American reacts to 'Secrets of the Euro'

Thank you for watching me, a humble American, react to Secrets of the Euro
Original video: • Secrets of the Euro
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[@Flipdonyk]

POV : you're a European and you lost your mind when he talked about having to redesign the Euro notes because of Elizabeth's death 🙄😭

[@crazyt1483]

I’m a uk person and lost my mind at that. But then again as a UK resident I’m not sure if good old Charley is worth a redesign or if we should just wait for a younger model to take the throne we’ve jumped round the branches before for a king we liked so why not again

[@sgxbot]

@@crazyt1483 why should we redesign the euro for a country that refuses to use it? thats one of the most stupid things. thats like the US changing the design of their notes because australia got a new government.

[@crazyt1483]

@@sgxbot sorry didn't explain that right I mean the British note should skip him (maybe let him have the £50)

[@YannR34]

@@sgxbot And even if UK were in EU why the hell would we redesign our bills just for them. It's a currency for unity not for one privileged.

[@saebre.]

@@YannR34 read what crazyt1483 said again lol, they were talking about redesigning the pound notes lol

[@martinaklee-webster1276]

Ryan, Queen Elisabeth had nothing to do with the Euro, because GB never adopted it. Great Briton also voted to leave the E U in 2016. This year, Croatia adopted the Euro .

[@neuralwarp]

UK, not GB.

[@beaucerongirlsjunaundgia563]

True, and Croatia is not amused about the Euro, understand it very well. I would love to get back the Deutsche Mark.

[@ddm_gamer]

​@@beaucerongirlsjunaundgia563 Getting the mark back now wouldnt do anything good

[@irishpotatomuncher]

​@@neuralwarp thank you from Belfast lol

[@fusssel7178]

@@ddm_gamer true, it would make exports way too expensive for other countries and Germany depends quite a lot on its export market. So having the weaker € helps a lot with export.

[@chaoss5]

As a geography teacher I love asking my pupils to bring back Danish, Norwegian and British Euro for me, because I collect Euro. I promise them to raise their geography grading when they can give me one. The faces when they come back, realizing these countries don't use the Euro is priceless.

[@lillm6874]

👍😂😂

[@prplt]

smh 🙄

[@xxdomixx1085]

You almost got me. I just wanted to ask you if you are stooopid.

[@mattemathias3242]

As a dane myself, I think we do actually accept euro to buy stuff with, but we def don't use euro as currency over the DKK.

[@johnnorthtribe]

It would be strange for Norway to have Euro since they are not even a member of EU. What kind of geography teacher are you?

[@DenDave_]

4:42 Funnily enough, the Dutch city Spijkenisse, located near Rotterdam, has actually built all of the bridges depicted on the banknotes, including the €500 one. They're all on a small scale as they're mostly intended for pedestrians and cyclists, and they're even painted to match the colour of the bills. It's a pretty cool sight if youre in the area.

[@ArtfullPuffin]

Can confirm as it is my hometown where is was raised. Wild idea, very nice results.

[@Maxime_K-G]

You can hardly call them recreations. They clearly do not follow the likeness of the originals, neither visually nor structurally. But it for sure is a fun public art project.

[@Slgjgnz]

The weirdest thing about that video is that they represented travel from France to Italy with a plane rather than a train.

[@daradal]

isn't that a thing that european train travels are great inside one country but terrible when crossing borders?

[@Krokmaniak]

​@@daradal It depends. Some cities have better train connection with cities abroad than some cities in the same country. There are thousands of train connections in Europe. It's hard to make generalisation like this

[@novart9230]

with the mountains between the 2 countries, planes can be easier than trains in this case ;) edit : yes I KNOW tunnels exists thank you I said planes could be easier, not that train was impossible

[@Skyl3t0n]

@@daradal nowadays international train travel is very easy. 20 years ago it was a little bit of a pain if you travel to smaller countries. Central europe was never a problem though

[@erwinj9697]

@@daradal As it is now I think it isn't yet where it could be in terms of train travel. I'd be glad once it is though I much prefer trains over planes. I hate flying. Some connections are great though I think for example going from Brussels to Paris is easy with the train but it depends on the line you want to take I guess. Don't know how the france to Italy is traveling with a train. I'd pick a car over anything though when traveling through Europe.

[@neuralwarp]

Europe : 54 countries EU : 27 countries Not the same thing.

[@MW_Asura]

Europe is 46-50 countries*

[@ravensblade]

I don't know how you arrived on 54 countries, but you shouldn't really count micronation like San Marino or Monaco. And it's still better then America

[@Aoderic]

I could only count to 51, and that is if you count Europe to it's greatest extent, that means including Turkey and the Caucasus countries (in my opinion they are Asian) but it's fine to count the microstates, you just have to understand that they are all inside the EU, and part of the EU in every practical sense, just not in Name. I.e. they all use the Euro, which it quite relevant for the subject of the video. Also the wast majority of the countries are if not members or inside, associated with the EU in close cooperation. Only Russia and Belarus have no associations, and the UK have now opted out of most.

[@dhahm6884]

It's the same with America: America has 35 countries, one of them are the USA.

[@veronicajensen7690]

@@Aoderic the big difference is all the Countries will still exists a 100 years and more from now-however the EU will fall as all Empires do there is already many cracks and lots of corruption and other things that is always seen before the fall of Empires -same can be said for the US

[@Tar1ff]

As someone living in an EU country- Euro has made our lives, business and holidays soooo much easier

[@goShinigami]

So much so, that It's weird now being on vacation in european countries that are not part of the currency union. You'll sometimes forget the fact entirely or at least realise what an inconvenience it is having to deal with foreign currencies in Denmark or Switzerland - at least that's what I experienced multiple times. At least said countries in Northern Europe and Switzerland are very well adapted to electronic payment methodes. Imgine if Germany for example had not introduced the Euro and still remained as adamant with cash only as they are now (slightly getting better of the years tbf)

[@moladiver6817]

True. On the other hand it was really quaint having to use different currencies before the euro. It was a little impractical but not impossible and we didn't know any better at the time. Travelling from Holland to Spain we had guilders, Belgian franks, French franks and pesetas in our wallets. Travel was still quite the adventure back then. Crossing a border really meant something. Now it's everyday business and before you know it like America we all speak the same language too. While we gain convenience we do lose something. It is a tradeoff, not win-win. Times change of course. It is what it is.

[@lyonstclair69300]

@@goShinigami not so complicated in Switzerland, they accept euro in some cities like Geneva

[@spicesmuggler2452]

They are practical but prices were raised after adoption since everyone was rounding it up.

[@alicethegrinsecatz1611]

And it made shopping more existing. You'll never knew what kinda interesting designs on the coins are waiting for you when you pay with a bank note.

