Two hundred billion euros in circulation, impossible to trace. This was enough to convince the European Central Bank that the 500 euro note – nicknamed “Bin Laden” precisely because of this sort of inaction in the legal circuits – had had its day.
The topic is back in the news these days, because the deadline for the designers selected by the ECB to deliver their graphic proposals for the new series of European banknotes expires by the end of April 2026. This is confirmed by the official FAQs of the redesign process on the European Central Bank website.
The competition — open in July 2025 to all graphic designers resident in the European Union — will end by June, after which an independent jury will select up to ten finalist proposals. The final decision on the design will be made by the ECB Governing Council by the end of 2026, following a public consultation.
Because she disappeared
In this new series there is no 500, the purple ticket will not be part of the so-called “series three”, which will cover the themes “European culture” and “Rivers and birds”. 500 cut included in the list of excluded, without the possibility of appeal. The formal decision dates back to the ECB Governing Council in May 2016: the small size compared to the very high nominal value made it the ideal tool for moving large sums in a compact form, away from prying eyes and anti-money laundering controls. The printing stopped definitively in 2019. A note that the traffickers knew as well as the collectors.
The 200 euros remain in circulation, although there is no shortage of rumors about a possible future reduction of that denomination too. Instead, the 20, 50 and 100 euro banknotes – the ones that actually end up in people’s pockets – will be strengthened with new anti-counterfeiting technologies.
What to do if you still have one
Those who still have 500 euro banknotes do not need to do anything urgent, as they retain full legal value and can be spent normally or deposited in a bank, which will convert them. They will remain valid indefinitely – a bit like certain non-current coins that no one has the courage to throw away.
