The Bizarre History of the $100,000 Bill
It would only be used for large transfers between banks
I’ve only had $100 bills at a couple of points in my life. Each time I have had them, I was very nervous — I just didn’t like carrying that much cash around. However, I didn’t realize that once upon a time, there was a $100,000 bill.
According to Rob Wile at Business Insider, the initial intent of printing the $100,000 bill was to help the economy. In 1933, the United States was still devastated by the Great Depression. The whole country was in the middle of a period of deflation, and in 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt ordered Americans to surrender their gold to the government by May 1.
It was an attempt to get more people to buy items with cash. During the Great Depression, gold hoarding and bartering were lowering the money being put into the government. Many Americans surrendered their gold, but another measure was needed — President Franklin Roosevelt agreed to bail out banks.
The initiative would devastate currency control, so another measure was needed. FDR had the Treasury take over the Federal Reserve’s gold. The federal government taking over the gold was very strategic — it could enforce plans of the government to devalue the dollar and reinvigorate the economy. Adam Hayes at Investopedia…
