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I think with polymer notes, they might last until withdrawn by UK standards, but that's a unique factor of how fast they cycle their banknotes out. I think even 5 year old English notes (the paper GBP50 with Watt on it) are at the phase where you have to take them to a bank and replace them with polymer ones.

America has always tried to avoid calling back old notes, likely to avoid creating an upset in places where they're a store of value overseas. This means the old ones can circulate basically forever. I can recall my brother getting a $10 note of the 1934 type in a normal transaction in about 2015, and 1977-series $100s seemed strangely common into the 1990s and 2000s. So the survival rates at 10 and 20 years are relevant for American paper in a way that maybe don't apply in the UK.



Isn’t it because the US supports large scale money laundering and tax evasion whereas more civilized societies try to get rid of it?


I think its meant as not spooking the people in countries with unreliable currencies that hoard USD like one might gold bars


So, money laundering. ;-)


Its not laundering to buy gold and store it, same with stashing USD


Why is it a problem then to take it and have it replaced by newer and safer bills?

In countries that do introduce newer standards, you can still take old bills to the central bank and convert them.

I don’t buy that argument. It doesn’t make sense, especially compared to the immense damage of fraud.




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