1 00:00:04,200 --> 00:00:07,520 Speaker 1: Get in tucht with technology with text stuff from stuff 2 00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:15,000 Speaker 1: works dot com. Hey there, everyone, and welcome to text stuff. 3 00:00:15,040 --> 00:00:19,120 Speaker 1: I'm Jonathan Strickland and I'm Lauren. And you know what, Lauren, 4 00:00:19,160 --> 00:00:21,159 Speaker 1: you know what I like more than anything else in 5 00:00:21,160 --> 00:00:25,079 Speaker 1: the world. The New Hobbit movie. No wars, No, no, 6 00:00:25,400 --> 00:00:32,280 Speaker 1: these are good guesses, but panics, Nils Cord, dollars, Ulla bills. Yeah, 7 00:00:32,320 --> 00:00:34,800 Speaker 1: we're talking about money again. Guys. We've done this a 8 00:00:34,840 --> 00:00:37,120 Speaker 1: couple of times. But no, this is this is a 9 00:00:37,400 --> 00:00:40,120 Speaker 1: topic that was sent to us by one of our 10 00:00:40,240 --> 00:00:44,680 Speaker 1: beloved listeners. Correct, yes, this is listener Matt via Twitter, 11 00:00:44,920 --> 00:00:47,720 Speaker 1: I who said to us, in time for Australia Day 12 00:00:47,760 --> 00:00:51,520 Speaker 1: on Sunday, how about a podcast for Australia's polymer money. 13 00:00:51,760 --> 00:00:55,040 Speaker 1: And you know what Australia Day was several Sundays ago. Yes, 14 00:00:55,160 --> 00:00:57,040 Speaker 1: this is This is not an up to date and 15 00:00:57,200 --> 00:01:00,639 Speaker 1: current podcast, so we apologize for not managing to put 16 00:01:00,680 --> 00:01:04,120 Speaker 1: it out before the day. We're just really early for 17 00:01:04,240 --> 00:01:06,720 Speaker 1: next year, is the thing. Yeah, see here's the thing. Uh, 18 00:01:07,040 --> 00:01:10,679 Speaker 1: time happens earlier in Australia than it does over here. 19 00:01:10,800 --> 00:01:13,760 Speaker 1: And that's the reason. I don't think that's the reason 20 00:01:14,040 --> 00:01:16,240 Speaker 1: let's just I'm trying to cover our tracks here, okay. 21 00:01:16,280 --> 00:01:18,840 Speaker 1: So yeah, we wanted to talk about polymer currency. What 22 00:01:19,160 --> 00:01:22,280 Speaker 1: is it? Uh? And why is it important? Why are 23 00:01:22,360 --> 00:01:24,919 Speaker 1: so many other places looking into it or have already 24 00:01:24,920 --> 00:01:28,280 Speaker 1: adopted it at least in some measure? Yeah, because Australia 25 00:01:28,920 --> 00:01:32,520 Speaker 1: was that the first country to adopt an entire line 26 00:01:32,560 --> 00:01:36,360 Speaker 1: of polymer notes to completely switch over their paper currency 27 00:01:36,440 --> 00:01:40,039 Speaker 1: to polymer currency. And that was back in six although 28 00:01:40,080 --> 00:01:44,479 Speaker 1: they had started using polymer notes way back, and other 29 00:01:44,640 --> 00:01:49,960 Speaker 1: countries had had experimented with it before, but no country 30 00:01:50,040 --> 00:01:54,840 Speaker 1: had switched completely over to polymer currency before Australia did it, right, 31 00:01:55,040 --> 00:01:58,280 Speaker 1: And now more than twenty five other nations are are 32 00:01:58,400 --> 00:02:01,560 Speaker 1: issuing some polymer notes and and more adding themselves to 33 00:02:01,640 --> 00:02:04,000 Speaker 1: the list all the time. The UK, for example, has 34 00:02:04,120 --> 00:02:07,920 Speaker 1: plans to introduce both a five pound Winston Churchhill note 35 00:02:08,080 --> 00:02:12,960 Speaker 1: and a ten pound Jane Austin notes starting in seen respectively. 36 00:02:13,120 --> 00:02:16,720 Speaker 1: That's pretty cool. And so yeah, we're looking at upwards 37 00:02:16,760 --> 00:02:20,120 Speaker 1: of a billion of these entering circulation, right, I mean 38 00:02:20,280 --> 00:02:23,280 Speaker 1: in three years in the UK alone, right, Yeah, it's 39 00:02:23,360 --> 00:02:26,080 Speaker 1: it's a pretty big rollout. They're going to be withdrawing 40 00:02:26,120 --> 00:02:28,560 Speaker 1: all of their paper notes for those two current those 41 00:02:28,600 --> 00:02:32,239 Speaker 1: two denominations, right right, So that makes makes us wonder like, 42 00:02:32,400 --> 00:02:34,840 Speaker 1: what's the big deal here. So we're gonna set some 43 00:02:35,560 --> 00:02:38,800 Speaker 1: some foundation before we get into all the stuff about polymers, 44 00:02:38,880 --> 00:02:41,920 Speaker 1: because you know, it helps to actually understand bank notes 45 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:44,799 Speaker 1: in general, currency in general before we jump into that. 46 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:48,040 Speaker 1: So a bank note is just a unit of current currency. 47 00:02:48,120 --> 00:02:50,079 Speaker 1: Most of you out there probably very familiar with some 48 00:02:50,200 --> 00:02:52,120 Speaker 1: sort of banknote. Here in the United States, we talk 49 00:02:52,120 --> 00:02:54,600 Speaker 1: about dollar bills, five dollar bills, to and dollar bills, 50 00:02:54,600 --> 00:02:56,720 Speaker 1: that kind of thing. As you were saying, in the UK, 51 00:02:57,000 --> 00:02:59,800 Speaker 1: it's the pound, you know, in a lot of European 52 00:02:59,840 --> 00:03:02,120 Speaker 1: A sations it's the eu O that sort of stuff. Well, 53 00:03:02,240 --> 00:03:04,560 Speaker 1: it's this is the These are the actual physical bills 54 00:03:04,639 --> 00:03:08,520 Speaker 1: that represent certain amounts of value. It represents a specific 55 00:03:08,840 --> 00:03:13,079 Speaker 1: amount of value for a given nation exactly. So, h 56 00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:16,720 Speaker 1: a five dollar bill in the United States represents five dollars, 57 00:03:16,840 --> 00:03:18,959 Speaker 1: pretty straightforward when you get down to it, which is 58 00:03:19,040 --> 00:03:21,359 Speaker 1: nice because as you've listen to this podcast, you know 59 00:03:21,800 --> 00:03:24,959 Speaker 1: some of the topics we cover not so straightforward. Right. Also, 60 00:03:25,040 --> 00:03:28,160 Speaker 1: I'd like to apologize on behalf of myself for for 61 00:03:28,480 --> 00:03:31,840 Speaker 1: amount of value. That was just a really spectacular phrasing. 62 00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:35,240 Speaker 1: Oh I get so redundantly repetitive that I have to 63 00:03:35,320 --> 00:03:38,800 Speaker 1: reiterate it occasionally. So at any rate, we want to 64 00:03:38,880 --> 00:03:41,640 Speaker 1: talk also about what a polymer is. Now, a polymer 65 00:03:41,920 --> 00:03:44,920 Speaker 1: is a type of molecule. It's does not necessarily mean 66 00:03:45,120 --> 00:03:48,760 Speaker 1: natural versus synthetic. That there are actually both natural polymers 67 00:03:48,840 --> 00:03:53,040 Speaker 1: and synthetic polymers out there. This is a specific classification 68 00:03:53,240 --> 00:03:56,840 Speaker 1: of molecules. Now, a polymer is made up of monomers. 69 00:03:57,200 --> 00:04:00,600 Speaker 1: Not a big surprise there. Polymer means poly means many, right, 70 00:04:00,680 --> 00:04:03,440 Speaker 1: and mono means one. So a monomer is kind of 71 00:04:03,520 --> 00:04:05,560 Speaker 1: like the base unit of a polymer, which you end 72 00:04:05,640 --> 00:04:09,360 Speaker 1: up being these long chains of of molecules. They tend 73 00:04:09,440 --> 00:04:12,440 Speaker 1: to be pretty resilient and flexible, at least on the 74 00:04:12,480 --> 00:04:16,120 Speaker 1: molecular level, depending upon uh, what they're made out of. 75 00:04:16,640 --> 00:04:18,960 Speaker 1: When you get it onto the macro scale, they may 76 00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:22,800 Speaker 1: be more or less flexible than other materials. But if 77 00:04:22,839 --> 00:04:25,920 Speaker 1: you're looking at natural polymers, that includes stuff like silk 78 00:04:26,120 --> 00:04:30,160 Speaker 1: or amber, and synthetic polymers include man made rubber. Natural 79 00:04:30,240 --> 00:04:34,760 Speaker 1: rubber also a polymer, obviously not a synthetic one. That's 80 00:04:34,800 --> 00:04:39,840 Speaker 1: the word natural um, but another synthetic polymer would be plastics. So, uh, 81 00:04:40,279 --> 00:04:44,480 Speaker 1: these have turned out to be incredibly useful materials for 82 00:04:44,720 --> 00:04:48,600 Speaker 1: all sorts of industries. Uh, the technology industry in particular. 83 00:04:48,839 --> 00:04:51,640 Speaker 1: I mean, our electronics wouldn't be what they are without 84 00:04:51,760 --> 00:04:55,160 Speaker 1: these kind of plastic polymers, right. Plastics make it possible, yeah, 85 00:04:55,160 --> 00:04:57,080 Speaker 1: because I mean otherwise we'd have to find some other 86 00:04:57,200 --> 00:04:59,320 Speaker 1: material to make everything out of and it would be 87 00:04:59,680 --> 00:05:02,279 Speaker 1: all the prices would go up. Plastics cheap, it's easy 88 00:05:02,360 --> 00:05:05,560 Speaker 1: to produce. So these are all really important elements that 89 00:05:05,640 --> 00:05:09,080 Speaker 1: you want in any kind of material. And so some 90 00:05:09,200 --> 00:05:12,520 Speaker 1: people started thinking, well, maybe we could apply that to currency. 