[@sanderd17]

He forgot to mention the features for the blind. Every coin and every note has a different size, so it's easy to quickly feel the approximate value (also for non-blind people). But the coins also have different texture on the side: 1c and 5c are smooth, 2c has a groove along the length, 10c and 50c have ribs, 20c has 7 indentations, €1 has fine grooves interrupted with smooth surfaces, and the €2 coin has fine grooves often with letters and stars engraved. The notes have similar features. The stripes on the side of the notes are in a raised print, and thus tactical. The €5 and €50 have a continuous strip , the €10 and €100 have a single gap in the strip, and the €20 and €200 have two gaps.

[@schiefer1103]

Ryan did get the right idea from just seeing the notes get larger though, so I hope Americans could even see why we do that, and the benefits of it.

[@Mumohan_]

It's also to combat counterfeiting You cannot bleach the smaller note and print the bigger one on the original paper with security features

[@matejtheog1048]

The coins honestly dont differ much in size, and 10, 20 and 50¢ all look the same.

[@martijnkeisers5900]

Haha, the death of queen Elizabeth has nothing to do with the new Euro bills 😂😂😂

[@xristossophocleous5761]

The man probably does not even know about the Brexit

[@_Ashler]

The video starts out by mentioning that England has their own currency 😂

[@larsg.2492]

@@_Ashler US general knowledge and attention span. 🤣

[@foobar1500]

It does have relevance to change of banknote series though, just not euro notes.

[@martijnkeisers5900]

@@foobar1500 did you watch the video? 😂

[@joelfrom08]

The bridges all USED to be imaginary, until a Dutch architect built them all in the Netherlands

[@EdwinMartin]

Well, “architect”… They’re not that big. nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spijkenisser_Eurobruggen

[@timokohler6631]

Mofo cheated the system.

[@wokeaf1337]

@@EdwinMartin they are not miniatures either or toys

[@tubekulose]

That's a fun project. I haven't heard of that. Just looked it up. It looks nice!

[@JaapGinder]

@@EdwinMartin Spijkenisse did it! Love that!

[@ellisnape5668]

Im from Germany and actually the odd stripes are not only a security feature, they are codet and different on every banknote so that blind people can feel the specific stripes so they know wich note they hold in their hand. It is simmilar to the different bumps on the edge of any coin can tell the value

[@alesolano9081]

Fun fact: In Spain many people called the 500€ bills "Bin Laden" as everyone had heard of them but they were difficult to find.

[@SuriSimmer]

primera noticia jajajaja una pena que los vayan a quitar

[@AndreSomers]

Fun fact: the bridges *used* to be fictional. A Dutch town thought it was funny to actually build them 😂 Edit: Tom Scott did a short video on them some years back: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iWqoYqqprbSGsK8

[@tlk889]

ngl, that is actually funny

[@Alias_Anybody]

That's the most Dutch thing ever. "You know, it's like trolling, but kind of meta and doesn't hurt anyone".

[@realdigitalthangka]

And here they are: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iWqoYqqprbSGsK8

[@JeeWeeD]

Tom Scott made a vid about that: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iWqoYqqprbSGsK8

[@zottelhuehs6375]

😂

[@bazejlib1625]

In fact the size is also a small security feature. In U.S there was a counterfitting technique, where criminals take small denominations banknotes like 1$, chemically remove any paint, leaving them with clean note with watermark and so on, and then reprint big denomination like 100$. It was surprisingly effective. I don't know it this practice is still going on. Different note sizes was one of the ways to combat that.

[@babycakes9718]

Lol I only found out that the US has the same size notes because it’s the plot in the Killing Floor, the first book in the Jack Reacher series by Lee Child 😂

[@misssissivoss]

I found out through the film "Ray". I wondered why he wanted all in 1$bills.

[@Cp-71]

Co śmieszne, amerykańskie dolarówki w ogóle nie mają znaku wodnego/What's funny is that American dollar notes don't have a watermark at all XD

[@Rdlprmpf12]

Different sizes and colours are by no means a Euro invention - that was normal in all currencies I know except the USD - even COMECON ones like Soviet rubles or east German "Mark der DDR". It's mostly for practical reasons - you have a much better overview of the bills in your pocket. And it's not that easy to scam with larger amounts - pay $100 with 10 notes à $10, except one of them in the middle is only a $1. That would be very obvious in any other currency.

[@lulu111_the_cool]

​@@Rdlprmpf12 cool to know. But nobody said it was a invention of the EU

[@Royal_ram_]

A fun fact about the bridges on the back of the bill is that, even though the bridges are fictional, the Netherlands has recreated all the bridges featured in real life.

[@basvs3906]

It has a Wiki page: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurobridges_Spijkenisse

[@scipioafricanus5871]

So not so fictional after all then...

[@Maxime_K-G]

You can hardly call them recreations. They clearly do not follow the likeness of the originals, neither visually nor structurally. But it for sure is a fun public art project.

[@tomtom34b]

I was a cashier in my first job, and security training involved checking for fake bills ofc. The € has a lot of things that you can check. However some tricks often avoid these checks, and we were made aware of some of these. Here is one (and completing it with a big bill causes a lot of damage, if the cashier is tricked): The criminal in the shop wants to purchase something and pays with a large bill, say 500€ or 200€. The cashier is extra careful and suspicious, but the bill is real, and passes all tests. The cashier hands out the difference in cash to the customer, normal payment process. The trick is that the customer now finds something that is not to his liking and wants to retract the transaction. The item is the wrong one, or its somehow faulty or something. The criminal does not really take the change into his wallet but it appears that the money stays on the desk. However with some distraction (maybe a partner in crime, a mum with a child interrupting the cashier, asking desperately for where the restrooms are or something), the criminal swaps the notes that he received from the cashier as change with fake ones with a sleight of hand, and demands his original 500€ note back. A newbie cashier might give back the 500€ note. He felt nervous about it anyway, and takes the notes back that he handed out to the criminal as change without checking them. It´s the money that he just handed out after all, so it is legit, or so he thought. We got taught a simple remedy against this: If the transaction is cancelled, and the customer is handed the money back, he gets "fresh" money from the cashier. So for example if the item costs 13€ and 50 cents, and you handed out 486€ and 50 cents as change, should the transaction be cancelled, you hand out another 13€ and 50 cents, you don´t hand out the 500€.

[@Jexco]

Over here most stores don’t even accept 200 and 500 euro bills. Obviously the scam could still happen on a smaller scale, but it’s still human error.

[@stevenvanhulle7242]

@@Jexco The 500 notes are out of circulation, as they're too often used in criminal financial transactions (money laundering).

[@RR-dl8lw]

In Spain we used to call the 500 euro notes the bin Laden, because they existed but nobody knew where they were.

[@vanesag.9863]

🤣 I asure you (I'm Spanish) that 500 € notes existed. I had one at my hands this one time at work. I took a photo 😛

[@mattia8327]

In tialy ive only seen the 500 once, but ive never seen the 200

[@derspielographdsg7435]

In germany you can get them at the Bank counter Person. Or at the European Central Bank in Frankfurt. But you can use them rarely.

