Comment by sigmoid10
3 days ago
The EU literally got rid of the 500 Euro bank note because it was primarily used by criminals for evading the law.
3 days ago
The EU literally got rid of the 500 Euro bank note because it was primarily used by criminals for evading the law.
They literally did not. 500s are still currency, they just stopped printing them.
I think that’s what was implied. Canada “got rid of” the $1000 bill but it’s still legal tender. Canada also got rid of the penny, but it remains legal tender. Banks will take them if vendors don’t.
German Marks can also still be swapped for legal tender. That doesn't mean it is possible to use them like the Euro.
By making the Mark convertible to Euro indefinitely, Germany decided that it would be the only Euro-zone country that wasn’t going to participate in the confiscation of what turned out to be billions from their own citizens. It’s called seigniorage and has been a thing since Roman times or even before.
So not like the 500 euro note either, which is legal tender already.