Reconsidering the Future of Banknotes

Digitisation and other systemic changes challenge our existing perceptions of physical money. While central banks have been venturing into digital currency, the question of whether money still needs to retain its traditional shape and appearance has largely been left unexplored. With EX NIHILO, Bundesdruckerei has set out to do just that, and to provide new solutions for the new demands of money. In collaboration with a group of leading industry partners, we reimagined banknote design and banknote security, with a keen focus on sustainability.

View Tactile Marks — Tactile Marks of Housenote Stella

The radically designed innovative banknotes push the boundaries of future banknotes – their look, their function, and their shape.

As we find ourselves on a path to digital currency, money is becoming increasingly independent of matter, theoretically approaching physical nothingness. With this in mind, we created the EX NIHILO house note series. EX NIHILO, Latin for “out of nothing”, aims to take part in this journey and to offer new solutions for the new demands of money that arise along this journey with a keen focus on radically innovative banknote design and the sustainability of banknotes. As a symbol of this journey into nothingness, we chose the colour black, as nothingness is often associated with the absence of light. This black foundation gives the sample notes IGNIS and STELLA their exceptional appearance, while completely reversing the conventional logic of banknote printing and paving the way for the integration of previously impossible designs and security features. From unprecedented ways to enhance banknote security to innovative solutions for cash sustainability, EX NIHILO is designed to contribute important perspectives to the discussion on the future of banknotes.

STELLA – Born from stardust

Achieving a deep black requires carbon. Paying tribute to this, the overarching narrative of the EX NIHILO series traces the story of carbon as it unfolds across the universe. IGNIS, the world’s first black banknote, unveiled in 2024, focused on humankind’s greatest innovation made possible by carbon: the harnessing of fire. STELLA, the next black banknote, travels to the place where carbon is born – the stars. Every carbon atom in our bodies and every carbon atom in a banknote were once forged in the core of a star. We are, quite literally, stardust. We are children of the stars. Let us preserve this precious heritage by minimising the amount of stardust needed for a banknote.

For STELLA, our objective was to achieve this on multiple levels. Not only did we prioritise the most sustainable materials available, but we also sought to use less of everything – less substrate, less ink, and less energy in production – by reducing the note to its smallest possible form: the size of a credit card, 85 × 54 mm.

STELLA is a banknote that does not only symbolise sustainability but by also embodies it.

Yet, the smaller the banknote, the greater the challenge of integrating all the elements it requires – especially security features. To meet this challenge, we developed an innovative edge-to-edge strategy, positioning features along the edges (some even split into two halves) rather than in the centre, with their effects continuing seamlessly from one edge to the other.

The memory that we are children of the stars is in every one of us – and it can be projected onto the table. We devoted the centre window to the awakening of this memory. When light is held behind it, the window becomes a tiny projector. By casting an image of a foetus onto the surface beneath, we are reminded that we are descendants of the stars.

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The radically innovative black EX NIHILO banknote series challenges design, form, function in an increasingly digital world and rethinks sustainability of banknotes in a radically new way.

GUARDIAN™ ENVIRO

CCL Secure has developed a new sustainable polymer substrate, made of non-fossil renewable raw resources, which is fully recyclable. The black ink-receptive layer combined with transparent windows create a silhouette-like appearance.

IR ON BLACK

In collaboration with Leuchtstoffwerke Breitungen, we developed an IR-feature on black using a special ink revealing a face under infrared light when excited by a LED of specific wavelength.

SKYLIGHT™

SKYLIGHT™, an advanced optical feature from SICPA, transforms windows into miniature projectors. A special lens is engineered in the centre window of the eye. When illuminated, it bends the light and projects a dynamic image onto the surface below, like ripples of water projecting a pattern onto the bottom of a pool.

OVI®

Printed in intaglio with high-precision optical pigments from SICPA, the iris stands out brilliantly against the black with a colour shift from gold to green.

