WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.520 Imagine reaching into your wallet right now. 00:00:02.520 --> 00:00:05.719 OK. And you pull out a single standard size piece 00:00:05.719 --> 00:00:08.779 of paper. And you just use it to buy an entire 00:00:08.779 --> 00:00:12.279 house in cash. Just one bill. Right. No briefcases. 00:00:12.940 --> 00:00:16.039 No wire transfers, no waiting for a bank to clear 00:00:16.039 --> 00:00:18.140 a mortgage or anything. You just slide it across 00:00:18.140 --> 00:00:21.480 the table? Yeah, just sliding one foldable, lightweight 00:00:21.480 --> 00:00:24.179 piece of paper across the table and taking the 00:00:24.179 --> 00:00:27.300 keys. That's wild to even picture. It is, right. 00:00:27.780 --> 00:00:30.960 Because we are so conditioned to associate massive, 00:00:31.399 --> 00:00:34.399 life -changing wealth with digital numbers sitting 00:00:34.399 --> 00:00:36.920 on a screen. Right. Or like an impossibly heavy 00:00:36.920 --> 00:00:39.859 pallet of gold bars locked in a vault somewhere. 00:00:39.859 --> 00:00:43.039 Exactly. The idea of holding a genuine fortune 00:00:43.039 --> 00:00:45.320 in something that could literally blow away in 00:00:45.320 --> 00:00:47.880 a stiff breeze. It just feels completely absurd 00:00:47.880 --> 00:00:49.460 today. It really does, because it fundamentally 00:00:49.460 --> 00:00:51.259 alters the psychology of what you're holding. 00:00:51.479 --> 00:00:53.859 I mean, we treat paper money as pocket change. 00:00:53.880 --> 00:00:55.880 Yeah, coffee money. Exactly. Something meant 00:00:55.880 --> 00:00:59.340 for tips or minor conveniences. But treating 00:00:59.340 --> 00:01:03.700 a single note as a massive financial asset. It 00:01:03.700 --> 00:01:06.920 forces you to rethink the very concept of physical 00:01:06.920 --> 00:01:09.420 currency. Oh, absolutely. It bridges this gap 00:01:09.420 --> 00:01:13.260 between a simple medium of exchange and a highly 00:01:13.260 --> 00:01:16.780 concentrated portable store of immense value. 00:01:17.000 --> 00:01:19.500 And that concept is exactly what we are exploring 00:01:19.500 --> 00:01:22.000 today on this deep dive. It's a fun one. It really 00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:24.760 is. We are looking into the entirely forgotten, 00:01:25.120 --> 00:01:28.540 completely wild history of large denomination 00:01:28.540 --> 00:01:31.019 United States currency. The mega bills. Yes, 00:01:31.060 --> 00:01:33.819 the mega bills. Anything printed over $100. Our 00:01:33.819 --> 00:01:36.599 mission today is to figure out why the US government 00:01:36.599 --> 00:01:40.219 ever felt the necessity to print bills up to, 00:01:40.219 --> 00:01:43.540 and this is a real number, $100 ,000. Still hard 00:01:43.540 --> 00:01:45.260 to wrap my head around that number on one bill. 00:01:45.459 --> 00:01:47.959 Right. And we're going to find out who was actually 00:01:47.959 --> 00:01:50.579 authorized to use them, how they function mechanically 00:01:50.579 --> 00:01:53.959 in the economy, and why the government ultimately 00:01:53.959 --> 00:01:56.950 decided to... quietly, systematically hunt them 00:01:56.950 --> 00:01:59.030 down and destroy them. Yeah, the trajectory of 00:01:59.030 --> 00:02:00.709 these high denomination notes is essentially 00:02:00.709 --> 00:02:03.230 the biography of the American financial system 00:02:03.230 --> 00:02:05.730 itself. Oh, totally. It's the story of a nation 00:02:05.730 --> 00:02:09.250 transitioning from a fragmented, highly physical 00:02:09.250 --> 00:02:13.490 frontier -based economy into the incredibly complex, 00:02:13.849 --> 00:02:16.389 interconnected, and well, ultimately digital 00:02:16.389 --> 00:02:19.050 financial behemoth that dictates global commerce 00:02:19.050 --> 00:02:22.150 today. OK, let's unpack this. Because to understand 00:02:22.150 --> 00:02:25.629 the astronomically huge bills of the 20th century, 00:02:26.229 --> 00:02:28.469 we really have to rewind the clock significantly. 00:02:28.610 --> 00:02:31.650 We do. We need to establish why a big bill was 00:02:31.650 --> 00:02:33.669 ever practically necessary in the very first 00:02:33.669 --> 00:02:36.469 place. Right. And this practice of printing massive 00:02:36.469 --> 00:02:39.169 denominations actually started long before the 00:02:39.169 --> 00:02:41.789 United States was even a unified economic powerhouse. 00:02:41.909 --> 00:02:44.020 Oh yeah, way back. We were talking about the 00:02:44.020 --> 00:02:46.639 late 18th century. Yeah, the initial necessity 00:02:46.639 --> 00:02:49.240 arose out of sheer geographical and logistical 00:02:49.240 --> 00:02:51.400 challenges. I mean, North Carolina, for instance, 00:02:51.479 --> 00:02:53.500 they printed a five hundred dollar note as early 00:02:53.500 --> 00:02:57.439 as May 1780. 