The Banknote Equipment Manufacturer (BEM) Conference 2025 — jointly organised by the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Federal Reserve — took place in Frankfurt on 12–13 November and delivered a concentrated briefing on where banknote technology and cash-handling are headed. For collectors, retailers and anyone who depends on the cash-value chain, the two-day event highlighted three clear themes: smarter, more machine-readable banknotes; tighter anti-counterfeiting and detection workflows; and a growing emphasis on sustainability and lifecycle cost reduction for cash systems.
What “Machine-Readable” & Advanced Security Features Look Like (2025 and Beyond)
BEM 2025 underscored a shift in focus from simply making banknotes harder to counterfeit to enabling machine-readable authentication and longer lifespan — crucial as cash remains in circulation globally, often under heavy usage. Here are some of the most interesting directions based on recent developments and industry reports:
Embedded & Polymer-Based Security Features
One promising development comes from Q&T Hi-Tech Polymer, which recently introduced “PolySecure-SHIELD” — a polymer-substrate banknote where optical security elements (OVDs, foils, etc.) are embedded inside the polymer rather than surface-applied. This dramatically improves durability, reduces wear or forgery risk, and allows for seamless design integration without disrupting the banknote’s artwork or structure.
Benefits of such embedded features include:
➤ Resistance to moisture, friction, UV exposure or harsh handling — making banknotes long-lasting.
➤ Tamper-resistant structure — surface peeling or “feature harvesting” becomes nearly impossible.
➤ More design freedom — security elements no longer interfere with artwork or print design.
➤ This trend signals a broader industry move toward polymer notes with built-in, durable security rather than “stick-on” or surface-applied features.
Multi-layered & Machine-Readable Authentication
Beyond traditional visible security — watermarks, intaglio printing, security threads — newer techniques combine embedded machine-readable elements like microchips, RFID / NFC tags, or other data-carrying technology. These enable automated, fast, and reliable verification — which is particularly useful for banks, cash-handling services, or retail chains.
Emerging authentication technologies also leverage AI and machine learning: high-resolution scanning of notes can be analyzed by algorithms to detect subtle anomalies (e.g. slight misalignment, printing defects, paper/substrate irregularities) that human eyes might miss — helping flag counterfeits or degraded notes.
Some security-feature standards recently referenced in banknote-feature studies include: watermarks, security threads, microprinting, UV or IR inks, latent images, intaglio printing, and optically variable inks or devices (OVI/DOVID) — all designed to create overlapping layers of protection.
Also, advanced methods like substrate fingerprinting — which leverage microscopic randomness in polymer note production to assign unique “fingerprints” to each banknote — have been proposed in research. Such techniques could make authenticating or tracking notes far easier — even if counterfeiters replicate printing technology.
Sources:
Banknote Equipment Manufacturer (BEM) Conference 2025
Q&T Showcases Breakthrough Polymer Banknote Technology at Mint & Print 2025
Analytical Review of Valuable Documents Features – IJERT
Anti-Counterfeiting for Polymer Banknotes Based on Polymer Substrate Fingerprinting