91 00:05:13,200 --> 00:05:15,440 Speaker 1: So if you look at we talked about what a 92 00:05:15,440 --> 00:05:17,560 Speaker 1: bank note does, we talked about what a polymer is. 93 00:05:17,800 --> 00:05:19,880 Speaker 1: So a polymer bank note is a banknote, mayor of 94 00:05:19,920 --> 00:05:23,880 Speaker 1: pombers Hey, and we can end the podcast right here. 95 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:27,640 Speaker 1: Well we'll keep going though, because you know me, I 96 00:05:27,760 --> 00:05:29,760 Speaker 1: can't stop it, just like whatever. It is like three 97 00:05:29,760 --> 00:05:33,200 Speaker 1: and a half minutes. So we're looking at these type 98 00:05:33,240 --> 00:05:37,120 Speaker 1: of synthetic materials, mainly the plastics family, that to be 99 00:05:37,240 --> 00:05:41,200 Speaker 1: used as a bank note. Uh, using plastic. According to 100 00:05:41,640 --> 00:05:46,680 Speaker 1: all the authorities who are issuing these polymer currency uh denominations, 101 00:05:46,880 --> 00:05:50,240 Speaker 1: it's actually cheaper than using paper in the long run. 102 00:05:50,320 --> 00:05:52,159 Speaker 1: I mean, you know, of course, the costs of setting 103 00:05:52,240 --> 00:05:54,120 Speaker 1: up a program to create these things, it's going to 104 00:05:54,200 --> 00:05:58,320 Speaker 1: be pretty expensive term, but once once you get it going, 105 00:05:58,440 --> 00:06:01,520 Speaker 1: it should be cheaper per bill to create these things, right, 106 00:06:01,560 --> 00:06:03,560 Speaker 1: And the idea behind that is you know, you might say, well, 107 00:06:03,600 --> 00:06:06,560 Speaker 1: how is it cheaper per bill? And the thought is that, well, 108 00:06:06,960 --> 00:06:10,799 Speaker 1: these things are durable, they last longer than paper currency, 109 00:06:10,880 --> 00:06:15,040 Speaker 1: and paper currency you have to continuously replace. So you 110 00:06:15,120 --> 00:06:17,320 Speaker 1: may not be aware of this, but if you have 111 00:06:17,480 --> 00:06:19,880 Speaker 1: a paper bill and you use it, you actually go 112 00:06:19,920 --> 00:06:21,680 Speaker 1: out and you buy something with it, and someone else 113 00:06:21,720 --> 00:06:23,920 Speaker 1: goes out and buy something with it, and eventually those 114 00:06:23,960 --> 00:06:27,040 Speaker 1: bills make their ways to banks. And what happens is 115 00:06:27,080 --> 00:06:29,560 Speaker 1: that when a bank gets bills, they look at the bills, 116 00:06:29,680 --> 00:06:32,240 Speaker 1: and if the bills have reached a certain level of use, 117 00:06:32,920 --> 00:06:35,600 Speaker 1: if they're if they're basically about to disintegrate or otherwise 118 00:06:35,680 --> 00:06:41,080 Speaker 1: become um unusable or um you probably don't want to 119 00:06:41,200 --> 00:06:44,240 Speaker 1: touch them. Then super gross, I think, is the right. 120 00:06:45,680 --> 00:06:49,080 Speaker 1: Those dollar bills or five dollars whatever, those notes get 121 00:06:49,160 --> 00:06:53,000 Speaker 1: taken out of circulation and replaced with brand new, fresh notes. 122 00:06:53,640 --> 00:06:56,800 Speaker 1: So when you hear about things like a you know, 123 00:06:56,880 --> 00:07:02,159 Speaker 1: a treasury department printing up currency those bills, that doesn't 124 00:07:02,200 --> 00:07:05,640 Speaker 1: represent new wealth, right, that's not new as and that's 125 00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:08,200 Speaker 1: not adding wealth to the nation. What that's doing is 126 00:07:08,400 --> 00:07:12,280 Speaker 1: that's replacing old bills that were in circulation. The way 127 00:07:12,320 --> 00:07:15,360 Speaker 1: you create wealth is not by printing more money, because 128 00:07:15,400 --> 00:07:17,840 Speaker 1: it's as many countries have actually found in the past, 129 00:07:17,960 --> 00:07:21,280 Speaker 1: and and and sometimes people are printing money in order 130 00:07:21,400 --> 00:07:25,080 Speaker 1: to increase the wealth. And there were huge quote marks 131 00:07:25,120 --> 00:07:27,200 Speaker 1: around that phrase in case you couldn't hear them, because 132 00:07:27,720 --> 00:07:30,239 Speaker 1: that is not that that's called inflation. And that's different 133 00:07:30,400 --> 00:07:33,040 Speaker 1: exactly exactly. If you end up just printing currency and 134 00:07:33,080 --> 00:07:36,520 Speaker 1: then dumping it into an economy, you really devalue the currency. 135 00:07:36,720 --> 00:07:40,120 Speaker 1: So suddenly now everything costs more because the currency isn't 136 00:07:40,200 --> 00:07:42,400 Speaker 1: worth as much, it doesn't have as much buying power. 137 00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:46,320 Speaker 1: So when they're printing up these these these bills, it's 138 00:07:46,360 --> 00:07:48,600 Speaker 1: really to replace the ones that are already in circulation 139 00:07:48,640 --> 00:07:50,760 Speaker 1: that need to be replaced. That's the main reason. The 140 00:07:50,800 --> 00:07:52,280 Speaker 1: way you create wealth, by the way, in case you 141 00:07:52,360 --> 00:07:55,080 Speaker 1: are wondering, is through loans. You loan out money and 142 00:07:55,160 --> 00:07:59,000 Speaker 1: you add interest. That interest represents new wealth. That's kind 143 00:07:59,080 --> 00:08:02,560 Speaker 1: of how in a very high level, Like all the 144 00:08:02,640 --> 00:08:06,240 Speaker 1: economics majors out there, just like he is oversimplifying this 145 00:08:06,320 --> 00:08:09,400 Speaker 1: to the point of ridiculousness, but that's basically how you 146 00:08:09,480 --> 00:08:11,760 Speaker 1: create new wealth. Economics has never made a lick of 147 00:08:11,840 --> 00:08:15,560 Speaker 1: sense to me, Like like like nanoparticles, sure totally back 148 00:08:15,600 --> 00:08:19,840 Speaker 1: for economics, no idea exactly totally, but at any rate. 149 00:08:19,960 --> 00:08:23,040 Speaker 1: Um So, these polymer notes, in addition to being slightly 150 00:08:23,160 --> 00:08:27,040 Speaker 1: less expensive to manufacture and and more durable, so therefore 151 00:08:27,400 --> 00:08:30,080 Speaker 1: you know able to be kept in circulation longer, have 152 00:08:30,320 --> 00:08:32,559 Speaker 1: a lot of good benefits when it comes to anti 153 00:08:32,640 --> 00:08:36,440 Speaker 1: counterfeiting measures. Right, So let's talk about some anti counterfeiting measures. 154 00:08:36,520 --> 00:08:39,079 Speaker 1: These are ones that some of them you can find 155 00:08:39,320 --> 00:08:43,760 Speaker 1: on on paper currency, but it's important to run down 156 00:08:43,800 --> 00:08:45,600 Speaker 1: the list of it because a lot of the same 157 00:08:45,679 --> 00:08:48,080 Speaker 1: techniques that are used in paper currency are being used 158 00:08:48,120 --> 00:08:51,319 Speaker 1: in polymer currency as well. So some of these you're 159 00:08:51,320 --> 00:08:53,000 Speaker 1: gonna hear and you're gonna think, well, how is that 160 00:08:53,040 --> 00:08:57,040 Speaker 1: special polymer? Not all of them are. So one of them, uh, 161 00:08:57,120 --> 00:08:59,360 Speaker 1: and it's pretty simple. One is just the idea of 162 00:08:59,480 --> 00:09:04,920 Speaker 1: creating things that are really finely detailed, like really really 163 00:09:05,440 --> 00:09:08,240 Speaker 1: time elements and parts of the image. Um. I mean, 164 00:09:08,320 --> 00:09:10,720 Speaker 1: that's that's why you'll see a lot of very fine 165 00:09:10,840 --> 00:09:12,640 Speaker 1: line work in many of the images. It's not just 166 00:09:12,760 --> 00:09:15,040 Speaker 1: like a big cartoony looking thing, right, And they'll be 167 00:09:15,160 --> 00:09:18,679 Speaker 1: like little curly cues and swirls and stuff and the 168 00:09:18,800 --> 00:09:21,400 Speaker 1: various designs that are on the bill. And the idea 169 00:09:21,520 --> 00:09:25,160 Speaker 1: here is that if you make those those details really precise, 170 00:09:25,760 --> 00:09:28,959 Speaker 1: it's difficult to copy that, right. It's difficult for a 171 00:09:29,040 --> 00:09:32,160 Speaker 1: counterfeiter to make a fake bill that has that same 172 00:09:32,280 --> 00:09:34,480 Speaker 1: level of detail in it, especially if you were let's 173 00:09:34,480 --> 00:09:37,040 Speaker 1: say that you have a copy machine that doesn't have 174 00:09:37,120 --> 00:09:39,800 Speaker 1: any sort of protection on it where you're able to 175 00:09:39,960 --> 00:09:43,480 Speaker 1: make copies of stuff. The more fine detail you include 176 00:09:43,520 --> 00:09:45,360 Speaker 1: on there, the harder it is for that copy machine 177 00:09:45,400 --> 00:09:49,520 Speaker 1: to reproduce it accurately. And so the hope for people 178 00:09:49,559 --> 00:09:52,200 Speaker 1: who are making the bills is that anyone who accepts 179 00:09:52,280 --> 00:09:54,439 Speaker 1: the bill will look at it and be able to 180 00:09:54,520 --> 00:09:57,079 Speaker 1: tell just by glancing at it whether or not those 181 00:09:57,120 --> 00:09:59,559 Speaker 1: fine details match up against the real thing or if 182 00:09:59,600 --> 00:10:02,440 Speaker 1: it's you think okay. But even even fine detail can 183 00:10:02,520 --> 00:10:04,880 Speaker 1: be duplicated I mean, I mean, I'm sure that some 184 00:10:04,960 --> 00:10:06,559 Speaker 1: of you are thinking, like, well, we I have like 185 00:10:06,640 --> 00:10:10,599 Speaker 1: a really high res scanner, and that could clearly duplicate 186 00:10:10,720 --> 00:10:12,400 Speaker 1: and and you know, if I have a good enough printer, 187 00:10:12,720 --> 00:10:14,560 Speaker 1: then I could absolutely make a copy of that thing. 