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Cash is an interesting by product of contemporary economies. The assorted rectangles of ink and paper have wildly different values despite themselves being objectively worthless materials. Instead the numbers on the bills represent buying power.
The U.S. dollar, which became the world’s reserve currency in 1947, was formerly backed up by a gold reserve. This practice was eliminated in the 1970s, as global recession meant international countries began exchanging their cash for gold, which reduced the influence of U.S. currency. Instead, the U.S. made a deal with Saudi Arabia and subsequently OPEC for all oil transactions to use U.S. money. This created a foreign demand for U.S. dollars, and this remains how U.S. currency retains international value today.
Yet over the past 20-plus years, highly-advanced manufacturing and counterfeiting have also undermined the value of U.S. $50 and $100 bills, and remain a threat going forward. These notes are dubbed “supernotes,” as they of such high quality that they appear more authoritative than genuine bills.
The supernotes are made of the same hard-to-produce material, a hybrid 75% cotton, 25% linen fiber paper blend. The notes are also printed by intaglio printing, where the metal plates have lines engraved or etched, which are filled with ink, and then are compressed to the paper. Intaglio printing also gives U.S. notes their rough texture as the inks dry just slightly above the surface of the paper. Most counterfeiting operations use cheaper, less effort-intensive printing techniques, such as inkjet, offset or laser printing, that cannot replicate the intaglio texture.
 These supernotes are also engineered to include security features. This includes the exclusive security microfibers found in current U.S. bills, as well as correct watermarks, security strips, and microprint lettering incorporated into real U.S. bills. Even the optically variable inks (OVIs), which cause bills to look green in one light or bronze or black in another, have been emulated. Typically, advanced OVIs and intaglio presses are only available to government agencies for document production.
Of course, there are some very minute differences. The printed quality of supernotes sometimes actually exceeds that of a real note. For example, the hands on the clock tower of Independence Hall are actually sharper and more clear on a supernote, a lamp on the street nearby is better defined, and on the front of a supernote, the letter N in the word ‘United’ has a small font misprint.
Nonetheless, supernotes are practically impossible to identify without instruments. Supernotes are confirmed by the U.S. Secret Service with mass spectroscopy, near-infrared analysis and microscopic inspection.
Evidence suggests that North Korea was likely responsible for the printing and distribution of the notes, possibly beginning back in the 1970s. Motivations were hopes of undermining the U.S. economy, while also paying for goods and products with the fake money. North Korea has a well-known counterfeiting industry that includes narcotic and prescription drugs, cigarettes and designer brands.
Another U.S. $100 bill redesign in 2013 has vastly slowed the discovery of supernotes. This Vice article suggests that North Korea has either abandoned printing counterfeit U.S. notes (in favor of Chinese notes, it seems) or they are now so good at it that fakes can’t be detected.
Turns out, money is only as good as its manufacturing.
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