The EU is planning to investigate the use of €500 notes out of concern that they are being used by criminals.
Such suspicions about drug dealers and smugglers are not new, and one might have thought that was enough to cause their demise.
But in the wake of the November Paris attacks, concern has deepened that the “high value and low volume” bills have been used to finance terrorism.
A draft proposal said that “the use of high denomination notes, in particular the €500 note, is a problem reported by law enforcement authorities”.
The review will also examine the role of so-called cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, in helping terrorists move money despite anti-money laundering initiatives.
Charles Goodhart, a former Bank of England policymaker, last year said the continuation of large-value notes, such as the 1,000 Swiss franc and the 500 euro bills, was “absolutely shameless”.
The last review of high-denomination notes was done by the ECB in 2005 when it was decided to keep them in circulation.