188 00:10:15,040 --> 00:10:18,880 Speaker 1: But there's, um, there's a specific ink line process. Yeah, 189 00:10:19,320 --> 00:10:23,360 Speaker 1: so intaglio printing, right, yes, it gets all. When I 190 00:10:23,440 --> 00:10:26,800 Speaker 1: read Intaglio, I think like that sounds like a cologne 191 00:10:26,840 --> 00:10:31,480 Speaker 1: to me or something Intaglio. So what this is is 192 00:10:31,520 --> 00:10:34,199 Speaker 1: that you, all, right, you take like a roller, okay, 193 00:10:34,280 --> 00:10:37,280 Speaker 1: the roller is essentially like a stamp, okay, and you 194 00:10:37,440 --> 00:10:40,600 Speaker 1: make fine etchings in the rollers, so these are little 195 00:10:40,679 --> 00:10:44,320 Speaker 1: indentations inside the roller. You then coat the roller with ink. 196 00:10:44,760 --> 00:10:47,559 Speaker 1: Now more inc is going to go into those indentations, 197 00:10:47,559 --> 00:10:50,360 Speaker 1: because they're like little wells. And then you wipe the 198 00:10:50,440 --> 00:10:53,640 Speaker 1: ink off the roller, which does not surface exactly, just 199 00:10:53,880 --> 00:10:56,280 Speaker 1: into the etchings exactly. And then you can put a 200 00:10:56,320 --> 00:10:59,640 Speaker 1: piece of paper or whatever whatever you're printing on, and 201 00:11:00,120 --> 00:11:02,880 Speaker 1: well then just those little fine details that have been 202 00:11:02,920 --> 00:11:05,439 Speaker 1: etched into the roller will be transferred to whatever you're 203 00:11:05,480 --> 00:11:08,600 Speaker 1: printing on. And that's a way of creating this incredibly 204 00:11:08,720 --> 00:11:12,200 Speaker 1: finely detailed work so that you do it accurately over 205 00:11:12,280 --> 00:11:13,960 Speaker 1: and over every single time. It's going to come out 206 00:11:14,040 --> 00:11:16,880 Speaker 1: exactly the way you want it to because it's etched 207 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:20,480 Speaker 1: into whatever the printing mechanism is right, and it will 208 00:11:20,520 --> 00:11:22,760 Speaker 1: also create a design that is raised up off of 209 00:11:22,840 --> 00:11:26,560 Speaker 1: the paper very slightly paper whatever other Yeah, exactly. So again, 210 00:11:26,679 --> 00:11:29,120 Speaker 1: both of those things are indications that you've got the 211 00:11:29,240 --> 00:11:32,360 Speaker 1: real legit currency in your hands. But there are a 212 00:11:32,400 --> 00:11:36,680 Speaker 1: lot of other anti counterfeiting measures as well, including things 213 00:11:36,840 --> 00:11:40,719 Speaker 1: like um multicolor bills. So the idea here is that 214 00:11:40,840 --> 00:11:44,840 Speaker 1: you don't use just a single dye in the dying 215 00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:48,280 Speaker 1: of your currency, so that you have maybe a gradation 216 00:11:48,520 --> 00:11:51,360 Speaker 1: or a couple of different colors on each bill, because 217 00:11:51,600 --> 00:11:56,040 Speaker 1: that is also difficult to replicate. So if you know, 218 00:11:56,160 --> 00:11:58,280 Speaker 1: I remember when I think it was, I guess it 219 00:11:58,360 --> 00:12:00,960 Speaker 1: was the hundred dollar bill of several years ago. Now 220 00:12:01,880 --> 00:12:04,480 Speaker 1: when it when it was redone, it had kind of 221 00:12:04,520 --> 00:12:07,360 Speaker 1: a peach coloring to it besides the green. Yeah, yeah, 222 00:12:07,400 --> 00:12:10,760 Speaker 1: like a pinkish, peach ish and and everyone's immediate reaction 223 00:12:10,960 --> 00:12:13,079 Speaker 1: was this looks like monopoly money. But it was actually 224 00:12:13,160 --> 00:12:17,720 Speaker 1: a very clever way of cheaply integrating better security exactly. 225 00:12:17,840 --> 00:12:19,599 Speaker 1: So yeah, for a lot of us were suddenly thinking like, 226 00:12:19,679 --> 00:12:22,040 Speaker 1: why why do we have play money? It's sort of 227 00:12:22,080 --> 00:12:25,640 Speaker 1: the arrogant American approach to whenever we go to a 228 00:12:25,760 --> 00:12:28,480 Speaker 1: foreign country. You know, it's not that every American does this, 229 00:12:28,559 --> 00:12:30,840 Speaker 1: but I'm sure anyone living in another country has had 230 00:12:30,880 --> 00:12:33,800 Speaker 1: the experience or at least has heard a story of 231 00:12:35,600 --> 00:12:39,760 Speaker 1: American tourists calling calling American currency quote unquote real money 232 00:12:40,360 --> 00:12:42,840 Speaker 1: and then referring to whatever the local currency has as 233 00:12:43,040 --> 00:12:45,160 Speaker 1: this stuff that I have to use to buy things. 234 00:12:45,960 --> 00:12:49,120 Speaker 1: On behalf of all Americans, I would like to extend 235 00:12:49,200 --> 00:12:51,760 Speaker 1: an apology to you. Not all of us are like that. 236 00:12:52,240 --> 00:12:54,760 Speaker 1: Uh No, some of us are much more subtly completely 237 00:12:54,800 --> 00:12:57,160 Speaker 1: ignorant about your money. I I still feel a little 238 00:12:57,160 --> 00:12:58,560 Speaker 1: bit bad I had the last time I was over 239 00:12:58,640 --> 00:13:01,120 Speaker 1: in England. I had this really ilarious experience with the 240 00:13:01,160 --> 00:13:04,480 Speaker 1: shopkeeper where I just I felt like Arthur Weasley holding 241 00:13:04,559 --> 00:13:07,839 Speaker 1: this pile of British coins and and like she was 242 00:13:07,960 --> 00:13:09,599 Speaker 1: just trying to she She was like, you know, that 243 00:13:09,640 --> 00:13:12,600 Speaker 1: will be a pound five, and I was like, how 244 00:13:12,679 --> 00:13:14,760 Speaker 1: does it? I just held my hands out to her, 245 00:13:14,880 --> 00:13:17,559 Speaker 1: like how you you take? How much money? It? Is 246 00:13:17,920 --> 00:13:20,000 Speaker 1: the really sad part about that story, Lauren, is you're 247 00:13:20,040 --> 00:13:22,439 Speaker 1: not old enough to have been around back when the 248 00:13:23,000 --> 00:13:26,280 Speaker 1: when the English currency system was not based off of 249 00:13:26,440 --> 00:13:29,200 Speaker 1: base ten, when it was like, all right, I'm sorry, 250 00:13:29,240 --> 00:13:32,800 Speaker 1: it's sixteen pennies to a furlong, which is uh, that's 251 00:13:32,880 --> 00:13:37,599 Speaker 1: fourteen furlongs to a half guinea crown thing. Obviously, my 252 00:13:37,720 --> 00:13:41,480 Speaker 1: ignorance of the English monetary system is also great. But yes, 253 00:13:41,559 --> 00:13:44,079 Speaker 1: at any rate, I have also had that same experience, 254 00:13:44,480 --> 00:13:49,080 Speaker 1: so that those multicolor bills obviously another step towards creating 255 00:13:49,120 --> 00:13:52,440 Speaker 1: an anti counterfeiting strategy, but it's not the only one. Again, 256 00:13:52,520 --> 00:13:55,880 Speaker 1: there's also incorporating strips of different colored material within a 257 00:13:55,920 --> 00:13:59,160 Speaker 1: bank note itself. Right, So in this case you might 258 00:13:59,240 --> 00:14:02,240 Speaker 1: have a comp completely different material than what makes up 259 00:14:02,320 --> 00:14:04,640 Speaker 1: the bulk of the bank note. The bank note itself 260 00:14:04,720 --> 00:14:07,720 Speaker 1: may be made out of some sort of paper slash 261 00:14:08,200 --> 00:14:12,880 Speaker 1: cloth type stuff, with these other strips incorporated into them. Again, 262 00:14:13,400 --> 00:14:16,600 Speaker 1: very difficult to counterfeit, you know, there's just really it's 263 00:14:16,679 --> 00:14:20,280 Speaker 1: just about raising the difficulty so that your average person 264 00:14:20,520 --> 00:14:23,680 Speaker 1: can't really counterfeit this money. Uh. It doesn't mean that 265 00:14:23,720 --> 00:14:26,880 Speaker 1: it's impossible, It just means that you've raised the difficulty 266 00:14:26,960 --> 00:14:29,200 Speaker 1: so much that the people who are attempting it, that 267 00:14:29,360 --> 00:14:32,080 Speaker 1: number gets smaller and smaller because it's hard to do. 268 00:14:33,040 --> 00:14:37,840 Speaker 1: Another strategy is to use holy grams. Yeah. So holograms 269 00:14:37,920 --> 00:14:41,280 Speaker 1: are obviously these little bit pictures that can uh, they 270 00:14:41,360 --> 00:14:43,320 Speaker 1: have a different you know, they shine in a different 271 00:14:43,320 --> 00:14:45,120 Speaker 1: way when you shine light on You also get