Most American hundred-dollar bills may be living outside America
The $100 bill makes up the overwhelming bulk of US cash by value, and Federal Reserve figures from 2017 showed more hundreds in existence than singles. Yet a Chicago Fed study estimated that 80 percent of them sit abroad, where people hoard dollars as a hedge against shaky local money, or for less innocent reasons.
Benjamin Franklin has fronted the Federal Reserve version since it first appeared in 1914, and Independence Hall has filled the back since 1928. Franklin and Alexander Hamilton on the $10 are the only faces on current notes who never served as president. Nicknames include Benjamins, after the Joseph Duplessis portrait of Franklin, C-notes, from the Roman numeral, and blue faces, a nod to the blue security features. Since the $500 and larger notes were retired on July 13, 1969, it has been the biggest bill in circulation.
Before standardisation, hundred-dollar paper came in a gallery of designs. An 1861 interest-bearing note showed General Winfield Scott, an 1869 issue featured Abraham Lincoln, and silver certificates carried James Monroe with a back printed in black ink. An 1890 Treasury note for silver purchases earned the nickname watermelon note because the zeros on its reverse looked like melons, and the Treasury redesigned it the next year because the busy pattern seemed too easy to counterfeit. From the Series of 1928, every version carried the same Franklin portrait and Independence Hall scene.
Counterfeiting has driven most modern changes. Microprinting and a metal strip arrived in 1990, and a 1996 overhaul, the biggest since 1929, added a Franklin watermark and ink that shifts colour as the note tilts, answering the rise of scanners and home printers. The current Series 2009 note, unveiled in 2010 but not issued until October 8, 2013, weaves a blue ribbon through the paper that shows alternating Liberty Bells and 100s as it moves.
Each one costs 12.5 cents to make, and as of May 2025 a typical hundred lasts 24.0 years before wear retires it. In 2024 these notes represented 82.46% of all cash in circulation.
Source: United States one-hundred-dollar bill
