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The 500 euros note (around $470, £300) is the biggest bank note of them all - and not everybody is happy about that. High-value banknotes are very portable and could make the euro the currency of choice for tax cheats and money launderers.
One million dollars might not buy as many drugs as it used to, but in $100 bills they would fill a large suitcase. Exchanged into 500 euro bills, the money would fit into a large handbag.
However, in some eurozone countries - like Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands - consumers are used to high-value banknotes. Germany's 1,000 Deutschmark notes, for example, are estimated to make up about a third of all cash in circulation in the country.
The European Central Bank says rationing high-value notes would achieve little; criminals would simply switch to smaller notes or move into foreign currencies, e.g. using the 1,000 Swiss Francs note.
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