[@howtogetawaywith8896]

@@derspielographdsg7435 no you cannnot get them from banks, they are "banned" since 2019, google it

[@kristus20]

I’ve seen them many times during my life, have had multiple. (Belgium). I feel they are the most common to be seen in Germany though.

[@SE86]

Another fun fact: you can use the 2€ coin to check the tread depth on your car tires. As soon as the silver outer part becomes visible, you know the treads are down to the bare minimum and the tires need to be changed. And no, that wasn't the original idea behind the coin design, the edge just happens to be 4 millimeters wide ;)

[@SE86]

*in Germany. Don’t know about the regulations in other € countries.

[@genzalarboa3110]

same in france

[@Naanhanyrazzu]

A tread depth of 4 mm is advisable for summer and winter tires in all EU countries. By the way, the legal minimum tread depth in Germany is 1.6 mm.

[@SE86]

@@Naanhanyrazzu you're right, I should have said "advisable". However, "legal" and "advisable" are very often not the same thing, we can see that every day on the Autobahn ;)

[@Naanhanyrazzu]

@@SE86 👍

[@MikkoRantalainen]

The constellation of yellow dots is used in nearly all bank notes around the world. This is because yellow on white is nearly transparent to human eye but easy to detect to computers. Most printers stop printing the paper if it contains the magic pattern. Pro tip: you can make your documents unprintable by including the pattern on the page.

[@JustMe-sh8nd]

Running to the copy machine to see this.. thanks i like it

[@AldrigEvigt]

well my printer makes all my documents unprintable even without the pattern

[@kennichdendenn]

The original missed the most interesting security feature in the new notes: the embedded plastic see-through window. Embedding that into the cotton note is very difficult to do properly. Canadians used to criticise the old ones for being cotton and easier to forge than their plastic money. Now its reversed - we have both 😁

[@althelas]

I live near the German border to Austria and every time I spent some time in Austria on my way to Italy I had to change my German Mark first to the Austrian Schilling which had an exchange rate of 1:7 meaning one German Mark was 7 Schilling and two days later I had to exchange ma Marks to the Italian Lira both came with their fees and in the end you have spent a ton of money just for getting the other currencies and on top of that I had to calculate every single thing, esp. in Italy to find out if it was over-prized or not. We never went on any vacation without a calculator in our pockets. Now it is easy. I hopp on the train travel to both countries without the hassle of exchanging one currency for others.

[@VolkerHett]

I still have bills and coins from my first voyage with the German navy to the mediterran sea. From Wilhelmshaven, Germany to Plymouth, UK to St. Malo, France to El Ferrol, Spain to Lisboa, Portugal and then to Toulon, France and then the same ports on the way back. Every weekend another currency 🤣

[@Naanhanyrazzu]

Yes, that time was horrible. I grew up on the German-French border in the 90s and we simply had 2 wallets. One with D-Mark and one with French Francs. Since the border post was mostly unmanned on both sides, we had to go to the larger bank branch in the city to exchange. Today I cycle from Germany to Luxembourg via France and can shop there as if I were still in Germany. I often only recognize that I'm in France by the fact that the font on the traffic signs has changed...

[@ballagh]

Along the Northern Ireland border a lot of local shops have tills with two drawers, one for euro and one for sterling. It really used to be a thing to have some of both currencies in your wallet. Now the use of cards and contactless payments are slowly whittling that away. It shocked me recently when I realised I had spent a week in Rome, flying from Dublin and the only hard currency I used was for the toll on the road to Dublin airport.

[@MrTuxracer]

Calculator? I just used my brain.

[@johanhalvarsson2148]

Why would you change everything twice? Why not budget it to one amount in Austria and the rest for Italy? Do one exchange in Germany and just save any spares for next trip since you seem to make them so regularly.

[@Stolens87]

A small thing that video missed are the features for blind people. You already mentioned the different sizes and colors, but also the little strips at the end of the note (see 7:20) are different on each note and they are tactile (you can really feel them). So people with bad or no eye sight can immediately recognize the if something is a bank note and the value because they know the amount and pattern of the stripes. Although I don't need this feature, I love that people thought about that and that we care for blind people. I really love the Euro, it brought Europe so much more together although it has its financial-political problems.

[@Stolens87]

Oh, and the coins also are not only all different in size and weight but also have different borders so that blind people can feel their value. 20cent have these fancy "ditches" (9:13). We should really send you a set of coins and maybe a note or two (not the bigger ones though :D)

[@Wildcard71]

I remember a different recognition system, but obviously, it hasn't been the Euro.

[@Lukimuki101]

@@Stolens87 the coin thing is really helpfull just watch every coin from the side, you can feel them even if you arent blind. I work as an cashier and know when i have 1 or 2 cents in my hand because auf the genius design.

[@JP-lz6gc]

Don't they also use different paper for the bills? I recall that the 5€ bill is much softer than the 50€ bill

[@Kassilphe]

@@JP-lz6gc not sure about that. My theory is that 5€ is simply much more used and therefore softened by touch. I remember all bills being pretty stiff in the beginning (my uncle had a shop so he received a bigger stack of bills in the beginning as change).

[@sirsancti5504]

My father is an international lorry driver.. I remember before the Euro, he had multiple wallets.. Each one for each different country he had to pass through.. (Around 8/10 countries/currencies).

[@yaslaa6494]

It was not common to have 500 euros notes on a regular basis but it happened ! I remembered my father use to have them occasionally. One time, as i was traveling with my parents, we were on a duty free area and my father just casually took a 500 euros note ; I swear the service was quickly upgraded even tho, we were not particularly rich on anything 😂😂 (btw, i am from France for context)

[@GuruVIII]

When I visited the States I had a big problem because I couldn't tell the bank notes apart. As for their size, there are specific euro size wallets.

[@ronaldderooij1774]

He missed that the Dutch Euro coins have "God zij met ons" (God be with us) printed on the side of the coin, just like the Dutch coins always had. It led to a bit of upheaval as Europe did not want to have religious texts on Euro banknotes and coins. But the Dutch government showed that in none of the Euro treaties there was mention of the side of the coins, so what is not forbidden, is allowed. Fun fact, the Netherlands is one of the least religious countries in Europe....

[@straighttalking2090]

Also, as Dutch people are the tallest in the world, consideration was given to elongate their notes and coins.

[@adeemuff]

@@straighttalking2090 wat

[@stephenlee5929]

@@straighttalking2090 Surely they should be shortened; to correlate with the religious text and the level of the countries religious adherence.

[@marcromain64]

It's fine, I guess. Since "God be with us!" is what every German driver exclaims when he encounters a car with a dutch license plate on the road anyways. Just kidding, of course. 🙂

[@Alias_Anybody]

@@marcromain64 When Dutch trailers make up half of the traffic jam on an Austrian Autobahn.

