Name: 為什麼 1 美元紙幣 60 多年來從未重新設計？ (Why the $1 Bill Hasn’t Been Redesigned in Over 60 Years | WSJ Pro Perfected)
Uploaded: 2025-04-14T21:01:10.000Z
Duration: 8 min 33 s

There's a secret pattern hidden on banknotes from around 30 countries around the world.

全世界約 30 個國家的紙幣上都隱藏著一個祕密圖案。

To prevent photocopiers from being able to reproduce money.

It's just one of the many hidden tricks used by banknote designers to try and prevent counterfeiting.

這只是鈔票設計者為防止偽造而使用的眾多隱藏技巧之一。

Because if somebody can figure out how to fake a note, there's little to stop them from printing millions.

因為如果有人能想出偽造一張紙幣的方法，就幾乎無法阻止他們印製數百萬張紙幣。

And that can destabilize a country's economy.

這可能會破壞一個國家的經濟穩定。

It can undermine a government in general, saying we can't even trust the currency that you're issuing.

它可以從總體上破壞政府，說我們甚至不能相信你們發行的貨幣。

Why should we trust your economic system?

我們為什麼要相信你們的經濟體系？

And with over 55 billion U.S. banknotes in circulation around the globe, protecting the world's number one traded currency is no easy task.

全球流通的美鈔超過 550 億張，保護世界頭號貿易貨幣並非易事。

Which makes it all the more surprising that this note is one of America's least secure.

所以這張紙幣成為美國最不安全的紙幣之一就更加令人驚訝了。

There are no features the public could use to authenticate it.

公眾無法使用任何功能對其進行驗證。

So just what does it take to stop counterfeiting?

那麼，怎樣才能杜絕假冒行為呢？

There are three different tiers of protection that central banks use, each aimed at stopping counterfeiting at different levels, from unsophisticated casual counterfeiters right up to state-sponsored terrorists.

中央銀行使用三種不同級別的保護措施，每種措施都旨在阻止不同級別的造假行為，從不諳世事的臨時造假者到國家支持的恐怖分子。

Sean Ferrari spent 16 years at the Federal Reserve working to help decide which features should end up in the U.S. dollar.

肖恩-法拉利（Sean Ferrari）在美聯儲工作了 16 年，幫助決定美元最終應具備哪些特徵。

We looked at the processing of currency, the counterfeit features that we would put inside the currency.

我們研究了貨幣的處理過程，以及在貨幣中加入的偽造特徵。

The first level is designed to quickly stop low-level, relatively unsophisticated counterfeiters.

第一級旨在快速阻止低水平、相對不復雜的造假者。

And one of the simplest features has been in your hands the whole time.

其中一個最簡單的功能一直掌握在你的手中。

The feeling that you get as you're just handling it is actually the first security feature of any currency.

你在使用它時所產生的感覺實際上是任何貨幣的第一個安全特徵。

If you were to take a U.S. banknote, for instance, and feel it and listen to it, it has a particular sound.

比如說，如果你拿一張美國鈔票，摸一摸、聽一聽，它就會發出一種特殊的聲音。

Most of the time, honestly, you don't even look at it.

老實說，大多數時候，你甚至都不會去看它。

America's banknotes are made of a secret blend of cotton, linen, and paper.

美國的紙幣是由棉、亞麻和紙祕密混合製成的。

And for counterfeiters, recreating that feel is half of the battle.

對於造假者來說，再現這種感覺是成功的一半。

While some counterfeiters go to great lengths to fake the feel of the paper, others just use lower-denomination notes.

有些造假者不遺餘力地偽造紙張的手感，而有些造假者則只使用低面值的紙幣。

Counterfeiters were bleaching all of the ink off of the $5 note and then printing a higher denomination, like the $100, on top of the currency paper.

偽造者將 5 美元紙幣上的油墨全部漂白，然後在紙幣上印刷更高的面額，如 100 美元。

So to prevent this, many countries have switched to polymer banknotes, where the note is made of a more plasticky texture.

為了防止出現這種情況，許多國家已經改用聚合物鈔票，這種鈔票的質地更像塑膠。

It's a plastic kind of bending sound rather than a crisp paper sound.

這是一種塑膠彎曲的聲音，而不是清脆的紙質聲音。

But although polymer notes may feel different, they still have a very similar aesthetic.

不過，儘管高分子音符給人的感覺可能不同，但它們的美感仍然非常相似。

And that's because there's security built into how banknotes are printed, using printing presses.

這是因為使用印刷機印製鈔票的方式中包含了防偽功能。

See, most modern-day inkjet printers are precise, but with banknotes, accuracy and exactness can actually work against you.

你看，大多數現代噴墨打印機都很精確，但對於紙幣來說，精確度和準確性實際上會對你不利。

There are unique things that happen to a piece of paper as ink is applied.

在使用墨水時，紙張會發生一些獨特的變化。

Things like ink feathering, where the ink bleeds in minuscule different directions when printed, creating a slightly fuzzy finish.

