How is currency made

Enter Search Term s :. Plate Making. Paper and Ink. Offset Printing. Plate Printing. Currency Inspection. Packaging and FRB Vault.

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Privacy Statements. FAQ s. Take a Tour. Doing Business with the BEP. Is it really 'paper' in the traditional sense? There are no wood fibers or starch in currency paper. Instead, like high quality stationery, currency paper is composed of a special blend of cotton and linen fibers. The strength comes from raw materials continuously refined until the special feel of the currency is achieved. People who handle money on a regular basis, such as bank tellers, can easily determine if a bill is counterfeit by this distinctive feel.

The characteristic yellowish-green tint of U. Red and Blue Fibers Red and blue fibers have been a longtime ingredient of U. Special features like these fibers are embedded in currency paper to ensure that reproduction is difficult. You can learn more about how we use cookies by reviewing our Privacy Statement.

Denomination of Bill. The Federal Reserve orders new currency from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, which produces the appropriate denominations and ships them directly to the Reserve Banks.

Each note costs about four cents to produce, though the cost varies slightly by denomination. Virtually all of currency notes in use are Federal Reserve notes. Each Federal Reserve Bank is required by law to pledge collateral at least equal to the amount of currency it has issued into circulation.

The bulk of the collateral pledged is in the form of U. Government securities and gold certificates owned by the Federal Reserve Banks. Making U.

Currency More Secure In late , the Treasury began issuing a series of Federal Reserve notes containing new features that make the notes harder to counterfeit. The most noticeable modification was a larger, slightly off-center portrait that incorporates more detail, thereby making the bill harder to counterfeit.

Putting Coins into Circulation The procedures for putting coins into circulation are similar to those for currency. The U. Mint produces coins in Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco, and ships them to the Federal Reserve Banks and to authorized armored carriers, which supply banks that need coins to meet the public's demand. The distribution of coins differs from that of currency in some respects. First, when the Fed receives currency from the Treasury, it pays only for the cost of printing the notes.