[@TryHardIcon]

I actually enjoyed a video after a long time, thanks dude

[@iamcheerios2549]

As a cashier occasionally dealing with more expensive purchases, I can confidently say after the first encounter, you'd grow to hate the 200 euro bill. Registers have 4 sockets for paper money: 5 euro, 10 euro, 20 euro, and 50 euro. 100 and 200 bills are shoved to the bottom of the 50 euro section, which makes fitting the actual 50 euro bills cumbersome. Not to mention when they pay with a 200 euro bill for 100-150 euros at the beginning of the day, because more often than not, 50 euro bills aren't counted into the register in the morning, meaning we have to do mental gymnastics for return money(because we never really get round numbers). Then there's that certain someone who pays with only 50 euro bills for a 600 euro bill... which we have to scan individually. More often than not, people paying with 100 or 200 euro bills didn't really get them legally, as wages are paid through the online bank, meaning they got the bills through working under the table, or they specifically went to the goddamn bank to get those little pieces of shits. Hope this was at least a little bit insightful and/or interesting. Take a shot for every time I said euro ;)

[@Brauiz90]

Coming from Germany, I can say that the 2€ coins have "Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit" (start of the national anthem) printed on the outside edge and the stripes on the new banknotes' outside edges have one more feature - it's for blind people to feel which note they have in their hand... As you've seen on the 20€ bill, it has 3 small sections of stripes.

[@ane-louisestampe7939]

My brother in law was long distance truck driver. You should have seen his vallet. - it was a small suitcase!! They didn't even have cards for buying petrol those days, so he drove south with A PILE of Danish Kroner, German Marks, Dutch Guildes, Belgian and French Franc, Italian Lire. Sometimes topped up with Austrian, Schweitzer and Spanish currencies too.

[@Cristian_M_]

Building wealth involves developing good habits like regularly putting money away in intervals for solid investments. Financial management is a crucial topic that most tend to shy away from, and ends up haunting them in the near future… I pray that anyone who is reading this will be successful in his or her life!!!

[@geralyncainglet2626]

I’m celebrating a $30k stock portfolio today. I started this journey with 6k. I have invested on time and also with the right terms now I have time for my family and the life ahead of me

[@ademusiaka7198]

Wow, really. I was able to make my $25k on investment

[@sarkiali3958]

​@@geralyncainglet2626I’m looking for something I can venture into on a short term basis, I have $15k sitting in my savings

[@aaronferrell3129]

You’re right but a lot of people remain poor due to ignorance

[@Brookeinda]

Not because of ignorance, it’s because of the high rate of unprofessionalism in the cypto market

[@nellitheretrogamer8666]

We went to Italy in the late 80s and I remember that it was damn difficult to figure out how much things cost. I knew that 35,000 lira was about 100 Finnish marks, so if something costs 9500 lira, um.... how much is that? It was really difficult to try to calculate it in my head. A year later we went to the US and it was so much easier because we just multiplied everything by 5. If it cost 5 dollars, it was like 25 Finnish marks, and that was it.

[@emilwillforss6160]

Queen Elizabeth dying and Euro? UK never adapted the Euro.

[@hikaru9624]

Think he was using her passing as a point of reference.

[@berryrijnbeek5938]

@@hikaru9624 Nope just being American......

[@leDespicable]

Or maybe he was referencing the British pound bills that were shown before that in the video. Don't jump to conclusions maybe?

[@hikaru9624]

@@berryrijnbeek5938 I doubt that in all honesty.

[@berryrijnbeek5938]

@@hikaru9624 Doubt what? that he's American????

[@hachimaki]

Pretty sure Sweden meets the criteria, but when the euro was first introduced we had a referendum in regards to whether or not we should switch to the euro and a large majority voted no at the time.

[@charleylulu307]

I think most EU countries had a voting to convert to the euro or not. I remember something vaguely about that.

[@SimonRaahauge1973]

@@charleylulu307 denmark said no to the euro, but keeps a fixed rate policy.

[@JustMe-sh8nd]

Here in the Netherlands we did not had a referendum and if we did i had voted against the Euro.. Now i am so happy with the Euro....

[@Mike-zx1kx]

The Swedish government just forgot what the Danes did not. They did not get an exception to decide for themselves. Sweden WILL adopt the Euro eventually (referendum or not) because they promised to do so while Denmark can stay out of the Euro indefinitely because they have it written into EU law, that they can decide for themselves. Right now Denmark have decided to link their own currency with a flexible span thus both theoretically and practically in a position where they can decide to revalue their currency if they so should wish. Sweden are today not allowed to devalue their Kroner via their centralbank, they signed of that ability. It though still have a span it are allowed to float inside but Swedes HAVE TO fx. defend it on the markets by buying up own currency, should it be to weak in relation to the Euro and vice versa, but the centralban revalue option are off the table now for Sweden. Their primary weapon to defend their currency besides buying up are interest rates. The primary reason for the Swedish government to not switch to Euro fully and get rid of Swedish Kronor are thus psychological, a signal to the Swedish population that Sweden are an independent nation. Sweden sees Danish and Norwegian kroner gets stronger in relation to their own currency. 25 Years ago 1 Danish/Swedish/Norwegian kroner/Kronor were very close to same value. Today a Swede with 100 Kronor still gets around 100 Norwegian Kroner but only 64 Danish Kroner. Danish state budget are strong and have an annually surplus and Danish state debt are low and well inside OECD recommendations, the strength of the Danish Kroner thus shows in its actual value. Sweden WILL adopt the Euro, Denmark CAN decide to adopt the Euro. Norway can as an EØS nation, via their centralbank, as well revalue if they want. Norwegians though tend to generally use its currency´s flexibility when the shit hit the fan somewhere, like the US subprime crisis, to let it float a little more but generally they, due to their huge oil income and large oil fund prefer it are relative stable against the Euro. Many nations have an interest in that as well since their oil fund can own quite a bit of corporate stocks in some nations. The Norwegian oilfund has over US$1.19 trillion in assets, and holds 1.4% of all of the world's listed companies, making it among the world's largest sovereign wealth funds thus others, also outside Norway, in some cases would also have an interest in a relative stable Norwegian currency. There can be argued pros and cons but being a smaller fish in a large pond means others acting financially recklessly inside the EURO zone basically means others can pee in their pants and you will suddenly get a unpleasant experience (hm hm Italy and Greece).

[@samuelgomola9097]

​@@charleylulu307There is no need for referendum, usually referendum is done for joining EU and with it it is mandatory to accept euro, but without any constraints when only there are 3 rules that must be obeyed if country wants euro as I remember. Voting isn't necessary to accept euro, definitely it is optional, but country still must once accept euro.

