Insight

Success comes from insight. Seeing something that no one else does gives you the edge. Here at Noll Historical Consulting, we seek to provide our clients insight through providing knowledge, innovative ideas, and an understanding of their heritage. We also like to share what we have learned over the years. We do this through articles, whitepapers, interviews, and more. Learn about banknotes, cryptobanknotes, stablecoins, CBDCs, Bitcoin, and more. We also publish a monthly newsletter to deliver insights directly to you. Sign up below. Explore to see what insights you may gain.

Recent Articles

  • Bitcoin.com, "'Being a Currency and a Security Are Not Contradictory,' Crypto Can Be Both," 13 January 2022

    Franklin Noll, a U.S.-based monetary historian, has asserted that the history of the U.S. dollar over the years shows that being a currency and a security is not contradictory and that crypto can be both.

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  • Benzinga, "What are Some of the New Changes Around Stablecoins?" 7 December 2021

    Video interview with Dr. Franklin Noll on the current state of stablecoins and what to look for when entering the field and the future of their regulation. He also gives an overview of the Vemanti stablecoin, USDV, which he helped develop.

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  • Be In Crypto, "We Need a National Stablecoin System in the United States," 22 October 2021

    The stablecoin is becoming a central part of cryptocurrency, and there has been much talk about regulation recently. There seems to be much floundering around, trying to get a handle on just how to do this….

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  • Financial History, "Wildcat Currencies: US Monetary History and the Future Cryptocurrency System," Summer 2021

    The future of money is fast approaching. We hear much about Bitcoin, central bank digital currencies, stablecoins, cryptocurrency, and digital money. Proponents of this brave new monetary world see it as unprecedented and….

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  • IBDA Insight, "The Future of Banknotes: Physical, Digital or Hybrid?" June 2021, Issue No. 21

    We are heading for a cashless world. At some point, we will say goodbye to all those pieces of paper and polymer and switch to an electronic alternative. The only problem with these statements is that…

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  • CoinDesk, "How the Civil War Shapes the Future of Stablecoins," 8 June 2021

    In 1861, civil war broke out in the United States. Over the next four years of conflict, the politics of the U.S. were remade and so were its monetary affairs. A new monetary system was born during the war years that exists with us today and is shaping our stablecoin future.

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  • Cointelegraph, "What to expect from Bitcoin as a legal tender," June 18, 2021

    For much of its life, Bitcoin (BTC) has been viewed mainly as a speculative financial instrument, but El Salvador’s dramatic move in making BTC a legal tender is a reminder that cryptocurrencies can play a role in…

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  • CoinWorld, "1927 letter changed the faces on future U.S. small-size notes," June 21, 2021

    A June 3 Washington Post article by reporter Annie Lindsey on the delays with a Harriet Tubman $20 note concluded with a reference to research done by Ruth Anne Robbins, a law professor…

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  • New Money Review, "Three ways to have anonymous CBDCs," 10 March 2021

    CBDCs are better than cash in many ways, including in the execution of monetary policy and the making of overseas remittances. However, the big downside of CBDCs is their lack of anonymity: ensuring transaction privacy remains cash’s big advantage.

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Research

  • Cryptobanknotes: Hybrid Banknote Technology for Today

    As Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) become reality and the use of cryptocurrencies for payments becomes ever more mainstream, concerns have arisen about the widespread adoption of these new digital monies. Particularly worrisome are how to make them available to everyone, everywhere, at all times. To date, the only payment technology that can do this is cash.

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  • Smart Banknotes and Cryptobanknotes: Hybrid Banknotes for Central Bank Digital Currencies and Cryptocurrency Payments

    We are heading for a cashless world. At some point, we will say goodbye to all those pieces of paper and polymer and switch to an electronic alternative. The only problem with these statements is that people have been saying them since the late 1960s. Banknotes have a robust technology and will be around for quite some years to come.

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  • Smart Banknotes Defined: Features and Criteria

    A smart banknote (SBN) is a physical banknote on a paper or polymer substrate that can communicate with an electronic network. A smart banknote is denominated and has the physical properties of a traditional banknote in size, feel, appearance, and etc. It is not a rigid, plastic card such as may be used in present credit or debit transactions.

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  • Smart Banknote Functionality: Critical Features and Production Challenges

    A smart banknote is a physical banknote on a paper or polymer substrate that can communicate with an electronic network. A smart banknote is denominated and has the physical properties of a traditional banknote in size, feel, appearance, and etc. It is not a rigid, plastic card such as may be used in present credit or debit transactions.

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NHC Library

 

Visit our Library for articles, videos, and more on banknotes and crypto!

Money Tech Blog

Featured
The Press Floor 100 Years Ago
The Press Floor 100 Years Ago

The press floor 100 years ago. In the early 20th century, this is what banknote production looked like.

CBDCs Gain Momentum
CBDCs Gain Momentum

Andrew Singer at CoinTelegraph asked me to comment on the recent BIS results of its survey on CBDCs, which shows a big expansion on research in retail CBDCs around the world. Here are his questions and my answers, which were incorporated in his article, “CBDC activity heats up, but few projects move beyond pilot stage.”

US Consumers and CBDCs
US Consumers and CBDCs

Recently, Maiden Labs has released a study of US consumer attitudes to a US retail CBDC. Through interviews and surveys, the company looked at the major pain points for users in the US payments system and how a CBDC might overcome them. Here’s a quick summary of what Maiden Labs found.

Stablecoin Design Standards
Stablecoin Design Standards

The Comptroller of the Currency and I both agree that stablecoins need to have design standards.

Analogizing Digital Currency
Analogizing Digital Currency

As CBDCs develop, more attention is being paid to their offline deployment. In a sense, we are looking for a way to analogize a digital currency. One idea, from 2013 and before the rise of CBDCs, was to create denominated Digital Currency Notes.

Education in Banknote Design
Education in Banknote Design

During the American Civil War, banknote design became part of the war effort. The new National Bank Notes created in 1863, during the middle of the war, were intentionally filled with patriotic messages and images meant to stress the common history of all Americans.

The Promise of Digital Dollar Bonds
The Promise of Digital Dollar Bonds

If history is any guide, the US could boost the acceptance of a US CBDC and spur the mass adoption of DeFi by selling Digital Dollar bonds in tandem with the issuance of a US CBDC. Here’s my reasoning.

Trimming Banknote Sheets in 1910
Trimming Banknote Sheets in 1910

Trimming banknote sheets in 1910. Here the women on the left are feeding sheets of National Bank Notes into trimming machines with the women on the right collecting them.

The Geometric Lathe
The Geometric Lathe

Does anyone recognize this now rare piece of banknote equipment?

Predicting the Monetary Future
Predicting the Monetary Future

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