kind 272 00:14:45,120 --> 00:14:46,840 Speaker 1: of a three D effect on them. You know, it 273 00:14:46,960 --> 00:14:49,320 Speaker 1: looks like you're looking at a three dimensional picture as 274 00:14:49,360 --> 00:14:53,160 Speaker 1: opposed to just a flat image. And these are of 275 00:14:53,240 --> 00:14:57,760 Speaker 1: course created with my favorite technology of all time, lasers. Yes, 276 00:14:57,880 --> 00:15:00,880 Speaker 1: we did an entire suite of episode about holograms over 277 00:15:00,960 --> 00:15:03,280 Speaker 1: and Forward Thinking a few months back. I failed to 278 00:15:03,360 --> 00:15:06,240 Speaker 1: look up when exactly that occurred, but but go to 279 00:15:06,280 --> 00:15:09,960 Speaker 1: the forward thinking website yeah dot com. Please do I 280 00:15:10,040 --> 00:15:12,320 Speaker 1: mean the the episodes we did on holograms. We actually 281 00:15:12,400 --> 00:15:16,200 Speaker 1: explain how people make holograms and it does involve using 282 00:15:16,280 --> 00:15:19,920 Speaker 1: two different types of lasers in order to complete this. 283 00:15:20,080 --> 00:15:21,720 Speaker 1: You know, it's actually kind of crazy to think how 284 00:15:21,800 --> 00:15:25,120 Speaker 1: complicated is just to make a what what appears to 285 00:15:25,200 --> 00:15:28,119 Speaker 1: be a simple image. But at any rate, again, holograms, 286 00:15:28,520 --> 00:15:31,160 Speaker 1: it requires you to have some equipment that your average 287 00:15:31,200 --> 00:15:34,600 Speaker 1: counterfeiter probably doesn't have access to like really expensive lasers. 288 00:15:35,440 --> 00:15:39,520 Speaker 1: So then we've got including strips of phosphorescent material. So 289 00:15:39,800 --> 00:15:42,200 Speaker 1: then you've got you know, if you shine it underneath 290 00:15:42,720 --> 00:15:44,800 Speaker 1: like a black light and ultra violet light, then you 291 00:15:44,880 --> 00:15:48,520 Speaker 1: might see that it glows if it's a true bill. Obviously, 292 00:15:48,560 --> 00:15:51,000 Speaker 1: if that where a counterfeit and it doesn't glow, you'd say, huh, 293 00:15:51,680 --> 00:15:54,960 Speaker 1: nice try now I'm calling the cops. Right. There's also 294 00:15:55,000 --> 00:15:57,120 Speaker 1: all kinds of different inks that you can use that 295 00:15:57,280 --> 00:16:01,720 Speaker 1: are slightly harder to duplicate. Yes, yeah, including ink that 296 00:16:01,800 --> 00:16:04,720 Speaker 1: will change color depending upon the angle at which light 297 00:16:04,920 --> 00:16:07,960 Speaker 1: hits that ink. Right. This is due to a process 298 00:16:08,000 --> 00:16:12,240 Speaker 1: called uh iridescence. It's a physical process which works by 299 00:16:12,320 --> 00:16:16,720 Speaker 1: virtue of microstructures, which are basically tiny holes that reflect 300 00:16:16,800 --> 00:16:19,280 Speaker 1: light at different angles and wavelengths than the rest of 301 00:16:19,320 --> 00:16:21,960 Speaker 1: the surrounding material. Yeah, this actually reminds me a lot 302 00:16:22,160 --> 00:16:25,840 Speaker 1: of how uh glasses free three D works, and that 303 00:16:26,080 --> 00:16:29,080 Speaker 1: you have these little tiny elements inside a screen that 304 00:16:29,240 --> 00:16:32,240 Speaker 1: direct light in specific ways so that one eye gets 305 00:16:32,320 --> 00:16:34,160 Speaker 1: one set of light and the other eye gets the 306 00:16:34,200 --> 00:16:35,800 Speaker 1: other set of light, and that's what creates the three 307 00:16:35,880 --> 00:16:38,320 Speaker 1: D effect kind of similar here, except instead of trying 308 00:16:38,360 --> 00:16:41,600 Speaker 1: to direct light at your at each eye independently, it's 309 00:16:41,640 --> 00:16:44,120 Speaker 1: just changing that angle so that you get a different 310 00:16:44,160 --> 00:16:47,000 Speaker 1: color experience as you're as you're moving the bill in 311 00:16:47,080 --> 00:16:49,920 Speaker 1: relation to wherever the light sources. Uh. Sure, it can 312 00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:52,680 Speaker 1: even be used to create this multicolor look without any 313 00:16:52,760 --> 00:16:56,920 Speaker 1: ink at all. It can be a purely physical structure, yep, yep. Uh. 314 00:16:57,040 --> 00:17:02,520 Speaker 1: Then there's also using ultraviolet reactive fluorescen inks are metallic inks. Uh, 315 00:17:02,920 --> 00:17:06,440 Speaker 1: again stuff that's not easy to come by, so again 316 00:17:06,520 --> 00:17:10,480 Speaker 1: cutting down the likelihood of counterfeiting. Uh. There's also micro 317 00:17:10,640 --> 00:17:12,680 Speaker 1: printing that's kind of similar to the etching we talked 318 00:17:12,680 --> 00:17:15,080 Speaker 1: about before. It's this is where you're printing really really 319 00:17:15,160 --> 00:17:19,560 Speaker 1: super tiny words or numbers as a way of again 320 00:17:19,680 --> 00:17:23,280 Speaker 1: foiling the efforts of people to copy an image directly, 321 00:17:23,400 --> 00:17:25,480 Speaker 1: all right, because not everyone has access to that kind 322 00:17:25,480 --> 00:17:29,520 Speaker 1: of high definition printing. And then there's also designing software 323 00:17:29,600 --> 00:17:33,280 Speaker 1: that actually recognizes when you are trying to manipulate some 324 00:17:33,359 --> 00:17:36,480 Speaker 1: sort of banknote. Now, this software could be anything from 325 00:17:36,640 --> 00:17:40,400 Speaker 1: a scanner to a copier to any kind of photoshops 326 00:17:40,440 --> 00:17:44,639 Speaker 1: sort of material, where once it recognizes the elements of 327 00:17:44,760 --> 00:17:48,600 Speaker 1: a banknote essentially refuses to help you out. You'll end 328 00:17:48,720 --> 00:17:51,879 Speaker 1: up getting either an error or if you're trying to 329 00:17:51,960 --> 00:17:54,400 Speaker 1: copy something, you might just get a solid block where 330 00:17:54,440 --> 00:17:58,200 Speaker 1: there's no definition at all. It's it's you know, kind 331 00:17:58,200 --> 00:18:01,200 Speaker 1: of uh, you know, it's another level of security that's 332 00:18:01,240 --> 00:18:03,719 Speaker 1: outside the bill itself. This is more on the end 333 00:18:03,840 --> 00:18:06,280 Speaker 1: of the people who are making the software and hardware 334 00:18:06,400 --> 00:18:08,520 Speaker 1: al right, right, you would have to depend upon those 335 00:18:08,560 --> 00:18:11,920 Speaker 1: developers to create that for you, to create it in 336 00:18:12,040 --> 00:18:14,840 Speaker 1: conjunction with you. And a big example of this is 337 00:18:14,960 --> 00:18:18,840 Speaker 1: your ryon constellation. So this can recognize a scan bank 338 00:18:18,920 --> 00:18:22,240 Speaker 1: note based on the patterns that are actually on these 339 00:18:22,240 --> 00:18:25,639 Speaker 1: banknotes themselves. These have been put there by the various 340 00:18:26,080 --> 00:18:29,520 Speaker 1: industries that create the bank notes. If those marks are 341 00:18:29,640 --> 00:18:32,359 Speaker 1: present on any kind of image, like even if you 342 00:18:32,440 --> 00:18:34,840 Speaker 1: included those marks on some other form of image, this 343 00:18:34,960 --> 00:18:36,359 Speaker 1: thing is gonna pick it up and say, all right, 344 00:18:36,400 --> 00:18:39,879 Speaker 1: I can't work with this, and uh, it's not likely 345 00:18:40,080 --> 00:18:42,760 Speaker 1: that you're going to have these specifically put on another 346 00:18:42,800 --> 00:18:46,400 Speaker 1: image because they're tiny. They look like little one millimeter 347 00:18:46,520 --> 00:18:49,159 Speaker 1: sized circles, and they're usually printed in yellow ink, so 348 00:18:49,960 --> 00:18:52,080 Speaker 1: you're probably not going to find it on anything else 349 00:18:52,240 --> 00:18:54,320 Speaker 1: by accident. It's probably not. It's it's not like it's 350 00:18:54,359 --> 00:18:58,320 Speaker 1: working off a facial recognition of Jeffer Center something exactly. 351 00:18:58,520 --> 00:19:00,800 Speaker 1: That would be a poor that. Yeah, that would not 352 00:19:00,920 --> 00:19:03,880 Speaker 1: work out so well. So then there's also just using 353 00:19:03,920 --> 00:19:07,639 Speaker 1: a material that's not just paper, right, because paper is 354 00:19:07,680 --> 00:19:11,040 Speaker 1: not very sturdy and it's also really easy to reproduce. 355 00:19:11,359 --> 00:19:14,840 Speaker 1: So most countries, including the United States, use some other material. 