) is hinting at a next step in the Zimbabwean crisis: Apart from the paper crisis, the real fear inside Fidelity is that its software license for the European banknote design technology that it uses could be withdrawn because [...]

(Note the expiration date.) [Begin update: And that date was optimistic. What a difference a few short months makes. From thisiszimbabwe.com: End update.] At the request of the German government, Giesecke and Devrient GmbH (motto: “Creating confidence”) has been supplying currency-quality paper to Zimbabwe. According to the AP’s (so sue me!) Matt Moore, G and [...]

BBC notes that “[f]or the first time in nearly a decade China is issuing new banknotes without the image of Chairman Mao Zedong.” “The BBC’s Quentin Sommerville in Shanghai says Mao’s dominance of the tender came in 1999, when his image was introduced partly as an anti-counterfeiting device, albeit an unsuccessful one.” See also “Promo [...]

A collection of promotional “banknotes” printed by currency manufacturers. This one’s ugly but pithy: money with a picture of money on it. Front and back, it contrasts a crisp and bright banknote printed on the manufacturer’s paper with shopworn, filthy notes.