1780. Yeah. And Virginia saw the 00:02:57.439 --> 00:02:59.639 utility in this and almost immediately followed 00:02:59.639 --> 00:03:02.280 suit by October of that same year, authorizing 00:03:02.280 --> 00:03:04.360 their own five hundred and one thousand dollar 00:03:04.360 --> 00:03:07.419 notes. Wow. And by 1781, Virginia was already 00:03:07.419 --> 00:03:10.199 printing two thousand dollar notes. I mean, a 00:03:10.199 --> 00:03:13.400 two thousand dollar note. in the 1780s is just 00:03:13.400 --> 00:03:16.580 an unfathomable sum of money. It really is. You 00:03:16.580 --> 00:03:19.759 are talking about the value of vast estates and 00:03:19.759 --> 00:03:22.319 massive commercial enterprises compressed into 00:03:22.319 --> 00:03:25.280 a single slip of paper. Exactly. And this trend 00:03:25.280 --> 00:03:27.520 only seemed to accelerate during times of severe 00:03:27.520 --> 00:03:30.259 national crisis. Right. Like when the government 00:03:30.259 --> 00:03:33.000 needed to move incredible amounts of capital 00:03:33.000 --> 00:03:35.860 to keep an army fed and armed. The printing presses 00:03:35.860 --> 00:03:39.590 just scaled up. Yeah. War is expensive. During 00:03:39.590 --> 00:03:42.090 the War of 1812, you see the authorization of 00:03:42.090 --> 00:03:44.889 $1 ,000 treasury notes. And by the time the American 00:03:44.889 --> 00:03:47.270 Civil War breaks out, the numbers just explode. 00:03:47.990 --> 00:03:51.289 The Confederacy was issuing 500 $1 ,000 notes 00:03:51.289 --> 00:03:54.030 to desperately keep their war effort afloat. 00:03:54.129 --> 00:03:57.889 While the Union side, in 1861, was issuing three 00:03:57.889 --> 00:04:00.110 -year interest -bearing notes in denominations 00:04:00.110 --> 00:04:04.710 of 500, 1 ,000, and an astonishing $5 ,000. $5 00:04:04.710 --> 00:04:08.639 ,000 in 1861. Yeah. And the physical design of 00:04:08.639 --> 00:04:11.379 these objects, it was heavily leveraged to project 00:04:11.379 --> 00:04:13.900 authority and stability during incredibly unstable 00:04:13.900 --> 00:04:16.220 times. They weren't just boring pieces of paper. 00:04:16.360 --> 00:04:19.139 No, not at all. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing 00:04:19.139 --> 00:04:21.740 didn't just print numbers on blank paper. They 00:04:21.740 --> 00:04:24.939 created highly intricate nationalistic art. Right. 00:04:25.040 --> 00:04:27.620 The obverse designs featured major historical 00:04:27.620 --> 00:04:30.639 figures. You had James Madison anchoring the 00:04:30.639 --> 00:04:32.779 five thousand dollar note, Andrew Jackson on 00:04:32.779 --> 00:04:35.220 the ten thousand dollar note. Wow. But beyond 00:04:35.220 --> 00:04:37.759 the presidents, these notes were heavily decorated 00:04:37.759 --> 00:04:40.420 with allegorical figures meant to inspire deep 00:04:40.420 --> 00:04:42.620 confidence. Yeah, you had engravings of justice, 00:04:42.720 --> 00:04:45.660 liberty and victory. I was reading that an eighteen 00:04:45.660 --> 00:04:48.220 sixty nine five hundred dollar note. featured 00:04:48.220 --> 00:04:50.660 John Quincy Adams positioned right alongside 00:04:50.660 --> 00:04:53.319 a detailed engraving of justice. That's right. 00:04:53.480 --> 00:04:56.699 Others featured eagles, shields, or grand historical 00:04:56.699 --> 00:04:59.420 depictions like the surrender of General Burgoyne. 00:04:59.500 --> 00:05:01.339 They really wanted them to look official. It 00:05:01.339 --> 00:05:03.360 was a conscious choice to make the money look 00:05:03.360 --> 00:05:07.779 undeniably legitimate. But I have a major mechanical 00:05:07.779 --> 00:05:09.759 question here. Sure. I'm trying to picture the 00:05:09.759 --> 00:05:13.279 reality of the 1860s economy. Carrying one of 00:05:13.279 --> 00:05:16.160 these notes is essentially like carrying a physical 00:05:16.160 --> 00:05:19.199 bearer bond, meaning whoever physically holds 00:05:19.199 --> 00:05:22.879 the paper owns the money. No questions asked. 00:05:22.939 --> 00:05:26.379 Right. It's just whoever has it. So did a regular 00:05:26.379 --> 00:05:29.300 citizen ever actually walk into a general store, 00:05:29.860 --> 00:05:32.480 pick up a loaf of bread and some ammunition and 00:05:32.480 --> 00:05:35.500 hand the clerk a five hundred dollar bill? Or 00:05:35.500 --> 00:05:38.019 was this strictly an instrument for the financial 00:05:38.019 --> 00:05:41.670 elite and the commercial banks? So for the everyday 00:05:41.670 --> 00:05:44.290 citizen walking down a wooden sidewalk, these 00:05:44.290 --> 00:05:46.709 bills essentially did not exist. Okay, that makes 00:05:46.709 --> 00:05:48.529 sense. Yeah, the average person would live their 00:05:48.529 --> 00:05:51.350 entire life without ever seeing a $5 ,000 note, 00:05:51.389 --> 00:05:53.990 much less actually holding one. Right. To understand 00:05:53.990 --> 00:05:55.750 their mechanical purpose, you really have to 00:05:55.750 --> 00:05:58.149 look at the constraints of a banking system operating 00:05:58.149 --> 00:06:00.649 without instantaneous communication. No internet. 