356 00:19:14,960 --> 00:19:18,720 Speaker 1: It's something that's closer to cloth than it is in paper. Linen, 357 00:19:18,800 --> 00:19:21,200 Speaker 1: in fact, is one of the most popular additives yep. 358 00:19:21,359 --> 00:19:24,040 Speaker 1: And in the United States it's a mixture cotton and 359 00:19:24,880 --> 00:19:27,560 Speaker 1: linen fibers, so it's not really paper in the way 360 00:19:27,680 --> 00:19:30,320 Speaker 1: we normally think of paper, which is why a bill 361 00:19:30,400 --> 00:19:32,720 Speaker 1: can survive. I run through the washing machine, yep. Yeah, 362 00:19:32,760 --> 00:19:37,240 Speaker 1: if you want to do some money laundering. Sorry, I 363 00:19:37,359 --> 00:19:39,280 Speaker 1: didn't really like that joke either, but I'm gonna keep 364 00:19:39,320 --> 00:19:42,000 Speaker 1: it anyway. Also, the United States government says that it 365 00:19:42,119 --> 00:19:45,399 Speaker 1: takes four thousand double folds, as in you're you're folding 366 00:19:45,440 --> 00:19:49,840 Speaker 1: it forward and backward against itself before a bill will tear. 367 00:19:50,600 --> 00:19:54,000 Speaker 1: You know, brand new bill will tear. And also because 368 00:19:54,160 --> 00:19:58,719 Speaker 1: of this mixture, that's also difficult to replicate. However, Uh, 369 00:19:59,119 --> 00:20:02,000 Speaker 1: that doesn't mean people don't try. So what do you 370 00:20:02,160 --> 00:20:05,399 Speaker 1: do to try and detect a counterfeit bill? One of 371 00:20:05,480 --> 00:20:09,280 Speaker 1: the popular methods that is, Uh, I've seen it used, 372 00:20:09,440 --> 00:20:11,480 Speaker 1: like I've I've paid for something with like a fresh 373 00:20:11,520 --> 00:20:13,920 Speaker 1: twenty dollar bill and seeing people use these things these 374 00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:18,080 Speaker 1: counterfeiting pins. The pen is meant to try and detect 375 00:20:18,119 --> 00:20:21,119 Speaker 1: the counterfeit bill. It usually has some sort of chemical 376 00:20:21,160 --> 00:20:25,400 Speaker 1: in it, like iodine, and that would react to starch. 377 00:20:25,840 --> 00:20:28,159 Speaker 1: And if it reacts to starch, then will it'll actually 378 00:20:28,280 --> 00:20:31,080 Speaker 1: stain whatever it is it's marking against start of course 379 00:20:31,160 --> 00:20:34,560 Speaker 1: being a common ingredient in many papers, but something that 380 00:20:34,800 --> 00:20:37,920 Speaker 1: US currency does not contain. Right, So the idea would 381 00:20:37,920 --> 00:20:40,080 Speaker 1: be if you mark if you use this marker on 382 00:20:40,160 --> 00:20:43,320 Speaker 1: a legitimate bill, there should be no stain. If used 383 00:20:43,359 --> 00:20:45,480 Speaker 1: it on something that had a paper that had starch 384 00:20:45,560 --> 00:20:47,879 Speaker 1: in it, it would stain, which sounds like it be 385 00:20:48,320 --> 00:20:50,480 Speaker 1: pretty effective, except for the fact that there are a 386 00:20:50,520 --> 00:20:54,280 Speaker 1: lot of ways of removing starches from paper or actually 387 00:20:54,359 --> 00:20:58,080 Speaker 1: just buying starch free paper, and in either case those 388 00:20:58,119 --> 00:21:00,720 Speaker 1: pens would not be effective. So you could have a 389 00:21:00,800 --> 00:21:02,879 Speaker 1: fake bill. In fact, you could just cut out a 390 00:21:02,960 --> 00:21:05,359 Speaker 1: sheet of paper on starch free paper and just write 391 00:21:05,720 --> 00:21:08,200 Speaker 1: this is money on it and handed to someone and 392 00:21:08,280 --> 00:21:10,200 Speaker 1: if they ran the little marker on it, there would 393 00:21:10,240 --> 00:21:13,640 Speaker 1: be no stain. It clearly would not be a real bill, 394 00:21:14,080 --> 00:21:16,960 Speaker 1: right right, unless you're using a doctor Who's psychic paper, 395 00:21:17,119 --> 00:21:19,840 Speaker 1: not doctor who. That's terrible the doctor right. Oh, I 396 00:21:19,880 --> 00:21:25,280 Speaker 1: feel like a bad nerd. It's Mr Who. No, I'm sorry, Yeah, 397 00:21:25,760 --> 00:21:28,359 Speaker 1: I do all the time at any rate. If you 398 00:21:28,440 --> 00:21:29,800 Speaker 1: if you want to hear a little bit more about 399 00:21:29,840 --> 00:21:33,679 Speaker 1: all of these anti counterfeiting measures. Jonathan and Christen episode 400 00:21:33,720 --> 00:21:37,600 Speaker 1: called the Tech of Making Money way back on August nine, 401 00:21:38,480 --> 00:21:40,800 Speaker 1: and they go into coins as well, if you're curious 402 00:21:40,840 --> 00:21:43,000 Speaker 1: about how all of this currency is created. Yeah, I 403 00:21:43,040 --> 00:21:46,120 Speaker 1: remember we talked about milling. You know, was shortly after 404 00:21:46,280 --> 00:21:49,080 Speaker 1: they invented money, so it was a pretty fresh podcast 405 00:21:49,160 --> 00:21:51,560 Speaker 1: back then. I was not even born yet. Yeah, I mean, 406 00:21:51,600 --> 00:21:54,120 Speaker 1: all you know it was it was It was odd 407 00:21:54,200 --> 00:21:56,280 Speaker 1: because we had no way of recording podcast. It was 408 00:21:56,359 --> 00:21:59,240 Speaker 1: just us talking in a room. But somehow someone just 409 00:21:59,320 --> 00:22:01,879 Speaker 1: wrote it all down and managed to recreate it. But 410 00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:04,560 Speaker 1: despite all those measures, there are times when counterfeit as 411 00:22:04,600 --> 00:22:08,359 Speaker 1: still find ways to pass fake bills into circulation, and 412 00:22:08,680 --> 00:22:11,719 Speaker 1: so that is why are one of the big reasons 413 00:22:11,760 --> 00:22:15,919 Speaker 1: why countries are starting to switch over to this polymer currency, 414 00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:19,920 Speaker 1: which has not only all the benefits of the counterfeiting 415 00:22:19,960 --> 00:22:23,120 Speaker 1: anti counterfeiting measures we just talked about, but has more 416 00:22:23,280 --> 00:22:25,399 Speaker 1: on top of them. But before we get into that, 417 00:22:25,880 --> 00:22:28,720 Speaker 1: let's take a quick break, all right, So let's talk 418 00:22:28,840 --> 00:22:32,320 Speaker 1: about actual polymer currency. What makes it so special other 419 00:22:32,400 --> 00:22:35,400 Speaker 1: than the fact that it's made out of plastic. Well, 420 00:22:35,720 --> 00:22:38,000 Speaker 1: in order to talk about this, let's talk about exactly 421 00:22:38,119 --> 00:22:40,320 Speaker 1: how this currency is made out of plastics. Oh, you know, 422 00:22:40,400 --> 00:22:42,879 Speaker 1: that's a good idea, all right. So you get a 423 00:22:42,920 --> 00:22:45,600 Speaker 1: polymer substrate, which is really just a fancy way of 424 00:22:45,680 --> 00:22:49,040 Speaker 1: saying a whole big flat sheet of this this stuff. 425 00:22:49,400 --> 00:22:52,760 Speaker 1: It's transparent, so you've got, you know, just imagine a 426 00:22:52,920 --> 00:22:57,640 Speaker 1: big transparent amount of plastic. It essentially looks the way 427 00:22:58,160 --> 00:23:01,479 Speaker 1: that any transparent part on a bank note would look. Uh. 428 00:23:01,600 --> 00:23:05,040 Speaker 1: And at this point you can then treat it chemically. 429 00:23:05,640 --> 00:23:09,240 Speaker 1: You would probably use some form of white ish ink 430 00:23:09,359 --> 00:23:12,680 Speaker 1: to make it opaque. You might treat certain areas of 431 00:23:12,840 --> 00:23:15,480 Speaker 1: that substrate chemically so that the white ink does not 432 00:23:15,600 --> 00:23:18,240 Speaker 1: adhere to it. That would mean that those sections would 433 00:23:18,280 --> 00:23:21,159 Speaker 1: remain transparent, which is one of the coolest things I 434 00:23:21,240 --> 00:23:23,600 Speaker 1: think about polymer currency when you can hold up the 435 00:23:23,640 --> 00:23:26,080 Speaker 1: bill and see cleanly through it, not because there's a 436 00:23:26,160 --> 00:23:27,520 Speaker 1: hole in it, which is the way most of my 437 00:23:27,600 --> 00:23:30,119 Speaker 1: money looks, or because of a water mark. I mean 438 00:23:30,240 --> 00:23:32,840 Speaker 1: some paper currency does include a water mark, which is 439 00:23:33,200 --> 00:23:36,200 Speaker 1: a thinner bit of the paper that light can shine 440 00:23:36,240 --> 00:23:38,600 Speaker 1: through more readily. Yeah, that would be kind of translucent. 441 00:23:38,720 --> 00:23:41,800 Speaker 1: You can actually have fully transparent sections of a polymer 442 00:23:42,160 --> 00:23:45,000 Speaker 1: bank note. So uh, you would then treat it with 443 00:23:45,080 --> 00:23:47,320 Speaker 1: this chemical, you wash all that off, and you would 444 00:23:47,560 --> 00:23:51,200 Speaker 1: end up with a mostly opaque, big old sheet of 445 00:23:51,440 --> 00:23:54,240 Speaker 1: this stuff. Then you would cut it into the actual 446 00:23:54,359 --> 00:23:56,879 Speaker 1: sheet sizes you would use to feed through the printing. 