Two New Apps for Banknote Authentication

Last month, we covered Koenig & Bauer Banknote Solutions’ two offerings for app-based banknote authentication and education – ValiCash™ and Smill™. This month it is the turn of two more – from De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) and Orell Füssli Security Printing.

The DNB was the first central bank to develop an app for banknotes back in 2011 with the EuroBiljet, which was aimed at educating the Dutch public on the use of the security features on euro notes (at that time, the first series). The app showed a virtual banknote and, when the smartphone was held up, as if holding the note against the light, the virtual banknote on the screen showed the watermark, for example. Similarly, tilting the device showed the different effects of the holographic feature.

This led to the development and launch five years later of the ‘Genuine or Counterfeit’ app, which scanned individual banknotes and authenticated them based on print discrepancies.

It has now launched Check je Biljet (Check Your Banknote), a new app which is available on IOS and Android and free to download.

It checks euro banknotes only. Users simply place the banknote on a flat surface, eg. a table, and hold their smartphone over it. The app scans the banknote and checks it, providing a response (genuine or counterfeit).

Discovery from Orell Füssli

Meanwhile, the Discovery app from Orell Füssli is customisable for individual currencies and enables users to explore the design and verifiable security features of banknotes.

The app is described by Orell Füssli as the perfect educational tool to support the launch of new or upgraded denominations, thereby boosting banknote security. It also helps the public to expand their knowledge of banknotes and with the help of gamification (defined as the application of typical elements of game playing, such as point scoring and competition with others, to other areas of activity) , so that people can test their knowledge playfully.The app is educated with the help of machine learning, detects banknotes from a banknote scan and displays these as if in UV, IR or natural light. The user experience is intuitive – the security features can be explored by physically tilting the phone and, when tilted against sunlight, the see-through features appear. The tactile elements can be felt by users running their finger over the note, whilst the optically variable elements change colour dynamically depending on the orientation of the phone.