比如油墨羽化，即印刷時油墨向不同方向微量滲出，造成略微模糊的效果。

When you're a counterfeiter, if you're just making a copy of a single note, you're going to have that same feathering effect occur in all of your counterfeits, and that becomes a signature of that counterfeiter.

如果你是一個造假者，如果你只是複製一張紙幣，那麼你的所有贗品都會出現同樣的羽化效果，這就成了造假者的簽名。

In 2024, police in Naples arrested a counterfeiter who they said had produced around 11 million euros in fake banknotes by managing to trace the notes back to the same producer.

2024 年，那不勒斯警方逮捕了一名偽鈔製造者，警方稱該偽鈔製造者製造了約 1100 萬歐元的假鈔，並設法追溯到同一製造者。

To further secure notes, central banks deploy features like transparent windows, colour-shifting ink and holograms, which have been on notes since the 1980s.

為了進一步確保紙幣的安全，中央銀行採用了透明窗口、變色油墨和全息圖等功能，這些功能自 20 世紀 80 年代起就出現在紙幣上。

As you move it, it rolls in colour, it kind of turns on and off.

當你移動它時，它會在顏色上滾動，就像開關一樣。

But these aren't completely counterfeit-proof.

You can buy holograms, not the same holograms that are on the currency, and the movements might not be as crisp, but most of the public doesn't necessarily look and discriminate a note all that carefully.

你可以買到全息圖，但不是貨幣上的那種全息圖，而且機芯可能沒有那麼清晰，但大多數公眾並不一定會那麼仔細地查看和辨別紙幣。

Printing with UV ink or embedding UV fibres may also seem secure, but it can still easily be forged with the right skills.

使用 UV 油墨印刷或嵌入 UV 纖維看似也很安全，但只要掌握正確的技巧，還是很容易偽造的。

You could use any fluorescent UV product that you could buy on the market and glue on the note.

你可以使用任何市面上能買到的熒光紫外線產品，然後粘在紙條上。

So, in more recent years, banknote producers like Crane, who make the paper for all of America's money, have deployed a new technique, microlens printing.

近年來，像 Crane 這樣為美國所有貨幣制造紙張的鈔票生產商採用了一種新技術--微透鏡印刷。

You're literally putting tens of thousands of microlenses in a strip that are designed to have an image be three-dimensional.

你實際上是把數以萬計的微透鏡裝進了一條帶子裡，目的是讓影像具有三維立體感。

The reason we don't see microlenses on banknotes around the world yet is because they're fairly new.

我們之所以還沒有在世界各地的鈔票上看到微透鏡，是因為它們還很新。

And cost is a key consideration when central banks choose which features to use.

而在中央銀行選擇使用哪些功能時，成本是一個重要的考慮因素。

While the print cost for banknotes tends to be lower than the value of the note itself, printing money can still be a costly exercise.

雖然紙幣的印刷成本往往低於紙幣本身的價值，但印鈔仍然是一項成本高昂的工作。

Swiss banknotes feature the majority of the latest security features, and their central bank says they cost an average of around 45 cents each to print.

瑞士鈔票採用了大多數最新的防偽特徵，瑞士中央銀行稱，平均每張鈔票的印製成本約為 45 美分。

Which adds up when, in 2024, the country issued 41.5 million new notes.

到 2024 年，該國將發行 4150 萬張新鈔。

But there's one major flaw with all these systems.

但所有這些系統都有一個重大缺陷。

They rely on humans to actually check for them, and sometimes that just doesn't happen.

它們依賴於人類對它們進行實際檢查，但有時這並不會發生。

Take these movie banknotes, which are printed legally and intended for use as props in film and television.

就拿這些電影鈔票來說，它們是合法印製的，旨在用作電影和電視中的道具。

You would think anybody trying to use this note would immediately see, oh, that's not real.

你會覺得任何想使用這張紙條的人都會立刻發現，哦，這不是真的。

In 2019, the US Secret Service said that of the over $100 million of counterfeit notes in circulation, some 12% were movie notes or similar.

2019 年，美國特勤局說，在超過 1 億美元的流通假鈔中，約 12% 是電影鈔票或類似鈔票。

實際上，人們並不經常使用它們。

And the risk escalates if you get a fake note to work in a vending machine.

如果你把假鈔拿到自動售貨機上使用，風險就會增加。

You've found a source to be able to enter these notes and get value for them.

你已經找到了能夠輸入這些筆記並獲得其價值的來源。

That's where level two security comes in, designed to stop advanced counterfeiters spoofing machines.

這就是二級安全系統的作用所在，它旨在阻止高級造假者欺騙機器。

These are typically things like magnetics.

這些通常是磁性材料之類的東西。

There's two types of ink that are used, magnetic ink and non-magnetic ink.

使用的墨水有兩種，磁性墨水和非磁性墨水。

These inks are dispersed through the note and create a pattern that a magnetic sensor can read.

這些油墨分散在紙幣上，形成磁性傳感器可以讀取的圖案。

And to help keep things secure, central banks don't always tell manufacturers of note scanners what they're actually supposed to be looking for.