[@ignisvis8867]

The small lines on the sides of the banknotes also have the function of helping people with vision disabilities recognize them. They are in relief and have different patterns so you can understand wha banknote it is. Same thing for the coins: the sides have small dents so you can recognize them even if you can't see

[@alphanet72]

Interestingly, Switzerland still has its 1k CHF note, which is currently valued at 2x more than the obsolete 500 EUR note. And it is very much used.

[@zaphodbeeblebrox6627]

The Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago off the coast of northwestern Africa, are rugged volcanic isles known for their black- and white-sand beaches, it’s primarily known as a popular holiday(vacation) destination in Europe, roughly 4-4.5 hours flying time from the UK with a subtropical climate for most of the year. The recent eruption on La Palma, in the Canary Islands, has stimulated speculation that the volcano might collapse, creating a tsunami that would devastate the east coast of North and South America. So it’s worth reading up about… just in case it happens.

[@joaquindiaz4730]

Haha dont scare them ,they invade us ,silly!! Haha i😅

[@marcosgonzalez4293]

"So it’s worth reading up about… just in case it happens." Is posible to avoid it by reading about it? 🙂

[@joaquindiaz4730]

@@marcosgonzalez4293 yes ,a wave last six hours or more to arrive américa so ,they can do things meanwhile

[@Moribax85]

They're also famous between aviation nerds to be the place where the worst aviation disaster in history occurred on March 27 1977 in Tenerife, when in low visibility a pilot error caused a collision on the runway, killing 583 people

[@emp-ty-g]

isent it also the airier where they couch the pasat wind to sail to America in the old days. if so it had a part in the birth of usa.

[@buddy1155]

The first series had bridges, these were all non-existing bridges to avoid conflict between countries. The Dutch build all the bridges from the banknotes.

[@yermanoffthetelly]

The Dutch: "I am the captain now" 😄

[@johan.ohgren]

​@@yermanoffthetelly Everybody else; "You can do that?"

[@DuckiesLeDuck]

Just doing a lil bit of trolling

[@Thaylien]

Hi, I'm somebody with 20 years in the printing industry as a physical printer (both metal lithographic and digital) and 16 years as a graphic designer and prepress, getting those diagonal lines to actually align on both edges is going to be incredibly difficult. Unless the forgers are using actual large-scale lithographic presses to create large enough batches to eliminate the drift, warp and edge alignment issues that happen on digital. Other security things in the Euro that were not brought up include; the mix used for the 'paper' is not paper at all, the same way that American currency is linen-based, the Euro is actually a form of plastic weave. This specific mix reacts to testing chemicals, so unless you're getting the actual stock from a supplier, it's easy to call out. The ink is printed in varying 'depths' using a specific printing plate and multiple impressions from the same pass, giving each note a texture that you can feel. Forged versions simply cannot do that without buying the same kind of printing plates and the same kind of plate making device. And the ink itself is made up to specific colour weights and transparency so that when you see two different letters overlapping with a transparent area, that's not the graphic design stage making them transparent, it's the actual ink, so even a skilled graphic designer can't accurately replicate those tones without using the specific ink pre-mixes. Basically, the closest depiction of real forgeries in media has always been 'Catch Me If You Can' where the guy literally got hold of the real printing press, the real paper, and the real inks in order to start printing his own real bank cheques. Forging nowadays is all about making small-scale currency that everyone uses and doesn't expect to be a forgery, because it doesn't have to fool the bank, it has to fool the people you're handing it to in the shop. Also making sure that it's circulated widely enough that you can't trace it back to a specific location.

[@ichich3978]

the most forges notes are 20 and 50€. If someone pays with 500€ you will remember...

[@MiroslavOstapenko]

Having experienced only Ukrainian hryvnias and euros, I thought that banknotes of any currency are different in sizes/colors and have dozens of interesting things to look at. In Ukraine, the ability to name each historical figure depicted on our banknotes is even some kind of indicator of intelligence🧐😁

[@SlavicSpring]

Some of the countries that "don't meet the criteria" are purposely not meeting criteria to keep the currency advantage vs the rest of the EU, as Sweden does. It eliminates the risk of certain economic crimes and put a whole layer of economic freedom in the hands of the Swedish government. P.S. The bills have different sizes not only to separate them easily, but the most common bills are the smallest ones - it saves costs for production AND stops counterfeiters from using the same "paper" to change denominations - as you at least in theory do with US bills.

[@nirfz]

As far as i remember sweden did meet the criteria but opted not to change to the €. Being a small country like sweden with their own currency does not just give you certain advantages with the currency. In todays day and age it also makes it a risk that your currency gets destabilized by a criminal organization on purpose. Much easier than with a currency that's as big as the € or the $. (I have already forgotten how it works in detail, but i remember learning it in school, how a small countries currency can get screwed completely. I am from a small country with a rather stable and hard currency for the later part of teh 20th century, and i learend that years before the € was a thing)

[@Divig]

As a swede I have always heard that we have no plans on adopting the euro, and never had.

[@SlavicSpring]

@@nirfz One of the key elements of the EU is ease of commerce. Accepting the common currency is expected of members, but cold legally be postponed indefinitely - Sweden needs to provide documents of its legibility for Euro but they choose not too - hence "not meeting the criteria".

[@SlavicSpring]

@@Divig it's a wise political decision, but during the EU campaign and talks with the EU transfer to Euro was discussed in detail.

[@Divig]

@@SlavicSpring I was active on the "No"-side during the referendum and from what I can remember the promise from the "yes"-side was that we would never join the Euro. But they never negotiated any exception.

[@LindaMaricas]

Not sure if it was fully made clear (to you) in the vid, but all euro countries have their own national "back side" of the coins, so you can tell from which country a coin is from

[@Tjalve70]

You can also tell which country the bank notes are from. The first letter of the serial number tells you which country they are from. This was discussed when there was a danger that Greece might leave the Euro. And it was said that if this happened, then all of the Greek Euro notes (at least the ones inside Greece), would be changed into Drachmas.

[@OzoneTheLynx]

In Switzerland we recently had a redesign of our banknotes and they look incredibly good.

[@gert-janvanderlee5307]

I understand the advantages of the euro but I feel a bit nostalgic of going on vacation with my parents as a kid and going to the bank first to exchange some currency. That already felt like an adventure before you left your hometown.

[@brox_guy4092]

Yeah and like The mark was an great currency You where rich in other countries with it

[@viciousyeen6644]

I still remember how the euro came, and how different it felt

[@ronaldderooij1774]

It took a long time to get used to it. Two years for me, and for bigger amounts (for a car or a house) even longer.

