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The next generation of the world’s newest currency, the euro, will contain
radio ID tags that instantly reveal if a note is from a stolen batch or simply a
fake. Electronic readers at checkouts and in vending machines could quiz the
minuscule chips embedded in high-value notes like &egr;200 and &egr;500. The chips
would keep a complete record of a note’s history and might find their way into euro
notes by 2005. The European Central Bank is believed to be developing the tags
with the Netherlands-based electronics firm Phillips, and Infineon in Germany.