00:06:01.050 --> 00:06:04.170 Exactly. When an institution in Boston needed 00:06:04.170 --> 00:06:07.269 to settle a massive complex account with an institution 00:06:07.269 --> 00:06:10.149 in Philadelphia, they could not rely on a digital 00:06:10.149 --> 00:06:13.240 network. Wealth was heavily tied to physical 00:06:13.240 --> 00:06:16.199 assets, specifically gold and silver. So it's 00:06:16.199 --> 00:06:18.740 basically a problem with sheer physics. If you 00:06:18.740 --> 00:06:22.240 need to move a million dollars in 1865, doing 00:06:22.240 --> 00:06:26.480 that in $20 bills, or worse, actual gold coin 00:06:26.480 --> 00:06:30.540 is a complete logistical nightmare. Oh, it requires 00:06:30.540 --> 00:06:33.240 a massive amount of physical space, reinforced 00:06:33.240 --> 00:06:36.139 train cars, heavily armed guards. But if you 00:06:36.139 --> 00:06:39.699 convert that million dollars into $5 ,000 notes, 00:06:40.579 --> 00:06:42.800 suddenly you're dealing with just 200 pieces 00:06:42.800 --> 00:06:45.519 of paper. That is so much easier. Right. It can 00:06:45.519 --> 00:06:48.620 fit securely in a single strong box. So the high 00:06:48.620 --> 00:06:51.160 denomination bills were essentially institutional 00:06:51.160 --> 00:06:53.699 tools that function to compress physical space 00:06:53.699 --> 00:06:56.319 and ease the logistical burden of moving capital. 00:06:56.360 --> 00:06:58.680 That's a great way to put it. physical space. 00:06:59.040 --> 00:07:01.839 Yeah they were legally tender but functionally 00:07:01.839 --> 00:07:04.160 they were bank -to -bank settlement mechanisms. 00:07:04.459 --> 00:07:06.620 Okay here's where it gets really interesting 00:07:06.620 --> 00:07:09.839 because knowing that moving physical wealth across 00:07:09.839 --> 00:07:12.160 the country was a dangerous expensive nightmare 00:07:12.160 --> 00:07:15.220 perfectly sets up the arrival of the ultimate 00:07:15.220 --> 00:07:17.519 behemoth of American currency. Oh here we go. 00:07:17.680 --> 00:07:20.899 A bill so large and so unimaginably valuable 00:07:20.899 --> 00:07:23.459 that the general public was explicitly forbidden 00:07:23.459 --> 00:07:26.480 from ever holding it. Yes. This brings us to 00:07:26.480 --> 00:07:29.579 the series 1934 Gold Certificates. Right. And 00:07:29.579 --> 00:07:32.139 you really cannot separate the creation of these 00:07:32.139 --> 00:07:35.040 specific notes from the economic terror of the 00:07:35.040 --> 00:07:37.639 Great Depression and the drastic measures taken 00:07:37.639 --> 00:07:40.980 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. March 9th, 00:07:40.980 --> 00:07:47.420 1933. FDR signs Executive Order 6102. A huge 00:07:47.420 --> 00:07:50.639 moment. This is a massive turning point in how 00:07:50.639 --> 00:07:53.079 Americans interacted with their wealth. The order 00:07:53.079 --> 00:07:56.379 compulsorily confiscated privately held gold 00:07:56.379 --> 00:07:59.180 from the public and effectively repealed the 00:07:59.180 --> 00:08:01.899 gold standard for everyday domestic commerce. 00:08:02.500 --> 00:08:04.500 Yeah. Citizens could no longer legally hoard 00:08:04.500 --> 00:08:07.540 gold bullion or gold coins. The government just 00:08:07.540 --> 00:08:09.879 aggressively centralized the gold supply. And 00:08:09.879 --> 00:08:11.759 the centralization of that gold was a foundational 00:08:11.759 --> 00:08:13.579 shift. I mean, once the public was removed from 00:08:13.579 --> 00:08:15.259 the gold standard, the federal government and 00:08:15.259 --> 00:08:17.500 the Federal Reserve still had to manage the immense 00:08:17.500 --> 00:08:19.560 reserves they had just consolidated. Right. They 00:08:19.560 --> 00:08:21.699 have all this physical gold now. Exactly. So 00:08:21.699 --> 00:08:24.360 to facilitate the internal accounting of this 00:08:24.360 --> 00:08:26.920 massive, newly centralized wealth, they issued 00:08:26.920 --> 00:08:31.360 the series 1934 gold certificates. And the denomination 00:08:31.360 --> 00:08:35.539 scaled rapidly. You had 100, 500, 1000, 10 ,000. 00:08:35.580 --> 00:08:38.799 And finally, the absolute apex of American currency. 00:08:38.860 --> 00:08:45.059 The $100 ,000 note. The $100 ,000 note featuring 00:08:45.059 --> 00:08:49.220 the portrait of Woodrow Wilson. Yeah. $100 ,000 00:08:49.220 --> 00:08:52.440 printed on a single piece of paper during the 00:08:52.440 --> 00:08:54.440 height of the Great Depression. I mean, that 00:08:54.440 --> 00:08:56.919 is a staggering amount of capital. It's hard 00:08:56.919 --> 00:08:59.440 to even fathom. That is not a transaction. That 00:08:59.440 --> 00:09:03.240 is macroeconomics represented on a 2. six by 00:09:03.240 --> 00:09:05.620 six point one inch rectangle. Beautifully said. 00:09:05.879 --> 00:09:08.539 And these were used exclusively for intergovernmental 00:09:08.539 --> 00:09:11.039 transactions between Federal Reserve banks. Like 00:09:11.039 --> 00:09:12.759 they were never issued for public circulation. 