[@mixlllllll]

Haha, i was 6 when Euros came and i remember that i had just learned how to use (a little amount of) money, and then i had to learn it all again xd

[@LeviMatteo]

I was a child, but I remember well what it meant for Italy: one euro is worth about two thousand lire. But when the exchange took place, everything that cost a thousand lire began to cost one euro, which is exactly double what it cost the day before. Twenty years have not been enough for my country to recover from such a disadvantageous change

[@andybaker2456]

I was recently in Croatia, where they adopted the Euro on January the 1st this year. It was interesting to see the changeover process, with prices still being displayed in both Kunas and Euros for the time being. They have a fixed rate for converting from Kunas to Euros, leading to some very random pricing in Euros. For example, I was looking at a restaurant menu one day, and one of the dishes was priced at 11.01 Euros! Apparently, they're not allowed to round up or down when they convert from Kunas, meaning that that extra cent on the 11 Euro cost had to remain in place, and not just get written off.

[@martingriff101]

It was the same in European countries at the start of the Euro they allowed people use there other currency if you had it and then give back the Euro but they did round to either 5 cent or the next 0

[@T0MT0Mmmmy]

This rule exists to make it impossible to foul the people by purchasing a little bit more in Euro than in the former currency.

[@damyr]

Nah, it was just a temporary make up. Soon enough most prices got rounded to the larger denomination. The timing of changing the currency during the rampant world wide inflation was... let's just call it, catastrophic. Also, we are now in the fast moving process of adjustment of prices to the Western standards, keeping the same wage standard as before. Imagine the shit-show. :)

[@Bobonov]

@@T0MT0Mmmmy it is mainly to avoid "false" inflaction. The tendedncy is to round up and bigger the price, bigger the round. Indiscriminatley rounding up can easily add 2 or 3 point of inflaction

[@Niosus]

Those double prices will probably only stick around while the old currency still has value. It was very similar when the rest of Europe switched over. There are a few years where both currencies are valid (and you can freely exchange the old to the new at the bank), but after that the old currency becomes worthless because banks no longer accept them. It allows people to spend their existing cash without hassle, while still ensuring that the old currency doesn't keep floating around forever. Back in/after 2002 it was a big deal when the cash exchange deadline came near. I'd assume that with all the electronic payments these days that the old cash is already pretty rare.

[@mina_en_suiza]

If you're perplexed about the 500€ note, think that here in Switzerland, we have the 1000 Francs note (about 1000€ or 1100$), which is actually used (by some people, not by me). You can't use it everywhere, but most certainly for buying expensive stuff. I have seen people buying groceries (once, to be honest) with a 1000 note. There are no plans to remove it from circulation.

[@SideKickStudios]

Fun fact, the newest series euro has the holographic strip, which is also partially see-through.

[@lucasr.7742]

there's actually a lot more security features than what is showcased in the video. It's amazing how many features they put in such a small note. I don't know for all EU countries, but in France the national bank (BDF) gives courses to market owners to help them recognize fake notes and all small security details

[@dieterdietert7232]

Fun Fact: the 500 Euro bill is almost solely used by criminals to transport large amount of cash within Europe. XD

[@zeisselgaertner3212]

Sie scheinen auch recht leichtgläubig zu sein, wenn es nur im Fernsehen behauptet wurde. Es ging darum, die Lagerkosten für Banken im eigenen Tresor in die Höhe zu treiben und statt dessen das Geld bei der EZB zu deponieren, inklusive Negativzinsen auf Einlagen.

[@572Btriode]

Yep, surprising how much money in €500 notes you can get into an innocuous 20 cigarette pack, not lost on the criminals.

[@nomaam9077]

If there are only "small" banknotes, it also prevents crime. The USA is the best example of this, it worked out well there. 😉😂

[@zeisselgaertner3212]

@@nomaam9077 thank you !

[@manolisponiris7045]

Is the €500 meant to be uncommon? I see quite a few in Greece, not as common as the €100 or €50 but a lot more common than the €200. I’m still always nervous every time I handle one though.

[@szTRI]

French-Guyana (South America) is also on the map, it's the little piece down left, the ESA (European Space Agency) is also located there and the rockets are launched from there

[@soem902]

the lines on the sides are actually scratcher, an easy way to check if a bill isnt fake. If you scratch it with your nail you can feel a small bumpy feeling

[@andy1307t]

Fun fact: The designs are very very different per country and some countries (or groups) have special series of them. German coins e.g.; Either you have the German eagle on the backside or you have one of the series backgrounds. My personal favourite: The Bundesländer (federal states) series (2006-2022) presenting a new state each year (2017 was the federal council), with a special symbol or building on the back. (it started 2006 with Schleswig-Holstein and ended 2022 with Thüringen). 2023 is the first year of the new series (Hamburg). Some of them are very difficult to find, but i managed to have all 18 now. The coins are very special and I love to collect them.

[@miguelfc3917]

Each country has its own design for coins. The head is common but the tail is unique in each country, it also may vary depending on the year. Also each year each country can create 2€ conmemorative coins. Some are pretty common (8 million units) while others are rare (around 200 thousand minted)

[@blechtic]

I seem to remember Germany has four different mints for their coins, each with their own marking letter. Are you planning on also collecting the full series for each mint?

[@andy1307t]

@@blechtic There are 5 mints with these letters: - A: Berlin - D: Munich - F: Stuttgart - G: Karlsruhe - J: Hamburg And some are very difficult to find ^^ I searched (not bought) the 17 coins for nearly 3 years (some are more common (e.g. Niedersachsen 2014 or Bundesrat 2019) and some are rare (the last 3 coins I collected were Bavaria 2012, Saxonia 2016 and Hamburg 2008)). So it wasn't my priority to find all coins from all mints at that time ^^ I now collected the new 2023 too (Hamburg) and some others from Europe too (e.g. the new Croatian coin).

[@blechtic]

@@andy1307t Right. I have a vague feeling of remembering that they would have closed one of them at some point, but I guess not then.

[@andy1307t]

@@blechtic At least i know those 5 active and Wikipedia says it too ^^

[@natalyfromswitzerland]

If you think 500 is a lot here in Switzerland we got a 1000 CHF Note😂 Imagine loosing that

[@heldertorres4296]

People don't use a lot anymore , we used to use them more before...

[@natalyfromswitzerland]

@@heldertorres4296 I know I'm Swiss👍People don't use it as much as before but it's still available. The other day I saw a Lady pay with one at the grocery store 😊

[@berryrijnbeek5938]

Cant imagine that, ...... once lost a 5 banknote wasn't to bad doh.....

[@damyr]

At some point of time, the US had bills from $1,000, up to $100,000.

[@smaragdwolf1]

Back in Deutsche Mark times, the highest was a 1000 DM Note. I know that.... i had one of these^^

[@friendlyreptile9931]

4:50 That is no more. The dutch build all those bridges in the city "Spijkenisse" :D

[@ovengaya]

Fun fact: in some international events, some coins have been printed specific to that event. Like the 100th anniversary of something. But the better ones are some special, and official, 2'5€ coins. Yes, that's a thing. Made, again, only for some events, but technically able to be used as normal currency.