447 00:23:58,040 --> 00:24:00,560 Speaker 1: You would then run it through a printer that would 448 00:24:00,680 --> 00:24:02,920 Speaker 1: end up applying some of the same techniques we talked 449 00:24:02,920 --> 00:24:06,159 Speaker 1: about in the previous section, including intaglio etching and all 450 00:24:06,200 --> 00:24:08,640 Speaker 1: that kind of good stuff in different kinds of banks exactly, 451 00:24:09,400 --> 00:24:12,960 Speaker 1: And then you end up with these sheets of polymer 452 00:24:13,040 --> 00:24:15,080 Speaker 1: bank notes, which you of course obviously have to cut 453 00:24:15,200 --> 00:24:17,560 Speaker 1: up into the right sizes. I mean, you could hand 454 00:24:17,680 --> 00:24:20,800 Speaker 1: somebody just a full sheet of you know, twenty dollar 455 00:24:20,800 --> 00:24:22,919 Speaker 1: bank notes and they'd probably be like, this is awesome, 456 00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:26,160 Speaker 1: where are the scissors? But you know, you typically would 457 00:24:26,200 --> 00:24:28,359 Speaker 1: cut those up so they'd be easier to distribute. That 458 00:24:28,400 --> 00:24:31,159 Speaker 1: sounds like several board game experiences I've had, um, but 459 00:24:31,400 --> 00:24:35,680 Speaker 1: you can, uh, they do furthermore, protect the sheets with 460 00:24:35,760 --> 00:24:37,560 Speaker 1: a with a varnish to keep the ink in play. 461 00:24:37,720 --> 00:24:40,800 Speaker 1: That's true, and that's really important because, as we'll talk about, 462 00:24:40,920 --> 00:24:44,840 Speaker 1: the ink on these polymer bank notes was an early challenge, 463 00:24:45,480 --> 00:24:48,240 Speaker 1: uh in the for for countries that were attempting to 464 00:24:48,400 --> 00:24:51,400 Speaker 1: make this move earlier than others. Right in the early 465 00:24:52,119 --> 00:24:55,159 Speaker 1: a bunch of different places, We're looking into the technology, 466 00:24:55,400 --> 00:24:57,760 Speaker 1: right and uh, what what the you know, you had 467 00:24:57,800 --> 00:25:01,159 Speaker 1: all these different government officials that we're looking at the 468 00:25:01,240 --> 00:25:04,640 Speaker 1: possibility of using a polymer to switch over to as 469 00:25:04,680 --> 00:25:08,240 Speaker 1: the basis for their their actual physical currency. And they 470 00:25:08,280 --> 00:25:11,000 Speaker 1: started looking around at the different products that were available 471 00:25:11,040 --> 00:25:14,160 Speaker 1: in the market. No one was actually building a polymer 472 00:25:14,280 --> 00:25:16,080 Speaker 1: out from the ground up for this. They were trying 473 00:25:16,119 --> 00:25:19,479 Speaker 1: to see what else was available. DuPont had a product 474 00:25:19,600 --> 00:25:23,240 Speaker 1: called taivek, the generic name for that being polyethylene yep. 475 00:25:23,440 --> 00:25:26,000 Speaker 1: And this was you know, this looks like it could 476 00:25:26,040 --> 00:25:31,080 Speaker 1: be a potential candidate for polymer currency, so it's used 477 00:25:31,080 --> 00:25:33,240 Speaker 1: in lots of other stuff too. It's not just for 478 00:25:33,320 --> 00:25:36,760 Speaker 1: polymer currency. It wasn't developed specifically to be polymer currency. 479 00:25:36,880 --> 00:25:38,840 Speaker 1: Was just one of the use cases for it. And 480 00:25:39,000 --> 00:25:42,520 Speaker 1: technically Haiti was the first country to issue a polymer 481 00:25:42,600 --> 00:25:45,560 Speaker 1: bank note, and this was way back in nineteen eight 482 00:25:46,280 --> 00:25:49,280 Speaker 1: but the country didn't stick with polymer currency and in 483 00:25:49,359 --> 00:25:51,920 Speaker 1: fact would switch back to paper because inc did not 484 00:25:52,080 --> 00:25:54,919 Speaker 1: stick to the currency. Yeah, there was some smudging issues, 485 00:25:55,000 --> 00:25:58,119 Speaker 1: which you don't really want in your official, you know, 486 00:25:58,240 --> 00:26:01,879 Speaker 1: government sanctioned currency, right. There were also problems with the 487 00:26:01,920 --> 00:26:04,800 Speaker 1: bills being too fragile. They would break instead of instead 488 00:26:04,800 --> 00:26:07,720 Speaker 1: of folding. Yeah. So this was again early early on 489 00:26:07,840 --> 00:26:10,320 Speaker 1: in the experiments with polymer currency, so no one had 490 00:26:10,359 --> 00:26:14,160 Speaker 1: really hit upon the exact kind of plastic that would 491 00:26:14,200 --> 00:26:17,000 Speaker 1: be ideal for this use. Uh. Haiti was not the 492 00:26:17,119 --> 00:26:20,000 Speaker 1: only country to experiment with this early on. Costa Rica 493 00:26:20,320 --> 00:26:22,520 Speaker 1: also issued a polymer bank note made out of Thai 494 00:26:22,640 --> 00:26:26,119 Speaker 1: vek in nineteen eighty three. They also switched back to paper, 495 00:26:26,720 --> 00:26:29,320 Speaker 1: although they currently used a mixture of both paper and 496 00:26:29,400 --> 00:26:32,960 Speaker 1: polymer currency, they're just not using the tai Vek polymer anymore. 497 00:26:33,680 --> 00:26:36,399 Speaker 1: Then you had the Isle of Man, which you know, 498 00:26:36,520 --> 00:26:39,800 Speaker 1: I keep forgetting is not actually under the governance of 499 00:26:39,880 --> 00:26:42,159 Speaker 1: the United Kingdom, because I think of the Isle of 500 00:26:42,240 --> 00:26:44,639 Speaker 1: Man as you know, it's right there there. I mean 501 00:26:44,680 --> 00:26:47,080 Speaker 1: it might as well be. But but no, no, it's 502 00:26:47,119 --> 00:26:50,119 Speaker 1: God's own money. And the Isle of Man ended up 503 00:26:50,200 --> 00:26:53,119 Speaker 1: using tai Vek. But it wasn't called Taivek. It was 504 00:26:53,240 --> 00:26:57,679 Speaker 1: rebranded as brad vec because it was being printed by 505 00:26:57,720 --> 00:27:02,399 Speaker 1: a company called Bradbury Wilkinson. Same stuff, just rebranded, so 506 00:27:02,480 --> 00:27:05,359 Speaker 1: it still came from DuPont, it wasn't it wasn't made 507 00:27:05,480 --> 00:27:09,520 Speaker 1: by Bradbury Wilkinson. And it's still polyethylene. It's still polyethylene exactly, 508 00:27:09,640 --> 00:27:12,680 Speaker 1: same stuff. And that was produced in nine three. And 509 00:27:12,880 --> 00:27:16,280 Speaker 1: the Isle of Man also abandoned polymer currency after a 510 00:27:16,400 --> 00:27:19,320 Speaker 1: short while, and they use paper now. The first Australian 511 00:27:19,400 --> 00:27:22,760 Speaker 1: polymer notes had had similar problems. The the original, which 512 00:27:22,840 --> 00:27:25,640 Speaker 1: was a ten dollar by centennial note, was in fact 513 00:27:25,720 --> 00:27:28,800 Speaker 1: taken out of circulation. So you know, obviously these these 514 00:27:28,840 --> 00:27:33,879 Speaker 1: early attempts met with let's say, mixed success. It's not 515 00:27:34,119 --> 00:27:36,359 Speaker 1: that they were it's not that it was a bad idea. 516 00:27:36,359 --> 00:27:38,880 Speaker 1: It's just that they hadn't hit upon the right material 517 00:27:39,000 --> 00:27:41,399 Speaker 1: for it to really work and to for it to 518 00:27:41,440 --> 00:27:44,719 Speaker 1: truly be a durable physical currency, because if you're going 519 00:27:44,760 --> 00:27:47,200 Speaker 1: to try and replace your paper currency, you want this 520 00:27:47,280 --> 00:27:49,800 Speaker 1: stuff to be able to last at least as long 521 00:27:49,960 --> 00:27:54,120 Speaker 1: as the paper equivalent, if not longer, a right, hopefully longer, 522 00:27:54,200 --> 00:27:55,879 Speaker 1: so that you're not you're not wasting a whole lot 523 00:27:55,920 --> 00:27:58,280 Speaker 1: of time and money trying to create this new new 524 00:27:58,400 --> 00:28:02,160 Speaker 1: thing only as good as old thing. Australia did kind 525 00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:05,480 Speaker 1: of lead the way once they worked out what kind 526 00:28:05,560 --> 00:28:10,480 Speaker 1: of material they wanted to use, and polypropylene is has 527 00:28:10,520 --> 00:28:12,959 Speaker 1: become the popular choice and it's used in other stuff too. 528 00:28:13,040 --> 00:28:16,239 Speaker 1: Write it's not just in in uh, polymer currency, right, 529 00:28:16,280 --> 00:28:21,560 Speaker 1: It's like a textiles that are based on plastic carpets, upholstery, 530 00:28:21,720 --> 00:28:25,119 Speaker 1: like thermal clothing, ropes. It's it's what all that stuff 531 00:28:25,200 --> 00:28:27,600 Speaker 1: is made out of. I mean, it's it's also very multifunctional. 532 00:28:27,680 --> 00:28:31,920 Speaker 1: It's not just using used in these fibrous kind of applications. 533 00:28:31,960 --> 00:28:33,520 Speaker 1: It can also be used for lots of medical and 534 00:28:33,600 --> 00:28:37,159 Speaker 1: lab equipment like peatree dishes or disposable syringes. So this 535 00:28:37,359 --> 00:28:39,120 Speaker 1: is you know, obviously, again it's one of those things 536 00:28:39,160 --> 00:28:41,560 Speaker 1: where this has a lot of different utility, and they thought, hey, 537 00:28:41,680 --> 00:28:43,800 Speaker 1: why don't we make our money out of this stuff 538 00:28:44,360 --> 00:28:48,320 Speaker 1: except in an Australian accent, which, for your benefit, I 539 00:28:48,440 --> 00:28:51,960 Speaker 1: shall not attempt excellent. But you know, this meant that 540 00:28:52,040 --> 00:28:54,280 Speaker 1: they had a lot of other options that you wouldn't 541 00:28:54,280 --> 00:28:58,440 Speaker 1: necessarily have with paper currency, including that that I was 542 00:28:58,480 --> 00:29:00,840 Speaker 1: talking about before, where you turn earned most of the 543 00:29:00,920 --> 00:29:05,240 Speaker 1: bank note opaque but leave a transparent window. Yeah. Again, 544 00:29:06,120 --> 00:29:10,280 Speaker 1: this makes it really really hard for counterfeiters to replicate. 