00:09:13.360 --> 00:09:15.940 If an average citizen somehow got their hands 00:09:15.940 --> 00:09:18.980 on a Woodrow Wilson note, it was considered illegal 00:09:18.980 --> 00:09:21.220 possession of government property. Straight to 00:09:21.220 --> 00:09:24.179 jail. Right. Yeah. But I have to push back on 00:09:24.179 --> 00:09:27.549 the logic of the system first. OK. Wait. If only 00:09:27.549 --> 00:09:29.870 the Federal Reserve Banks were using the $100 00:09:29.870 --> 00:09:33.450 ,000 bill to talk to other Federal Reserve Banks, 00:09:34.009 --> 00:09:36.789 why go through the immense trouble and expense 00:09:36.789 --> 00:09:39.970 of printing a physical, highly secure banknote 00:09:39.970 --> 00:09:43.370 at all? I mean, if it's just the government settling 00:09:43.370 --> 00:09:45.850 accounts with itself, why not just use a ledger 00:09:45.850 --> 00:09:48.590 book? Why not just write down a credit in a master 00:09:48.590 --> 00:09:51.110 ledger and avoid printing a fancy piece of paper 00:09:51.110 --> 00:09:53.649 entirely? What's fascinating here is how this 00:09:53.649 --> 00:09:57.070 specific physical object highlights the psychological 00:09:57.070 --> 00:10:00.250 transition of the 1930s banking infrastructure. 00:10:01.029 --> 00:10:02.610 You have to remember that while the government 00:10:02.610 --> 00:10:05.049 had severed the public's direct tie to the gold 00:10:05.049 --> 00:10:07.590 standard, the institutional framework like the 00:10:07.590 --> 00:10:10.549 internal logic of the Federal Reserve was still 00:10:10.549 --> 00:10:13.450 deeply intrinsically tied to physical assets. 00:10:13.929 --> 00:10:15.909 The ghost of the gold standard was still haunting 00:10:15.909 --> 00:10:18.409 the vaults. So the bankers themselves still needed 00:10:18.409 --> 00:10:21.990 something tangible to hold onto. Precisely. When 00:10:21.990 --> 00:10:24.429 the Federal Reserve branch in New York needed 00:10:24.429 --> 00:10:27.330 to transfer 50 million dollars of wealth to the 00:10:27.330 --> 00:10:30.389 branch in San Francisco The internal regulations 00:10:30.389 --> 00:10:33.009 of the era required a physical gold certificate 00:10:33.009 --> 00:10:35.970 to legally back that transfer interesting So 00:10:35.970 --> 00:10:38.809 the $100 ,000 note wasn't circulating money. 00:10:38.809 --> 00:10:42.429 It was a high security accounting token It was 00:10:42.429 --> 00:10:45.990 a highly specialized receipt proving that a specific 00:10:45.990 --> 00:10:48.389 amount of gold was physically accounted for in 00:10:48.389 --> 00:10:50.309 the Treasury vaults Okay, that makes more sense. 00:10:50.330 --> 00:10:52.590 Yeah printing it as an intricate counterfeit 00:10:52.590 --> 00:10:54.990 proof banknote was the highest technology of 00:10:54.990 --> 00:10:57.370 the day to ensure that these ledgers balanced 00:10:57.370 --> 00:11:00.809 perfectly without having to load tons of literal 00:11:00.809 --> 00:11:03.990 gold bullion onto a specialized train every time 00:11:03.990 --> 00:11:05.950 the regional branches needed to settle their 00:11:05.950 --> 00:11:08.169 balances. Wow. So it was a bridge between the 00:11:08.169 --> 00:11:10.690 physical past and the digital future. The paper 00:11:10.690 --> 00:11:14.009 is lighter than a ton of gold, but it still feels 00:11:14.360 --> 00:11:17.299 real enough to satisfy the institutional requirements 00:11:17.299 --> 00:11:20.620 of the bankers. But as we know, that bridge eventually 00:11:20.620 --> 00:11:24.480 crumbled. If these massive bills were so incredibly 00:11:24.480 --> 00:11:26.840 useful for the government and the banking sector 00:11:26.840 --> 00:11:29.679 to move dense amounts of wealth, why did they 00:11:29.679 --> 00:11:32.350 suddenly face execution? Well, the execution 00:11:32.350 --> 00:11:36.870 wasn't sudden. It was a slow, deliberate strangulation. 00:11:36.909 --> 00:11:40.210 Oh. Yeah. These high denomination bills from 00:11:40.210 --> 00:11:43.250 the 500 up to the 10 ,000 notes meant for general 00:11:43.250 --> 00:11:46.509 circulation were last actually printed on December 00:11:46.509 --> 00:11:49.929 27th, 1945. Right, in the aftermath of World 00:11:49.929 --> 00:11:53.169 War II. Exactly. But they didn't vanish immediately. 00:11:53.409 --> 00:11:55.629 They continued to circulate quietly within the 00:11:55.629 --> 00:11:57.889 banking system for a couple of decades. OK. It 00:11:57.889 --> 00:12:01.330 wasn't until July 14th, 1969 that the Federal 00:12:01.330 --> 00:12:03.409 Reserve System and the Department of the Treasury 00:12:03.409 --> 00:12:05.690 officially announced they were discontinuing 00:12:05.690 --> 00:12:08.210 them. Right. And the stated public reason from 00:12:08.210 --> 00:12:12.429 the Fed in 1969 was simply a lack of use. Right. 