The $100 bill has always had a complicated relationship with the public. On the one hand, the “It’s All About the Benjamins” attitude has been a strong staple in popular culture. The $100 bill represents wealth and success, as a currency’s largest denomination well should.

But the $100 has always also been the black sheep of American currency. It’s the only bill that doesn’t have a D.C. building on it (Independence Hall is in Philadelphia), and one of two that doesn’t feature a president (Hamilton’s $10 is the other). Most people feel compelled to apologize and ask for permission before they pay with a $100 bill at shops and restaurants, and some stores won’t even accept them. Even bank robbers eschew these bills (“give me non-sequential $20s, no $100s”).

Now, former Secretary of the Treasury Lawrence H. Summers has called for the $100 bill’s execution, just as the Financial Times reported that the European Central Bank is planning on killing another big bill overseas, the €500.

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