[@echoless3474]

I loved the eclipse notes

[@linda3482]

It was really a burden. Grew up in the most soutern part of the Netherland. We had the Dutch gulden. 15 minutes by car to the left was Germany with the German Mark. 15 minutes to the right was Belgium with the Belgium Frank. We for shure crossed border a lot less then now because of the different curencies. Still have a full pot of coins that where left over from holidays in other countries in Europe. Even have small change from Tsjecho-Slowakye, at that time still one country. Things really changed but am really happy with the convenience of the Euro.

[@ivylasangrienta6093]

Since The UK are no longer in the EU and never adopted the euro, Queen Elizabeth's death had zero effect on our currency.

[@communicato.]

Croatia is in Eurozone since january. And 500 note you can find in circulation, but usually you cannot buy with them (200 and 500) in groceries.

[@raodvanlaontotaoke4993]

True story. I once tried to make paper money (just on white paper) for a kid to use in her little toy shop. The scanner refused to copy it.

[@theeccentricmilliner5350]

If you are visually impaired having different size and colours on the notes really helps with cash management. They also have different textures and they have a different sound. I had a friend who was registered blind and he could tell the denomination of a banknote purely by the sound as you interact with it.

[@Zarniwooper]

A Finn here. UV light is the most commonly used feature. Every store has UV scanner and scans everything over 50€

[@prplt]

"everything over 50€" lol in our store they already scan 20€ and I've even had 5 and 10 scanned at some occasions 😂

[@lulu111_the_cool]

​@@prpltmaybe it is racist? Who know? Or maybe they had ones have a wrong one and try to be more on the lookout

[@jaclynnejackson2791]

The Canaries are a group of islands in the Atlantic Ocean west of Africa. They are part of Spain and a popular holiday destination as they are only a 4 hour flight away from Europe and guaranteed warm & sunny all the year.

[@MewDenise]

The size is indeed for blind people. The bills also have braille so they can read with their hands. But also to make them harder to forge

[@marvinmessinger4676]

It's pretty interesting that the image on the coins tell you every country in the EU has its on motive on every coin. So a coin from Austria features for example Mozart and from Italy the Coloseum.

[@WillowLiv]

I've once seen a 500 euro note and had to use it to get some change. Everybody in the store took pictures with it because nobody had seen it before!😂

[@SvenGadgetKlemmbausteine]

When shops check the bills, they usually have a black light. They then check whether the things that are supposed to glow light up.

[@NekoEko]

What i like about the coins is, that you can tell what coin you are holding by the size obviously but also by the ridges on the side

[@mpmyprojects6687]

The size helps you to easily distinguish the notes in your wallet. A quick glance is enough to know which is the smallest note you can use to pay for a coffee.

[@seanthiar]

3:00 The death of Queen Elisabeth would change nothing with the Euro even if GB were still in the EU because GB never used the Euro. They still used the British Pound, like Denmark still uses the Danish Kroner. The frontside of the Euro coin is the same in all Euro countries, but the second side is something that has to do with the country. For example the coins minted in Germany have the Brandenburg gate on the backside.

[@L0op]

7:45 it's not about proving that it's real, it's more of a very easy way to recognize a fake note that's integrated into the note, no tools or even bright light needed

[@renesauer5841]

He forgot to mention that besides the different designs for each country they also constantly bring out 2 € coins in memory of all kinds of stuff, like round birthdays for historical buildings, famous people, Special events being held and so on.

[@tommytharning932]

Thing with the stripes is that it is a very easy way to check if there are no uv lights avaible for example.

[@lea88pu]

From start of this year Croatia is using Euro. We are struggling a bit with the change but we'll get used to it.

[@MitosisGR05]

I am 18, i live in greece and i've had euro my whole life. I HAVE NEVER SEEN A 0 EURO PAPER. didnt even know they existed.

[@4lexkidd947]

a dude from europe here, your initial thought on blind people support was right. The sizes of the bills and the coins where picked to ensure blind people (or for that matter everyone in a dark environment) could quite deliberately tell which coin or bill they are grabbing due to its size. Adding to that topic, there is a feature on the coins, the source channel did not mention. The outer edge of the coins have grooves in specific shape (softer or pointier) and spacing to eachother that blind people could tell which coin they have in hand by sliding the finger over the edge.

[@bertoverweel6588]

The UK is outside the EU, so no euro bills with the Queen .

[@V0r4xiz]

I was 18 when they introduced the Euro and it felt extremely bizarre but it took just about a month to acclimatize. And actually, when I moved house 5 years ago, I found a 10.- DM (German currency prior to the €) bill. Had to go to the federal bank branch in my state to exchange it for €. Ka-ching, a nice 5.14€ in the wallet! :D

[@JustMe-sh8nd]

you're Dutch? 😁

[@Boredofmostofit]

The size difference of the notes is actually supposed to prevent forgery... you can't just clear the note and bystep the paperproduction for the print of a higher one.

[@stevenvanhulle7242]

Shops and supermarkets usually have an UV lamp to check the notes' authenticity. Usually the higher denominations, I've never seen anyone test a 10 or 20 euro note that way.

[@bananenmusli2769]

The UK uses its own currency, the British Pound or Pound Sterling. It is the oldest currency in the world and it features the queen and will now feature the new king

[@chrisc5516]

Another feature of the lines at the side of the note is to distinguish the notes from one another. You can see and feel the strips. As the basic rule the longer the continuous lines are the larger the note.

[@BoGy1980]

the lines on the side of the paper, are also a guide for the blind people; these lines are in relief on the paper, so they can count the lines with their fingers if they're not sure which note they just received. It's a bit like braille script for them

[@whiteink225]

Fun fact about the bridges. A guy in the netherlands built all of them irl so the netherlands would have them all

[@leDespicable]

The 500€ note was in part implemented because of Germany and its still very much "cash is king" culture. People still use cash in a lot of cases there, even for very expensive purchases. It's not as common now with contactless payment, but it's not unheard of that some Germans would buy a new TV for several thousand Euros and pay for it in cash.

[@Vugoseq]

In Belgium there's even a €3000 max limit on cash payments, in order to combat money laundering. Even if you pay in different installments, max €3000 can be paid in cash for the entire transaction.

[@arcticbeak]

You can even buy houses with cash and criminals from around the world in fact do exactly that. It is speculated the italian mafia has more property in Germany than in Italy, but nobody knows for sure. It also inflates housing prices here for everyone. If you are a criminal and get caught though, law enforcement can at least take the properties from you if you fail to prove how you got the money legally. As far as I know pretty much only banks have to fight against money laundering. If you show up with a lot of cash and want to put it into your bank account you'll get questions asked where you got it from and will ask you to provide evidence. The "cash is king" culture is deeply rooted from multiple occasions in the last century where you couldn't draw any money from your bank in Germany. Especially older people have remembered that and always have cash at home. My retired neighbor once left her stove on, was gardening, saw the smoke and ran into the smoking building to save her significant cash money, before the firefighters arrived.