00:12:12.570 --> 00:12:14.610 Which sounds reasonable. Yeah. And on the surface, 00:12:14.629 --> 00:12:17.029 that makes total sense. I mean, the average consumer 00:12:17.029 --> 00:12:19.649 wasn't buying groceries with a $5 ,000 note. 00:12:19.950 --> 00:12:22.409 Definitely not. But the government didn't issue 00:12:22.409 --> 00:12:24.769 a recall. They didn't put out a public notice 00:12:24.769 --> 00:12:27.049 demanding everyone turn in their large bills 00:12:27.049 --> 00:12:30.330 by a certain date. They instituted a much quieter 00:12:30.330 --> 00:12:34.090 mechanism, a policy of Passive retirement. Passive 00:12:34.090 --> 00:12:36.429 retirement is an incredibly effective bureaucratic 00:12:36.429 --> 00:12:39.649 method for systematic destruction. I bet. Yeah. 00:12:40.330 --> 00:12:43.850 Starting in July 1969, the Federal Reserve simply 00:12:43.850 --> 00:12:46.070 ordered that any time one of these large bills 00:12:46.070 --> 00:12:48.350 was naturally deposited at a commercial bank 00:12:48.350 --> 00:12:51.350 or returned to a Federal Reserve branch to settle 00:12:51.350 --> 00:12:54.450 an account, it was instantly flagged. Wow. It 00:12:54.450 --> 00:12:56.730 was pulled out of circulation, sent to a secure 00:12:56.730 --> 00:13:00.000 facility and permanently destroyed. It was a 00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:02.200 one -way street into the shredder. So what does 00:13:02.200 --> 00:13:04.639 this all mean? Right. The official public line 00:13:04.639 --> 00:13:07.820 is lack of use. But the underlying mechanics 00:13:07.820 --> 00:13:11.259 point to two massive colliding shifts in modern 00:13:11.259 --> 00:13:14.100 society. What shifts? The first shift is technological. 00:13:14.820 --> 00:13:17.320 We finally saw the rise of complex electronic 00:13:17.320 --> 00:13:20.220 money systems. Mainframe computers were starting 00:13:20.220 --> 00:13:22.720 to take over the banking ledgers, which completely 00:13:22.720 --> 00:13:24.840 eliminated the need to compress geography into 00:13:24.840 --> 00:13:27.720 paper. That's very true. A computer could update 00:13:27.720 --> 00:13:30.919 a balance. in New York and San Francisco simultaneously, 00:13:31.500 --> 00:13:34.220 rendering the physical transfer of a $10 ,000 00:13:34.220 --> 00:13:37.779 note completely obsolete for the banks. But the 00:13:37.779 --> 00:13:40.370 second shift is much darker. and it has entirely 00:13:40.370 --> 00:13:42.950 to do with the criminal underworld. Ah, yes. 00:13:43.230 --> 00:13:45.769 The intersection of high value currency and law 00:13:45.769 --> 00:13:47.669 enforcement. Exactly. It sounds like the government 00:13:47.669 --> 00:13:50.269 essentially realized they had accidentally engineered 00:13:50.269 --> 00:13:52.529 the ultimate logistical tool for a Hollywood 00:13:52.529 --> 00:13:55.309 movie villain. Oh, totally. Like a way to fit 00:13:55.309 --> 00:13:57.990 a million dollars into a single small briefcase. 00:13:58.789 --> 00:14:00.789 If you are running an illegal drug trafficking 00:14:00.789 --> 00:14:03.389 syndicate, or you need to systematically launder 00:14:03.389 --> 00:14:06.690 a million dollars in cash, doing that in standard 00:14:06.690 --> 00:14:09.690 $20 bills. is a logistical nightmare. Yeah, a 00:14:09.690 --> 00:14:12.730 million dollars in 20s weighs roughly 110 pounds. 00:14:12.990 --> 00:14:15.490 Exactly. It requires duffel bags. It is bulky. 00:14:15.889 --> 00:14:18.389 It is highly suspicious. And it is incredibly 00:14:18.389 --> 00:14:21.750 difficult to transport across borders undetected. 00:14:21.809 --> 00:14:23.970 But if you convert that million dollars into 00:14:23.970 --> 00:14:28.289 $10 ,000 notes... That is just 100 individual 00:14:28.289 --> 00:14:31.549 pieces of paper. You have taken a massive logistical 00:14:31.549 --> 00:14:34.049 hurdle and shrunk it down to something you can 00:14:34.049 --> 00:14:36.870 slip inside a folded newspaper or a standard 00:14:36.870 --> 00:14:39.950 paperback novel. And that extreme value density 00:14:39.950 --> 00:14:43.669 became an intolerable threat to the state. Technological 00:14:43.669 --> 00:14:45.809 advancement in the legitimate banking sector 00:14:45.809 --> 00:14:48.529 intercepted perfectly with the urgent needs of 00:14:48.529 --> 00:14:50.610 federal law enforcement. That kind of lied, Eddie. 00:14:50.610 --> 00:14:53.549 Yeah. The legal economy no longer required the 00:14:53.549 --> 00:14:56.450 physical density of a 5 ,000 or 10 ,000. note, 00:14:56.889 --> 00:14:59.450 but the criminal underworld absolutely relied 00:14:59.450 --> 00:15:01.870 on it to function at scale. That makes so much 00:15:01.870 --> 00:15:04.330 sense. Deep concerns regarding sophisticated 00:15:04.330 --> 00:15:06.570 counterfeiting, international drug trafficking 00:15:06.570 --> 00:15:09.490 rings, and unchecked money laundering really 00:15:09.490 --> 00:15:12.070 forced the U .S. government's hand. Wow. They 00:15:12.070 --> 00:15:15.090 recognized that continuing to circulate or reissue 00:15:15.090 --> 00:15:18.690 large denomination currency was effectively subsidizing 00:15:18.690 --> 00:15:21.529 the logistics of organized crime. Geez. This 00:15:21.529 --> 00:15:23.799 raises an important question though. At what 00:15:23.799 --> 00:15:26.080 point does the convenience of cash become a liability 00:15:26.080 --> 00:15:28.679 to a society? That is the ultimate tension of 00:15:28.679 --> 00:15:31.000 modern currency, isn't it? When the physical 00:15:31.000 --> 00:15:33.120 tool you engineered for your own institutional 00:15:33.120 --> 00:15:36.039 convenience is entirely co -opted by entities 00:15:36.039 --> 00:15:38.299 trying to actively subvert your legal system, 00:15:39.139 --> 00:15:41.460 you kind of have to break the tool. You do. And 00:15:41.460 --> 00:15:43.500 the government tried incredibly hard to break 00:15:43.500 --> 00:15:46.320 it. They tried to systematically destroy all 00:15:46.320 --> 00:15:48.860 of these notes through that passive retirement 00:15:48.860 --> 00:15:52.419 mechanism. But human nature threw a wrench into 00:15:52.419 --> 00:15:55.179 the shredder. Specifically, the human instinct 00:15:55.179 --> 00:15:58.259 to hoard, collect, and preserve rarities. Exactly. 