545 00:29:10,720 --> 00:29:12,800 Speaker 1: You know, you'd have to be very precise in the 546 00:29:12,880 --> 00:29:16,240 Speaker 1: way you aligned your actual I mean, by the time 547 00:29:16,280 --> 00:29:18,760 Speaker 1: you go through the whole process of making something that 548 00:29:18,800 --> 00:29:21,720 Speaker 1: would allow you to design this, you've probably spent more 549 00:29:21,760 --> 00:29:25,320 Speaker 1: money than you could possibly replicate, you know. Yeah, yeah, 550 00:29:25,400 --> 00:29:28,480 Speaker 1: and the touch and feel of this polymer currency is 551 00:29:28,640 --> 00:29:31,600 Speaker 1: very distinct, so it's a lot more difficult to to 552 00:29:31,760 --> 00:29:33,920 Speaker 1: get that kind of thing into practice than it would 553 00:29:33,960 --> 00:29:37,880 Speaker 1: be equivalent paper, right a right, And then uh, you know, 554 00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:40,920 Speaker 1: they also were able to feature that raised lettering we 555 00:29:41,000 --> 00:29:45,120 Speaker 1: talked about, like embossing stuff on on this plastic, which 556 00:29:45,160 --> 00:29:48,600 Speaker 1: actually adheres better to plastic than it would on just 557 00:29:48,720 --> 00:29:51,600 Speaker 1: a regular paper bild right, paper can flatten out again 558 00:29:51,720 --> 00:29:54,960 Speaker 1: after after circulation. UM you can you can also print 559 00:29:55,040 --> 00:29:57,520 Speaker 1: designs on top of that transparent window, so you can 560 00:29:57,600 --> 00:30:01,160 Speaker 1: have little little blocks of of a pake bits inside 561 00:30:01,200 --> 00:30:04,960 Speaker 1: the window which just layers upon layers, or you could 562 00:30:04,960 --> 00:30:08,080 Speaker 1: have transparent bits within opaque bits, so you can have 563 00:30:08,280 --> 00:30:11,680 Speaker 1: an area where you know, in a design there might 564 00:30:11,720 --> 00:30:15,280 Speaker 1: be shades that are slightly lighter than the surrounding area, 565 00:30:15,560 --> 00:30:17,440 Speaker 1: and if you hold it up to the light, suddenly 566 00:30:17,480 --> 00:30:20,920 Speaker 1: you can read stuff like numbers usually and that there 567 00:30:21,040 --> 00:30:23,280 Speaker 1: is another great thing to put in there, because again 568 00:30:23,560 --> 00:30:27,160 Speaker 1: very difficult to replicate. Uh. And as we said earlier 569 00:30:27,240 --> 00:30:29,800 Speaker 1: in the episode, a lot of the other reasons besides this, 570 00:30:30,200 --> 00:30:34,400 Speaker 1: this whole um anti counterfeiting approach are things like the 571 00:30:34,480 --> 00:30:36,959 Speaker 1: fact that this money is more durable. Now, how much 572 00:30:37,000 --> 00:30:40,320 Speaker 1: more durable is it um depends. It depends on who 573 00:30:40,360 --> 00:30:43,200 Speaker 1: you ask and exactly what kind of thing they're talking about. 574 00:30:43,360 --> 00:30:46,000 Speaker 1: Both the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England 575 00:30:46,080 --> 00:30:48,760 Speaker 1: have said that their their bills are or I mean, 576 00:30:48,920 --> 00:30:51,720 Speaker 1: in the case of England, are are slated to last 577 00:30:51,760 --> 00:30:55,000 Speaker 1: about two point five times as long as their paper currency, right. 578 00:30:55,240 --> 00:30:58,560 Speaker 1: And then you've got the Reserve Bank of Australia. They 579 00:31:00,000 --> 00:31:03,720 Speaker 1: they they go a little further right, four times as long. 580 00:31:04,280 --> 00:31:07,160 Speaker 1: I've I've I've read estimates that they're up to ten 581 00:31:07,320 --> 00:31:11,040 Speaker 1: times as durable. But that doesn't necessary. I mean, all 582 00:31:11,080 --> 00:31:14,080 Speaker 1: of these are are you know, kind of squiggly precise 583 00:31:14,360 --> 00:31:17,320 Speaker 1: estimate numbers. And you can fold this stuff. You know, 584 00:31:17,400 --> 00:31:20,400 Speaker 1: it's not like it's solid plastic. It's not like a 585 00:31:20,480 --> 00:31:23,040 Speaker 1: credit card where you know, it's it's stuck in this 586 00:31:23,200 --> 00:31:25,080 Speaker 1: form factor so that everyone would have to have these 587 00:31:25,160 --> 00:31:27,960 Speaker 1: very long bill folds. You could actually fold this like 588 00:31:28,120 --> 00:31:30,760 Speaker 1: you could paper money, yeah, into a standard wallet. Yeah. 589 00:31:30,880 --> 00:31:33,640 Speaker 1: So uh. Anyway, if you're wondering, hey, how does that 590 00:31:33,760 --> 00:31:37,360 Speaker 1: stack up against the lifespan of say an average dollar, Well, 591 00:31:37,760 --> 00:31:39,800 Speaker 1: I'm going to take just a quick tangent here to 592 00:31:40,080 --> 00:31:42,800 Speaker 1: to say something that I think is pretty amusing. See 593 00:31:42,880 --> 00:31:45,680 Speaker 1: here in the United States, we've got several different official 594 00:31:45,800 --> 00:31:48,680 Speaker 1: organizations that have a lot to do with money, including 595 00:31:48,680 --> 00:31:51,400 Speaker 1: the Federal Reserve and the U. S. Treasury, and these 596 00:31:51,440 --> 00:31:56,080 Speaker 1: different agencies give extremely varied accounts of how long the 597 00:31:56,160 --> 00:32:01,600 Speaker 1: average lifespan is for every denomination of bill. So depends 598 00:32:01,640 --> 00:32:04,840 Speaker 1: upon whom you ask. I mean, you know, one might 599 00:32:04,920 --> 00:32:09,600 Speaker 1: say a dollar bill has a two year life expectancy 600 00:32:09,640 --> 00:32:11,680 Speaker 1: and that's it. Another would say six years, another would 601 00:32:11,720 --> 00:32:15,720 Speaker 1: say six months. Does anyone agree on this? Are you 602 00:32:15,800 --> 00:32:17,840 Speaker 1: talking to each other at all? Yeah? And and so 603 00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:21,400 Speaker 1: it really depends upon which authority you, uh, you look at. 604 00:32:21,520 --> 00:32:23,800 Speaker 1: And it's funny because I actually first found out about 605 00:32:23,800 --> 00:32:27,760 Speaker 1: that by listening to another podcast called Skeptics Guide to 606 00:32:27,800 --> 00:32:30,360 Speaker 1: the Universe, where someone had asked them about the average 607 00:32:30,400 --> 00:32:34,440 Speaker 1: life span of bills um and so one of the 608 00:32:35,000 --> 00:32:37,280 Speaker 1: members of the podcast group went in to study this, 609 00:32:37,600 --> 00:32:40,040 Speaker 1: and his response was, this was probably the most frustrating 610 00:32:40,080 --> 00:32:42,760 Speaker 1: research I've ever had to do, because I kept getting 611 00:32:42,800 --> 00:32:45,000 Speaker 1: different answers depending upon where I went. I tried to 612 00:32:45,040 --> 00:32:48,600 Speaker 1: corroborate it, and I couldn't get any corroboration. So, uh, 613 00:32:48,960 --> 00:32:53,000 Speaker 1: something that is absolutely definite is that you can clean 614 00:32:53,240 --> 00:32:55,840 Speaker 1: polymer currency a lot better than you can paper currency. Okay, 615 00:32:55,880 --> 00:32:58,520 Speaker 1: So here's the thing, y'all. Paper currency passes through a 616 00:32:58,560 --> 00:33:01,440 Speaker 1: lot of hands. It's pretty yeah, and some of those 617 00:33:01,520 --> 00:33:05,240 Speaker 1: hands not the nicest hands. You know. It might be 618 00:33:05,360 --> 00:33:07,920 Speaker 1: people who are sick. It might be that the money 619 00:33:07,960 --> 00:33:11,560 Speaker 1: itself just comes to contact with other types of contaminants 620 00:33:11,600 --> 00:33:14,240 Speaker 1: like bacteria. Oh yeah, I mean I mean people store 621 00:33:14,320 --> 00:33:17,080 Speaker 1: money and all kinds of non traditional places. It's not 622 00:33:17,240 --> 00:33:22,040 Speaker 1: all pristine wallets, yep, yep, I've got some some different 623 00:33:22,200 --> 00:33:25,080 Speaker 1: Like just thinking about the places where I found money, 624 00:33:25,240 --> 00:33:28,120 Speaker 1: where you know, between cushions of a couch. Who knows 625 00:33:28,200 --> 00:33:30,920 Speaker 1: how long it's been there. Anyway, The point being that 626 00:33:31,280 --> 00:33:34,840 Speaker 1: these dollar bills or or bank notes whatever can get 627 00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:39,480 Speaker 1: pretty grungy and nasty, and you can't really clean them 628 00:33:39,760 --> 00:33:44,240 Speaker 1: up without possibly damage. Yeah. So if you're talking about 629 00:33:44,240 --> 00:33:47,320 Speaker 1: a polymer that's plastic, you can actually use a damp cloth. 