[@j0lly_jump3r45]

i might not be from germany but from austria and about 2,5 months ago i bought a new car in cash which meant i had around 23k in cash on me for the day, so ye, especially buying cars with cash isnt uncommon - some places, like the one i bought the car from, even only accept cash as payment

[@raistraw8629]

To handle foreign currencies was part of the fun on a trip, apart from other negative sides of the Euro, I miss that time.

[@lillm6874]

Agreed

[@Quasihamster]

Fun fact: It can happen when you print a page of text and some o's line up to resemble an Eurion, that the printer cancels the print because it thinks you're doing something illegal.

[@thanatosmortem8803]

fun fact, most shops refuses the bigger notes, because they're the most counterfeited (so the 500 and the 200 ar ultra rare, and it's rare to see more than a 50)

[@PumpedSmartass]

2:40 Croatia (the second flag) did joined the Eurozone with this year. And some other countries like Romania already using Euro for selling cars and houses.

[@kbittorf335]

In the US federal currency did not exist until their civil war. Each state had their own currency. Counterfeit money was apparently big business back then.

[@holden7688]

I remember when I was 13 years old I finally saved up enough money to buy the PS4 back in 2013. I had €500 to buy the console and extras. So I asked my dad to exchange all my notes for the €500 one that he had and we went to the store and I felt like a king handing that €500 note to the cashier 😂

[@tamaskovacsics2376]

For the 500 euro bill: It is not for everyday use, it is used in exchange offices, banks, but its most common use is to store big amount of cash in a small place. It is the cause of it's donwfall to be a bill mostly liked by criminals.

[@smaragdwolf1]

i never liked the assumptions that criminals would prefer the 500er. They other options. From cryptocurrency to secret bankaccounts and shadow-services to transfer money. Personally, i like my own 500€ bill. Its a nice achievement to have one.

[@tamaskovacsics2376]

@@smaragdwolf1 I don't say everyone owning it is a criminal (I also own a few 500 bills), storing big value in a small place is beneficial to everyone, especially for someone who assumes the bank system is not as stable as the general public thinks. I m from a country with its own currency, but the big sums are in euros. Cars, lands, flats, and some well-payed jobs salaries, are fixed in euros (and it is not uncommon for the government to calculate spending in euros). But the salary comes in the local currency, so if u want to keep it in euros, u go to an exchange and buy euros. It is much easier to hide a few thousand euros in your pocket than to do with the same amount of value in local currency.

[@alexandrorocca7142]

In Switzerland, we have a 1000 francs note, which is the equivalent of 1000 €. They are not so commonly used though and many places like gas stations refuse to take them for security reasons.

[@wiaf8937]

when i bought my first car, i went to the carstore with 18k€ in 500notes, so 36 of these bad boys. it was a public transportation ride for the gods 😀

[@moi9952]

"How many of you guys have spent a 500 note" Construction companies in 2007: 🙈🙈🙈

[@ilesalmo7724]

A downside of the Euro as opposed to individual currencies is that the countries no longer have their own central-banks. This means that during a financial crisis, the country can't do the normal tricks such as devaluing the currency in order to bring price-stability back.

[@neuralwarp]

It's been a disaster for the PIGIS countries (Portugal, Ireland, Greece, Italy, Spain). Effectively the Euro means German bankers are in charge, and to heck with the rest of you.

[@thespartaks9583]

In addition, this was very much encouraged by the USA, because the Euro is indexed to the dollar and it is easier to have a single reference currency to better control European transactions since international transactions were already done in dollars. . The Euro is a German/American invention to both devalue the Deutsche Mark for German exports and provide an advantageous and convenient exchange rate for American exports to the EU. Knowing that, conversely, the currencies of other countries rose sharply as they fought to keep it low to promote their exports and lost a large part of their industry because labor was becoming too expensive, formerly the German problem before the euro. Nazi Germany had already thought of that, moreover, it is work that we studied the two founders of the EU, Jean Monnet and Robert Schuman, two former Nazi partisans, recruited by the CIA at the end of the war to impose an American Europe. For Americans who are interested, I'm not saying I'm right, but it's a track that I encourage those who are intrigued to follow. Cordially !

[@SimonRaahauge1973]

They still have their national banks. which are members of the european central bank in frankfurt (also the place where you will find the german central bank)

[@grewdpastor]

@@thespartaks9583 OK Russian bot.

[@herrakaarme]

Devaluing a currency only makes the big export corporations happy. It hurts every single consumer when they are buying their daily necessities and stuff. It can also hurt businesses that need to import a lot of material or machines (if the country doesn't produce its own oil, that needs to be imported, for example). If the state has debt in foreign currencies, like states tend to have, devaluation of the country's own currency means, in practice, bloating the amount of debt because you need more of your currency to pay it back. It was a sick financial act fitting for banana republics overly reliant on one or two types of basic exports, and that's it. If you ask me, although you weren't.

[@vilongomellaman]

you will be amazed by the Canary Islands, check it out

[@diecicatorce6259]

In Spain, the 500€ note used to be called the "Bin Laden" because everyone knew they existed, but nobody knew where they were. Also, the reason they were discontinued is because they were mainly used in corruption and contraband.

[@pepelongsleeve]

they forgot to mention that the coins and the notes have features so the blind also know which one is which. thats also what the stripes on the side are for, not only the for the security feature. the coins outer edge is shaped differently, thats pretty nice for the blind people among us

[@salemas5]

i saw few times 500 euros. Its gigantic. (~10 cm long, sorry idk how much it its in bald eagles, toyota corrolas or football fields tho) One guy wanted to exchange it to smaller notes, but in bank every operation has a certrain cost, and generally cashiers in supermarkets refuse to change them for some reason, so that guy just bought chewing gum for 99 cents :D

[@althelas]

It is probably 1/2 to 3/4 of a banana, the most used tool for size comparison. :-D

[@dioarturo4328]

Because most shops don't have the proper equipment to scan a 500€ to check if it's real, also one of the reasons it got discontinued, because of it's very rare use (except mafia). Even to withdraw a 500€ note you need to have a special authorisation from your bank and the whole process can take up to a week or two to finally see your enormous 500€ note haha. Some shops even refuse to take a 200€ note for the same reason, hard to have the proper equipment to verify it's authenticity. Maybe in the future 200€ will be discontinued too haha.

[@Cornu341]

10 cm is about 4 inches

[@holger_p]

As higher the value, as higher the risk for illegal copies, is the theory. When buying a car in cash, for something like 10.000€ (=20 bills) you might use them. Cause this exceeds the limit of most cards, you need special authorization for the card. So if you really want to swap product for money, cash is (was) needed.