---
title: "A service for checking whether money is genuine"
author: "Stan Voo"
url: https://www.99rabbits.com/blog/a-service-for-checking-whether-banknotes-are-genuine
published: 2010-07-17
summary: "What if anyone could check a banknote's serial number against the central bank's database? A fantastic idea, until you think of counterfeiters copying real numbers."
---

# A service for checking whether money is genuine

I wonder how many fake hryvnias, Ukraine's banknotes, are in circulation right now. Hardly anyone checks them...

I have a fantastic idea for controlling the circulation of counterfeit money. When the currency is printed, an **electronic database of banknote serial numbers** is created, and anyone can check on the central bank's website whether the note in front of them is genuine or a fake. You could also add this feature to banknote counters: they'd automatically scan the serial numbers and look them up in the database.

**Update:** Then again, if counterfeiters copy the numbers of legal banknotes, something else will have to be invented for protection. So my idea doesn't fly.

P.S. I also wonder how counterfeiters affect inflation. They do increase the money supply, after all...