00:15:58.740 --> 00:16:00.799 What blows my mind is how few of these notes 00:16:00.799 --> 00:16:04.080 actually survived the 1969 purge. It's really 00:16:04.080 --> 00:16:06.500 wild. Out of the millions of high denomination 00:16:06.500 --> 00:16:08.919 bills printed across the centuries, we are talking 00:16:08.919 --> 00:16:11.639 about a microscopic fraction making it out alive 00:16:11.639 --> 00:16:14.620 into the modern era. The scarcity data on these 00:16:14.620 --> 00:16:17.259 surviving relics is staggering. The attrition 00:16:17.259 --> 00:16:19.980 rate is historically profound. I mean, based 00:16:19.980 --> 00:16:22.980 on detailed numismatic tracking data from May 00:16:22.980 --> 00:16:28.120 2009, there were only 336 of the $10 ,000 bills 00:16:28.120 --> 00:16:31.480 known to exist in the world. Wait, 336 individual 00:16:31.480 --> 00:16:34.460 notes left on the entire planet? Yeah. And the 00:16:34.460 --> 00:16:37.080 numbers for the $5 ,000 bills are nearly identical, 00:16:37.460 --> 00:16:41.509 with only 342 known to exist. Wow. As you move 00:16:41.509 --> 00:16:44.070 down the denomination ladder, the survival rate 00:16:44.070 --> 00:16:47.129 increases slightly, but it remains incredibly 00:16:47.129 --> 00:16:51.669 sparse. There are roughly 165 ,000 of the $1 00:16:51.669 --> 00:16:54.850 ,000 bills left in existence, and fewer than 00:16:54.850 --> 00:16:58.110 75 ,000 of the $500 bills remaining. Out of how 00:16:58.110 --> 00:17:00.909 many? Out of the well over 900 ,000 that were 00:17:00.909 --> 00:17:04.369 originally printed. Man. And because they are 00:17:04.369 --> 00:17:07.309 so incredibly scarce, the basic laws of supply 00:17:07.309 --> 00:17:09.990 and demand have taken over. Absolutely. These 00:17:09.990 --> 00:17:12.210 pieces of paper are worth exponentially more 00:17:12.210 --> 00:17:14.650 than the number printed on their face. Collectors 00:17:14.650 --> 00:17:17.109 and numismatists pay massive premiums at auction 00:17:17.109 --> 00:17:19.609 to own them. Oh yeah, huge premiums. Some of 00:17:19.609 --> 00:17:21.690 the best preserved examples are locked away in 00:17:21.690 --> 00:17:24.329 heavily guarded museum archives, like the National 00:17:24.329 --> 00:17:26.970 Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian. But 00:17:26.970 --> 00:17:29.789 the absolute best illustration of how these bills 00:17:29.789 --> 00:17:32.269 transition from functional money to cultural 00:17:32.269 --> 00:17:34.809 mythology is the Benny Binion casino display. 00:17:35.039 --> 00:17:38.400 Oh, the Horseshoe Casino exhibit in Las Vegas. 00:17:38.900 --> 00:17:43.180 It is legendary in currency circles. Yes. Binnie 00:17:43.180 --> 00:17:46.720 Binion was a famous, highly flamboyant Las Vegas 00:17:46.720 --> 00:17:49.960 casino owner. And for years, right on the floor 00:17:49.960 --> 00:17:52.779 of Binion's Horseshoe Casino, he set up a public 00:17:52.779 --> 00:17:56.059 display that perfectly captured the sheer audacity 00:17:56.059 --> 00:17:58.500 of high denomination currency. It was quite the 00:17:58.500 --> 00:18:02.559 sight. He took exactly $110 ,000 bills, arranged 00:18:02.559 --> 00:18:06.039 them meticulously, and encased the entire stack 00:18:06.039 --> 00:18:08.859 inside thick bulletproof acrylic. Just right 00:18:08.859 --> 00:18:11.740 out there in the open. It was a literal physical 00:18:11.740 --> 00:18:14.539 million dollars in paper just sitting there under 00:18:14.539 --> 00:18:17.059 the casino lights for tourists to stand next 00:18:17.059 --> 00:18:19.400 to and take photographs with. That display is 00:18:19.400 --> 00:18:21.799 a perfect encapsulation of the psychological 00:18:21.799 --> 00:18:24.400 mystique these bills carry. It really is. By 00:18:24.400 --> 00:18:26.559 encasing them in acrylic, Binion permanently 00:18:26.559 --> 00:18:28.720 stripped them of their functional utility and 00:18:28.720 --> 00:18:30.900 elevated them entirely into the realm of spectacle. 00:18:31.119 --> 00:18:33.839 Right. They weren't money anymore. Exactly. They 00:18:33.839 --> 00:18:36.140 ceased to be financial instruments intended to 00:18:36.140 --> 00:18:38.960 settle accounts. They became powerful cultural 00:18:38.960 --> 00:18:41.640 artifacts representing the raw, visceral fantasy 00:18:41.640 --> 00:18:44.630 of American wealth. Eventually, that specific 00:18:44.630 --> 00:18:47.230 display was dismantled and the individual bills 00:18:47.230 --> 00:18:50.230 were sold off to private collectors. But it deeply 00:18:50.230 --> 00:18:52.410 illustrates how our relationship to these notes 00:18:52.410 --> 00:18:56.269 shifted over time. They evolved from vital logistical 00:18:56.269 --> 00:18:59.849 tools for the 19th century frontier to banking 00:18:59.849 --> 00:19:03.230 receipts for the Federal Reserve to museum pieces 00:19:03.230 --> 00:19:06.150 and casino attractions. A pretty incredible journey. 