630 00:33:47,560 --> 00:33:49,520 Speaker 1: Just wipe it off, Yeah, just wipe it down, and 631 00:33:49,640 --> 00:33:52,520 Speaker 1: then you've got a clean bill. So it could actually 632 00:33:52,600 --> 00:33:55,720 Speaker 1: mean that you end up reducing the chance of spreading 633 00:33:55,800 --> 00:33:58,959 Speaker 1: things like bacteria around at least a little bit. I mean, 634 00:33:59,040 --> 00:34:01,680 Speaker 1: it's not like it's going to eliminated entirely, but it 635 00:34:01,800 --> 00:34:06,800 Speaker 1: takes away one more potential vector, right certainly. And also 636 00:34:07,000 --> 00:34:10,479 Speaker 1: just you know, it's it's less stinky than paper linen 637 00:34:10,640 --> 00:34:12,560 Speaker 1: bills can get. But if you're if you're wondering if 638 00:34:12,600 --> 00:34:15,400 Speaker 1: I'm overreacting, I'm not a two thousand two report in 639 00:34:15,480 --> 00:34:19,160 Speaker 1: the Southern Medical Journal showed that pathogens including stephlo caccus 640 00:34:19,560 --> 00:34:23,720 Speaker 1: are on nine of all dollar bills that they tested. 641 00:34:26,560 --> 00:34:29,520 Speaker 1: So don't don't put money in your mouth. No, hope, 642 00:34:29,560 --> 00:34:33,000 Speaker 1: Please don't, please do not do not do that. We 643 00:34:33,200 --> 00:34:36,080 Speaker 1: like you, we'd like you to continue being listeners of 644 00:34:36,160 --> 00:34:40,800 Speaker 1: tech stuff. Now, another argument for polymer bank notes, so 645 00:34:40,880 --> 00:34:43,320 Speaker 1: we mentioned this earlier too, is that they're actually greener 646 00:34:43,760 --> 00:34:48,279 Speaker 1: than paper bank notes. And it's not that the processes 647 00:34:48,360 --> 00:34:50,560 Speaker 1: to create them are greener, because generally, if you can 648 00:34:50,640 --> 00:34:53,960 Speaker 1: use a renewable resource, that's better than using a a 649 00:34:54,680 --> 00:34:58,560 Speaker 1: chemically created plastic resources, especially since you're talking about some 650 00:34:58,760 --> 00:35:01,680 Speaker 1: sort of probably some fossil fuel involved there. I mean, 651 00:35:01,840 --> 00:35:04,760 Speaker 1: petroleum based products are often part of this. Sure, although 652 00:35:05,000 --> 00:35:08,040 Speaker 1: I'm sure that there's there's fossil fuel use and paper money. Sure, 653 00:35:08,239 --> 00:35:10,520 Speaker 1: But at any rate, um, you know, agencies don't have 654 00:35:10,760 --> 00:35:14,120 Speaker 1: to create as much of the polymer currency to keep 655 00:35:14,160 --> 00:35:16,640 Speaker 1: the same amount in circulation because each of the bills 656 00:35:16,680 --> 00:35:18,680 Speaker 1: is going to last longer. Yeah, if you look at 657 00:35:18,719 --> 00:35:21,520 Speaker 1: this from a really big picture standpoint, and you know 658 00:35:21,680 --> 00:35:24,080 Speaker 1: it's crazy, but you have to step way back to 659 00:35:24,239 --> 00:35:27,520 Speaker 1: really see the big picture, you're talking not only about 660 00:35:27,760 --> 00:35:32,320 Speaker 1: replacing fewer bills into circulation, because they're more durable, so 661 00:35:32,480 --> 00:35:34,560 Speaker 1: they can last longer. They can they can remain in 662 00:35:34,640 --> 00:35:37,239 Speaker 1: circulation longer. That's one thing, which means you don't have 663 00:35:37,320 --> 00:35:39,839 Speaker 1: to make as much. That's that's important, but also means 664 00:35:39,840 --> 00:35:42,600 Speaker 1: you don't have to transport as much. You know, once 665 00:35:42,640 --> 00:35:44,799 Speaker 1: you make all those new bills, you have to ship 666 00:35:44,920 --> 00:35:48,200 Speaker 1: them to the various banks, and that requires energy, it 667 00:35:48,320 --> 00:35:51,160 Speaker 1: requires you know that, you know, labor. So if you're 668 00:35:51,160 --> 00:35:53,360 Speaker 1: able to reduce all of that, you can have a 669 00:35:53,440 --> 00:35:55,800 Speaker 1: measurable effect at the end of the day. This is 670 00:35:55,840 --> 00:35:59,240 Speaker 1: another example of how something that on the surface seems pretty, 671 00:35:59,600 --> 00:36:01,759 Speaker 1: you know and dry, once you start diving into it, 672 00:36:01,840 --> 00:36:06,080 Speaker 1: you realize, wow, everything really is connected. It's way more 673 00:36:06,200 --> 00:36:10,680 Speaker 1: complicated than I had first anticipated. So some nations have 674 00:36:10,920 --> 00:36:14,720 Speaker 1: found that they have more trouble with dealing with polymer 675 00:36:14,800 --> 00:36:18,480 Speaker 1: currency than they did with paper currency. Nigeria actually considered 676 00:36:18,520 --> 00:36:21,719 Speaker 1: abandoning polymer bank notes because they said that it was 677 00:36:21,840 --> 00:36:25,440 Speaker 1: difficult to process and that it was difficult to destroy 678 00:36:25,880 --> 00:36:28,200 Speaker 1: the old bank notes like once you were taking them 679 00:36:28,239 --> 00:36:31,640 Speaker 1: out of circulation. So they're they're so durable that they're 680 00:36:31,719 --> 00:36:33,880 Speaker 1: running into problems on the opposite end of how to 681 00:36:34,360 --> 00:36:35,800 Speaker 1: like how do you how do you do how do 682 00:36:35,800 --> 00:36:37,279 Speaker 1: you break them down? Especially how do you break them 683 00:36:37,320 --> 00:36:39,840 Speaker 1: down in a way that wouldn't be environmentally dangerous? Now, 684 00:36:39,960 --> 00:36:42,160 Speaker 1: if you're able to recycle them in some way, like 685 00:36:42,239 --> 00:36:45,000 Speaker 1: first you have to destroy it. Now, this is true 686 00:36:45,040 --> 00:36:48,480 Speaker 1: with paper currency too. There are there are various um 687 00:36:49,280 --> 00:36:53,200 Speaker 1: explanations of how this gets done. But essentially your paper 688 00:36:53,239 --> 00:36:56,359 Speaker 1: currency went taking out of circulation is obliterated. I mean 689 00:36:56,480 --> 00:36:58,360 Speaker 1: it has to be because otherwise if it were to 690 00:36:58,400 --> 00:37:02,040 Speaker 1: fall back into circulation, then have the danger of inflation. Right, 691 00:37:02,520 --> 00:37:04,600 Speaker 1: you suddenly have this issue of not being able to 692 00:37:04,640 --> 00:37:09,239 Speaker 1: control the money supply the currency. Really so, Nigeria said 693 00:37:09,280 --> 00:37:13,360 Speaker 1: that it was getting really hard to um destroy them properly, 694 00:37:13,480 --> 00:37:16,200 Speaker 1: and so it was something that was holding them back 695 00:37:16,280 --> 00:37:22,239 Speaker 1: from fully adopting a polymer currency based economy. Sure Australia 696 00:37:22,400 --> 00:37:26,120 Speaker 1: does have a recycling program for their polymer currency. They're 697 00:37:26,120 --> 00:37:29,080 Speaker 1: they're made into like compost bins and plumbing parts after 698 00:37:29,120 --> 00:37:32,360 Speaker 1: they're too worn down to be used anymore. Which interesting. 699 00:37:32,800 --> 00:37:35,600 Speaker 1: I'm there's so many jokes that I want to make 700 00:37:35,920 --> 00:37:39,440 Speaker 1: about your money going into turning into compost bins or 701 00:37:40,239 --> 00:37:43,000 Speaker 1: or plumbing, particularly the plumbing pipes. I think about all 702 00:37:43,000 --> 00:37:45,479 Speaker 1: the money I flushed down the drain over the years, 703 00:37:45,680 --> 00:37:48,600 Speaker 1: over one hair brained scheme after another. Those get rich 704 00:37:48,719 --> 00:37:50,880 Speaker 1: quick schemes, Man, they just never work out for me. 705 00:37:51,680 --> 00:37:53,680 Speaker 1: I gotta talk to my buddy Zach Morris about that 706 00:37:53,719 --> 00:37:56,760 Speaker 1: when I'm done anyway. So that's kind of the story 707 00:37:56,920 --> 00:38:00,560 Speaker 1: on polymer currency. It's actually I think it's really cool stuff. 708 00:38:00,600 --> 00:38:03,200 Speaker 1: I'm you know, curious to see if the United States 709 00:38:03,280 --> 00:38:06,239 Speaker 1: ever kind of moves to that as well. Uh, you know, 710 00:38:06,360 --> 00:38:07,800 Speaker 1: I think it'd be neat to have this kind of 711 00:38:07,880 --> 00:38:10,440 Speaker 1: plastic money that has all these other features to it, 712 00:38:10,840 --> 00:38:13,400 Speaker 1: you know, beyond the ones we're accustomed to with our 713 00:38:13,440 --> 00:38:18,239 Speaker 1: paper currency. So thank you so much for writing in 714 00:38:18,520 --> 00:38:21,440 Speaker 1: and asking us to do that, Matt. We really appreciate it. 715 00:38:21,840 --> 00:38:24,320 Speaker 1: That was a great suggestion. Hey guys, if you have 716 00:38:24,440 --> 00:38:26,880 Speaker 1: a suggestion for a topic that you think would make 717 00:38:27,040 --> 00:38:29,680 Speaker 1: a great tech Stuff episode, you need to let us know. 718 00:38:29,920 --> 00:38:32,799 Speaker 1: Send us an email. Our address is tech Stuff at 719 00:38:33,040 --> 00:38:35,719 Speaker 1: Discovery dot com, or drop us a line on one 720 00:38:35,719 --> 00:38:38,640 Speaker 1: of the many social networks that we often are hanging 721 00:38:38,680 --> 00:38:41,799 Speaker 1: out on, like a Facebook, or Twitter or Tumbler. Our 722 00:38:41,880 --> 00:38:45,360 Speaker 1: handle is tech Stuff H. S W and Lauren and 723 00:38:45,440 --> 00:38:51,399 Speaker 1: I will talk to you again really soon for more 724 00:38:51,480 --> 00:38:53,680 Speaker 1: on this and thousands of other topics. Does it have 725 00:38:53,800 --> 00:39:00,200 Speaker 1: staff works dot com one