Overview

• Serial-number readers have been widely deployed in German cash centers, ATMs and law enforcement facilities, enabling automated recording of banknote movements.
• Data on scanned banknotes remains scattered across proprietary databases held by private firms, banks and police without a central repository.
• Giesecke+Devrient’s Compass Banknote Intelligence and Elephant & Castle IP offer licensed tracking services that integrate serial-number feeds for investigative and logistical analysis.
• The Deutsche Bundesbank declined to adopt comprehensive serial-number listing procedures, citing cost, policy constraints and data protection considerations.
• German data protection authorities warn that granular tracking risks deanonymizing cash, while police unions advocate legal frameworks to consolidate dispersed serial-number data.