SUSIOPTICS®

SUSI Optics® JAZZ™, a pure simultan offset feature by Koenig & Bauer elevates the possibilities of windows to a new level. When the note is tilted, it brings the fractals to life, revealing the motion of patterns. The effect is edge-to-edge: It flows seamlessly across both windows – also visible under UV light.

Front view of STELLA — Front, Housenote Stella

KINEGRAM ZERO.ZERO® PATCH

A KINEGRAM ZERO.ZERO® patch with KINEGRAM® VIVID effect from KURZ depicts the curvature of space caused by a black hole at the heart of most galaxies. The patch has been split into two halves and positioned at the edges, with their effects continuing seamlessly from one side to the other. The denomination ‘3K’ emerges in diffractive lettering made possible by KINEGRAM® technology.

PRINTING LIGHT

Since black is the maximum absorption of light, light-absorbing colours could not be applied. Instead, light-reflecting pigments had to be used. We literally had to print light! Together with the printing atelier Lorenz Boegli, we printed light on the black substrate, using iridescent pigments from Susonity that reflect light instead of absorbing it. RGB technology, which is new to banknotes, is a patented technique.

EDGE-BASED TACTILE MARKS

The edges of a banknote are among the first areas visually impaired people explore. In collaboration with Lang Laser, we cut notches into the edges of the banknote. As notching and cutting are the same process, perfect registration is achieved.

SERIAL NUMBER

Laser process is additionally used for the individualisation of the banknote. The serial number is perforated into the substrate.

Rear view of STELLA — Back, Housenote Stella

Front

IGNIS is the world‘s first black banknote. A cooperation designed to foster dialogue about the future of money, it shows that future banknotes can be conceived much differently than today‘s banknotes.

The Blackest Substrate

Durasafe® is Landqart’s highly secure composite substrate, paper-polymer-paper. The paper layers are dyed directly at the papermill with the blackest black ever used for banknotes – a new level 1 anti-copy feature making it easy to identify counterfeits, because the copy will always appear grey in comparison to the original.

Silk Screen Pigments that Reflect Light

Together with Lorenz Boegli, the inventor of a technique, which is new to banknotes, we printed light on the blackest substrate – a place where light is absent. This was done with iridescent pigments that reflect light instead of absorbing it (like conventional pigments) and a special additive fourcolour screen print.

High Security Chip

For CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency) documents or other digital services a chip from the leading chip manufacturer can be built into the cavity of a half window. This chip uses NFC and can access a full range of digital payment services that a central bank wishes to offer. Hold your mobile phone against it to test its functionality.

Applied Patch label

A laminating patch by Leonhard Kurz Stiftung & Co. KG shelters the chip. Its dynamic and diffractive effects are unique to banknotes and stage perfectly on a black background. In doing so, the patch not only protects the chip but the banknote as a whole.

Front view of IGNIS — **Front** view of IGNIS (Download, 72dpi)

Back

The back of the note acts as a stage for various elements, effects or hidden details that perform perfectly on their dark underground. This is why we let black claim most of the space.

RGB Luminescent Offset

Excited by black light, Luminescent-inks can also be used to print light on a black substrate. SICPA‘s trichromatic Luminescent-inks with its base colours red, green, and blue blend into photo-realistic images.

Bright Intaglio

On a white substrate, shadow accents are printed. On black, this is not possible, since the colour black is already the deepest shadow. We need to print light accents, and this is achieved with whitish intaglio.

Spark Flow®

On black, the brilliance of SICPA’s SPARK Flow® is engaging and captivating. The dimension effect creates a threedimensional impression of the triangle, the alchemical symbol for fire.

Security Foil

A KINEGRAM COLORS® laminating foil, was applied in full registration. On the dark background, the buzzling flames are shown to their best advantage.

Serial Number

The serial number serves as unique identification. It is achieved via conventional letterpress or an innovative perforation method, depending on the distribution. Depending on the distribution you have either the first or the latter.