為了確保安全，中央銀行並不總是告訴紙幣掃描儀制造商它們到底應該掃描什麼。

But even at level two, counterfeiters are able to cheat the system.

但即使在第二級，造假者也能欺騙系統。

The machine's only looking for one specific thing.

And if you trick that one specific thing, in this case, magnetics, that's all you need.

如果你想騙取一件特殊的東西，在這種情況下，磁鐵就是你所需要的全部。

It can literally be blank paper that tricks a sensor.

它可以是一張騙過傳感器的白紙。

Updating security features at this level comes with additional challenges.

在此級別更新安全功能會帶來更多挑戰。

Because while changing a magnetic pattern might not be expensive.

因為改變磁性模式可能並不昂貴。

What is significant is the cost of having to change bill validators to be able to identify a new feature.

重要的是，為識別新功能而更換賬單驗證器的成本。

And you might not think that it's a lot, but then as you think more and more, you kind of realise, oh wow, that is a lot.

你可能覺得這不算什麼，但當你越想越多的時候，你就會意識到，哦，哇，這可真不少。

But the biggest risk of all comes if nobody, not humans, machines or central banks, are able to tell that the note is fake.

但是，如果沒有人，無論是人類、機器還是中央銀行，能夠辨別出紙幣是假的，那麼最大的風險就來了。

And that's where level three, central bank level security, comes in.

這就是第三級，中央銀行級別的安全。

Because without it, counterfeiting could be used to upend governments.

因為沒有它，造假就可能被用來顛覆政府。

They produced 350 million counterfeit pounds.

Shortly after World War II, a team in Austria found a box of fake printing plates of UK currency made by Nazi Germany.

二戰結束後不久，一個小組在奧地利發現了一箱納粹德國製造的英國貨幣假印版。

Hitler had them made during the war to undermine Britain's economy by flooding the country with counterfeit money.

希特勒在戰爭期間製造了這些鈔票，目的是讓假鈔充斥英國，從而破壞英國的經濟。

More recently, in 2006, the US accused North Korea of putting $45 million worth of forged $100 bills into circulation, something North Korea denied.

最近，在 2006 年，美國指控北韓將價值 4500 萬美元的偽造百元大鈔投入流通，北韓對此予以否認。

The notes were so advanced, they became known as supernotes.

這些紙幣非常先進，被稱為超級紙幣。

So to be able to identify their own banknotes, central banks include a hidden feature at a molecular level, the specifics of which they don't reveal.

為了能夠識別自己的鈔票，中央銀行在分子水準上加入了一個隱藏特徵，具體細節他們並沒有透露。

It could be wavelength, it could be movement, it could be various ways that the chemicals of the note react to a light or a laser or something like that.

可能是波長，可能是運動，也可能是音符的化學物質對光線或脈衝光或類似東西的各種反應。

Nobody else knows how to make it, nobody else knows how to get it to react the way it needs to react.

沒有人知道如何製造它，也沒有人知道如何讓它做出它需要做出的反應。

That feature is kind of the ultimate failsafe.

該功能是一種終極故障保護裝置。

So if counterfeiting is so much of a threat to economic security, why hasn't the one dollar bill been redesigned in over 60 years, especially given that there are 14.9 billion one dollar notes in circulation?

那麼，如果偽鈔對經濟安全的威脅如此之大，為什麼一美元紙幣 60 多年來都沒有重新設計過，尤其是考慮到目前有 149 億張一美元紙幣在流通？

After all, many countries routinely redesign banknotes every 7-10 years, often choosing to retire old designs and stop them from being legal tender.

畢竟，許多國家通常每 7-10 年就會重新設計一次鈔票，通常會選擇讓舊設計退役，不再作為法定貨幣使用。

So why hasn't the US redesigned the dollar bill?

那麼，美國為什麼不重新設計美元紙幣呢？

There's a lot of different reasons for that.

The first is that the value is so low compared to other banknotes that the US Bureau of Engraving and Printing says it is rarely counterfeited.

首先，與其他鈔票相比，它的價值非常低，美國雕版印刷局稱它很少被偽造。

Replacing it with a potentially expensive new design just isn't worth the cost.

用可能很昂貴的新設計來取代它，實在不值得。

Secondly, the challenge of recalling and replacing nearly 15 billion banknotes, not just in America but around the globe, would be huge.

其次，不僅在美國，而且在全球範圍內，召回和更換近 150 億張鈔票將是一個巨大的挑戰。

There's a whole slew of other countries that use the US currency as a store of value.

還有很多其他國家使用美國貨幣作為價值儲藏手段。

Additionally, designing, printing and distributing a new banknote is not a quick process.

此外，新鈔票的設計、印刷和發行並非一蹴而就。

When the Bureau of Engraving and Printing began a redesign of their notes in 2003, it took a decade for the new $100 bill to enter into circulation.

當美國雕版印刷局於 2003 年開始重新設計紙幣時，新版百元大鈔花了十年時間才進入流通。