00:19:06.430 --> 00:19:09.160 Yeah. But the concept of the mega bill isn't 00:19:09.160 --> 00:19:11.960 entirely relegated to the history books. We are 00:19:11.960 --> 00:19:14.839 actually seeing a modern resurgence of the underlying 00:19:14.839 --> 00:19:17.960 idea playing out right now in the halls of Congress. 00:19:18.180 --> 00:19:21.279 It is a fascinating contemporary coda to a centuries 00:19:21.279 --> 00:19:24.079 -old history. It is. If you look at the official 00:19:24.079 --> 00:19:26.339 policy, the U .S. Department of the Treasury 00:19:26.339 --> 00:19:29.269 stance is unequivocal. They explicitly state 00:19:29.269 --> 00:19:31.029 that the current denominations in circulation, 00:19:31.289 --> 00:19:34.650 the $1 through the $100 bill, perfectly serve 00:19:34.650 --> 00:19:37.109 the logistical and economic needs of the modern 00:19:37.109 --> 00:19:40.130 public. The Treasury has zero plans to change 00:19:40.130 --> 00:19:42.769 the denominations currently in use. But the legislative 00:19:42.769 --> 00:19:45.609 branch periodically pushes back against that. 00:19:45.710 --> 00:19:50.079 They do. For example, in June 2024, Representative 00:19:50.079 --> 00:19:53.539 Paul Gosar introduced a formal bill into Congress, 00:19:54.440 --> 00:19:56.980 attempting to force the Federal Reserve to restart 00:19:56.980 --> 00:20:00.759 the issuance of the $500 bill. And the legislation 00:20:00.759 --> 00:20:03.700 specifically proposed that the design feature 00:20:03.700 --> 00:20:06.240 the portrait of former President Donald Trump. 00:20:06.440 --> 00:20:09.980 And just a year later, in 2025, another piece 00:20:09.980 --> 00:20:12.900 of legislation was introduced in Congress to 00:20:12.900 --> 00:20:17.019 issue a newly designed $250 note, which was also 00:20:17.019 --> 00:20:19.059 proposed to feature Trump's portrait. Right. 00:20:19.079 --> 00:20:21.299 And looking at these legislative proposals purely 00:20:21.299 --> 00:20:23.920 as an extension of the historical record, it 00:20:23.920 --> 00:20:26.680 deeply demonstrates how entirely symbolic our 00:20:26.680 --> 00:20:28.880 physical currency remains. Exactly. And just 00:20:28.880 --> 00:20:30.940 to be completely clear to you, listening, we 00:20:30.940 --> 00:20:32.940 are just reporting the information from the source 00:20:32.940 --> 00:20:34.700 text here. Oh, definitely. We aren't taking any 00:20:34.700 --> 00:20:37.599 political sides on the specific bills. We're 00:20:37.599 --> 00:20:40.160 analyzing this impartially as a reflection of 00:20:40.160 --> 00:20:43.000 how currency functions beyond mere mathematics. 00:20:43.519 --> 00:20:45.660 Exactly. If we connect this to the bigger picture, 00:20:46.180 --> 00:20:48.259 physical currency has never been just a neutral 00:20:48.259 --> 00:20:51.880 medium of exchange. It is an active, living reflection 00:20:51.880 --> 00:20:54.339 of a nation's current priorities, serving as 00:20:54.339 --> 00:20:57.680 both an economic tool and a highly visible political 00:20:57.680 --> 00:20:59.980 canvas. Like the artwork on the Civil War bills. 00:21:00.440 --> 00:21:05.869 Precisely. In 1861, A sprawling, intricate $5 00:21:05.869 --> 00:21:09.190 ,000 note reflected a fractured nation desperately 00:21:09.190 --> 00:21:11.710 trying to project authority and move capital 00:21:11.710 --> 00:21:14.430 quickly enough to survive a devastating civil 00:21:14.430 --> 00:21:19.990 war. In 1934, the untouchable $100 ,000 Woodrow 00:21:19.990 --> 00:21:22.569 Wilson note reflected a government executing 00:21:22.569 --> 00:21:25.470 a massive, unprecedented restructuring of its 00:21:25.470 --> 00:21:28.369 entire financial foundation, pivoting sharply 00:21:28.369 --> 00:21:31.029 away from the public gold standard. And today, 00:21:31.069 --> 00:21:33.119 the contemporary debates of for whether we should 00:21:33.119 --> 00:21:35.579 print new large denomination bills and exactly 00:21:35.579 --> 00:21:37.539 whose portrait should be elevated onto them. 00:21:37.819 --> 00:21:39.859 Well, they reflect the realities of our modern 00:21:39.859 --> 00:21:42.299 cultural and political landscape. The physical 00:21:42.299 --> 00:21:44.920 paper we carry in our pockets is a deeply contested 00:21:44.920 --> 00:21:47.740 national canvas. That is an incredibly profound 00:21:47.740 --> 00:21:50.019 way to view something we usually just shove into 00:21:50.019 --> 00:21:51.700 a wallet without a second thought. It really 00:21:51.700 --> 00:21:54.539 is. It is a canvas that actively documents the 00:21:54.539 --> 00:21:57.750 story of the country. And what a massive sweeping 00:21:57.750 --> 00:22:00.390 journey we have unpacked today. We covered a 00:22:00.390 --> 00:22:03.470 lot of ground. We really did. We started all 00:22:03.470 --> 00:22:06.630 the way back in the late 1780s, looking at North 00:22:06.630 --> 00:22:09.450 Carolina and Virginia, printing the very first 00:22:09.450 --> 00:22:12.829 $500 notes to generate the capital needed to 00:22:12.829 --> 00:22:15.589 fund the chaotic early days of a brand new nation. 