Old currency is still being hoarded 16 years after the introduction of the euro

Deutsche Marks Still Being Hoarded as Hedge Against Euro

osted Apr 12, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

It may sound crazy that an old currency is still being hoarded 16 years after the introduction of the euro. 

However, the Germans still have been hoarding Deutsche Marks and coins worth some 6.5 billion euros. Why? Germany never put a time limit upon when you had to swap out the old currency. 

About a third of old currency notes of the Eurozone are now totally worthless. The Portugal gave the shortest exchange period to the citizens of the country of just one year. Looking at the total amount of notes outstanding from all Eurozone members, it reaches about 15 billion euros. 

Even the French are hoarding about 1.8 billion euros worth of French francs and the Spanish are hoarding about around 1.6 billion euros worth of Spanish pesetas. Interesting how many people just held on to the old currencies just in case.