Security Features

  • The entire bill is imprinted with a hexagonal pattern of lightly colored, extremely fine lines. These lines are invisible to the naked eye but give different parts of the bill different tints. Up close, the lines look like this:

    The lightly colored lines covering the front and back side of the new $20 bills.
    The lightly colored lines covering the front and back side of the new $20 bills.

  • Different parts of the bill contain tiny, intricate lines and details

    The eye detail on a $20 bill.

    The thread detail on a $20 bill.
    The thread detail on a $20 bill.

  • Other parts of the bill contain different types of microprinting:

    'The United States of America 20 USA' microprinting on the edge of a $20 bill.

  • Two places on the face of the bill contain sparkly, color-shifting ink:

    Sparkly, color-shifting ink on the '2' of a $20 bill

    Sparkly, color-shifting ink on the eagle and shield of a $20 bill
    Color-shifting inks

As you can see, the scanner captures all of this with good detail -- scanning a $20 bill is no problem. Find out in the next section why actually printing the bill is, however, a problem.