00:22:15.789 --> 00:22:18.589 Yeah. We looked at the extreme physical logistics 00:22:18.589 --> 00:22:22.329 of the 1860s where moving wealth required strong 00:22:22.329 --> 00:22:25.660 boxes and armed guards. Right. the psychological 00:22:25.660 --> 00:22:29.279 shock of 1933, the confiscation of public gold, 00:22:29.660 --> 00:22:32.099 and the creation of that mythical, untouchable 00:22:32.099 --> 00:22:36.019 $100 ,000 Woodrow Wilson bill that was strictly 00:22:36.019 --> 00:22:38.140 reserved for the vaults of the Federal Reserve. 00:22:38.240 --> 00:22:40.519 And we examined the quiet, relentless mechanics 00:22:40.519 --> 00:22:43.180 of passive retirement, where the rise of sophisticated 00:22:43.180 --> 00:22:45.559 electronic banking networks and the urgent fight 00:22:45.559 --> 00:22:47.440 against organized crime led the government to 00:22:47.440 --> 00:22:49.900 systematically hunt down and destroy these beautiful 00:22:49.900 --> 00:22:52.730 pieces of financial art. and we ended up staring 00:22:52.730 --> 00:22:55.569 at a million dollars trapped in acrylic on the 00:22:55.569 --> 00:22:58.490 Las Vegas casino floor right before looking at 00:22:58.490 --> 00:23:00.849 the modern congressional debates attempting to 00:23:00.849 --> 00:23:02.750 bring the mega bills back from the dead. Yeah. 00:23:03.190 --> 00:23:06.230 It is a completely wild, hidden history. It truly 00:23:06.230 --> 00:23:09.549 is. So to you listening, the very next time you 00:23:09.549 --> 00:23:12.609 walk up to an ATM, plunging your pin in and pull 00:23:12.609 --> 00:23:16.190 out a simple, crisp $20 bill, take just one second 00:23:16.190 --> 00:23:18.069 to really look at it. Just look at the paper. 00:23:18.269 --> 00:23:20.730 Yeah. You aren't just holding 20 bucks to buy 00:23:20.730 --> 00:23:24.150 lunch. You are holding the ultimate surviving 00:23:24.150 --> 00:23:27.549 winner of a brutal, centuries -long evolution 00:23:27.549 --> 00:23:30.490 of American money. The survivor. Exactly. The 00:23:30.490 --> 00:23:32.849 $20 bill survived the exact same evolutionary 00:23:32.849 --> 00:23:35.349 cut that sent the $10 ,000 note and the $100 00:23:35.349 --> 00:23:37.650 ,000 note straight into the federal shredder. 00:23:37.890 --> 00:23:40.230 Because the modern $20 bill is the perfectly 00:23:40.230 --> 00:23:42.950 optimized tool for our current economic era. 00:23:43.119 --> 00:23:45.680 It is small enough to be easily accessible for 00:23:45.680 --> 00:23:48.680 daily, minor transactions, large enough to still 00:23:48.680 --> 00:23:51.539 be highly useful, and the overarching system 00:23:51.539 --> 00:23:54.200 behind it is digital enough to render the massive 00:23:54.200 --> 00:23:56.880 cumbersome paper notes completely obsolete for 00:23:56.880 --> 00:23:59.660 institutional transfers. But it does leave me 00:23:59.660 --> 00:24:01.819 wondering about the ultimate trajectory of where 00:24:01.819 --> 00:24:05.819 we are heading. Oh! Yeah. If physical cash continues 00:24:05.819 --> 00:24:08.980 to rapidly vanish, replaced almost entirely by 00:24:08.980 --> 00:24:11.079 digital numbers glowing on a smartphone screen. 00:24:11.220 --> 00:24:14.099 Which is happening fast. Right. If peer -to -peer 00:24:14.099 --> 00:24:17.019 apps and instantaneous wire transfers completely 00:24:17.019 --> 00:24:19.619 take over the function of value exchange, and 00:24:19.619 --> 00:24:22.480 these massive, beautifully engraved paper bills 00:24:22.480 --> 00:24:24.980 are locked away forever in climate -controlled 00:24:24.980 --> 00:24:27.740 museum archives or the heavy safes of private 00:24:27.740 --> 00:24:32.460 collectors, does losing the ability to physically 00:24:32.460 --> 00:24:35.319 hold our most significant wealth fundamentally 00:24:35.319 --> 00:24:38.039 change our psychological relationship to money 00:24:38.039 --> 00:24:40.460 itself? That's a great question. Like, does seeing 00:24:40.460 --> 00:24:42.559 a digital million dollars registered on a banking 00:24:42.559 --> 00:24:45.640 app ever really trigger the same visceral biological 00:24:45.640 --> 00:24:48.799 reaction as holding a physical, heavy stack of 00:24:48.799 --> 00:24:51.440 $10 ,000 bills right in the palms of your hands? 00:24:51.519 --> 00:24:53.859 I mean, it represents a profound, unprecedented 00:24:53.859 --> 00:24:56.460 shift in the human experience. For thousands 00:24:56.460 --> 00:24:58.960 of years, wealth was defined by holding physical 00:24:58.960 --> 00:25:01.759 value. Now we're rapidly moving toward a reality 00:25:01.759 --> 00:25:04.220 where wealth simply means trusting the integrity 00:25:04.220 --> 00:25:09.559 of invisible data. check your bank balance on 00:25:09.559 --> 00:25:12.240 your phone. Thank you so much for joining us 00:25:12.240 --> 00:25:14.160 on this deep dive. We'll catch you next time.