7 ms·

According to that same article, the reason for retiring the note was because the people who benefited the most from its existence are criminals, who need to do

According to that same article, the reason for retiring the note was because the people who benefited the most from its existence are criminals, who need to do their business in cash -- the fewer notes, the easier for them. That includes storage, I guess. Still, I'm personally not in the eurozone, but in general terms for the end user high-denomination notes are not very useful unless you're gonna store them under your bed (and governments don't like this, they'd rather everybody be bancarized). Actually using them to buy things is a pain, since most businesses won't accept them. Having one in your wallet is a problem that you have to take care of, instead of just money

njarboe 7y ago
Interesting, I don't see any mention retiring the note because of criminal use or anything about the 500 note at all. Is Bloomberb A/B testing the content of articles now? Would not be surprised, but it would be a disturbing trend.
- kfichter 7y ago
  Commenter was referring to the Wikipedia article, their wording was a little confusing though.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
throwawaybbb 7y ago
The same people who benefit from encryption if govts are to be believed. If cash keeps being as unwieldy as it has become, a $100 note today is worth about what a $10 note was worth in 1920, people will just stop using govt back cash and use gold or art instead. Monero looks like it's the first large scale crypto to get inflation and anonymity at least partly right.
decentralised 7y ago
I've been in the eurozone since it started.. only ever saw 500 euro bills being exchanged in casinos.
- aianus 7y ago
  I exchanged cash in Canada before heading to EU for 10 weeks and the kiosk gave me all EUR500 notes and said it was all they had.
  - kevin_thibedeau 7y ago
    Russian mafia has to liquidate somehow.
  - Scoundreller 7y ago
    Ya, it’s a real mess, especially if you can’t break/spend them all. At least I learned that France has several central banks. You’re kinda SOL if you go to a euroized non-EU country (Montenegro or Kosovo).
- snovv_crash 7y ago
  And yet across the border, I've been given a CHF1000 note cashing a deposit slip in a post office.
lixtra 7y ago
> Actually using them to buy things is a pain, since most businesses won't accept them. For me it always went smoothly when buying something that exceeded the value of the high note. Your experience may differ if you buy a roll in the bakery.
- Scoundreller 7y ago
  Spent them at an FNAC when buying a TV. They called up the bag-checking security guard at the front to check it. Didn’t think they would know any better than the cashiers...
- devnulloverflow 7y ago
  It also depends on the country. I had family hand me a 500 Euro note because they couldn't even get get it changed at banks in France. I took it on my trip to Austria a week later and got it changed at the post office.
conanbatt 7y ago
> According to that same article, the reason for retiring the note was because the people who benefited the most from its existence are criminals, who need to do their business in cash -- the fewer notes, the easier for them. That includes storage, I guess. And then, they tell bitcoiners they are crazy for denouncing the overreach of central banks.
wolfgke 7y ago
> According to that same article, the reason for retiring the note was because the people who benefited the most from its existence are criminals, who need to do their business in cash -- the fewer notes, the easier for them. This is what they want the citizens to believe.
- Mountain_Skies 7y ago
  I wonder if we are meant to think of drug dealers but the governments are just as worried about the local handyman or small construction company getting untraceable cash payments without paying taxes.
  - bananabreakfast 7y ago
    This is why so many taxi drivers say their "credit card reader is broken"
  - dmurray 7y ago
    They aren't getting enough €50 or $100 notes to be a real logistical problem. You can put 10k in your pocket, and count it in a minute or two.
    - Scoundreller 7y ago
      If you have large piles of money to launder, one way is to build a rental property and pay all the materials/contractors in cash. But now harder to do that with 5x the bills. Or suddenly stuck with 500s that nobody wants to take.
      - throwawaycanada 7y ago
        Wait... how do you explain the appearance of the building with no expenses shown except "from cash"?
        smokeyfish 7y ago

njarboe 7y ago

Interesting, I don't see any mention retiring the note because of criminal use or anything about the 500 note at all. Is Bloomberb A/B testing the content of articles now? Would not be surprised, but it would be a disturbing trend.

kfichter 7y ago
Commenter was referring to the Wikipedia article, their wording was a little confusing though.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

throwawaybbb 7y ago

The same people who benefit from encryption if govts are to be believed. If cash keeps being as unwieldy as it has become, a $100 note today is worth about what a $10 note was worth in 1920, people will just stop using govt back cash and use gold or art instead. Monero looks like it's the first large scale crypto to get inflation and anonymity at least partly right.

decentralised 7y ago

I've been in the eurozone since it started.. only ever saw 500 euro bills being exchanged in casinos.

aianus 7y ago
I exchanged cash in Canada before heading to EU for 10 weeks and the kiosk gave me all EUR500 notes and said it was all they had.
- kevin_thibedeau 7y ago
  Russian mafia has to liquidate somehow.
- Scoundreller 7y ago
  Ya, it’s a real mess, especially if you can’t break/spend them all. At least I learned that France has several central banks. You’re kinda SOL if you go to a euroized non-EU country (Montenegro or Kosovo).
snovv_crash 7y ago
And yet across the border, I've been given a CHF1000 note cashing a deposit slip in a post office.

lixtra 7y ago

> Actually using them to buy things is a pain, since most businesses won't accept them. For me it always went smoothly when buying something that exceeded the value of the high note. Your experience may differ if you buy a roll in the bakery.

Scoundreller 7y ago
Spent them at an FNAC when buying a TV. They called up the bag-checking security guard at the front to check it. Didn’t think they would know any better than the cashiers...
devnulloverflow 7y ago
It also depends on the country. I had family hand me a 500 Euro note because they couldn't even get get it changed at banks in France. I took it on my trip to Austria a week later and got it changed at the post office.

conanbatt 7y ago

> According to that same article, the reason for retiring the note was because the people who benefited the most from its existence are criminals, who need to do their business in cash -- the fewer notes, the easier for them. That includes storage, I guess. And then, they tell bitcoiners they are crazy for denouncing the overreach of central banks.

wolfgke 7y ago

Mountain_Skies 7y ago
I wonder if we are meant to think of drug dealers but the governments are just as worried about the local handyman or small construction company getting untraceable cash payments without paying taxes.
- bananabreakfast 7y ago
  This is why so many taxi drivers say their "credit card reader is broken"
- dmurray 7y ago
  They aren't getting enough €50 or $100 notes to be a real logistical problem. You can put 10k in your pocket, and count it in a minute or two.
  - Scoundreller 7y ago
    If you have large piles of money to launder, one way is to build a rental property and pay all the materials/contractors in cash. But now harder to do that with 5x the bills. Or suddenly stuck with 500s that nobody wants to take.
    - throwawaycanada 7y ago
      Wait... how do you explain the appearance of the building with no expenses shown except "from cash"?
      - smokeyfish 7y ago