The most zeros ever printed on a single bill
In 1946, prices in Hungary rose so fast that the government had to print a bill worth 100 quintillion pengő just to keep up!
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Last updated: January 24, 2026 at 05:42 PMInteresting?
In 1946, prices in Hungary rose so fast that the government had to print a bill worth 100 quintillion pengő just to keep up!
Imagine going to the store with a piece of paper that says "100,000,000,000,000,000,000" on it, and it's barely enough to buy a single loaf of bread. This actually happened in Hungary in 1946 during the worst hyperinflation the world has ever seen.
The "B." in the name stands for bilpengő, which was a shortcut for one trillion ($10^{12}$). So, the százmillió B.-pengő actually represents 100 million trillion, or 100 quintillion pengő.
After World War II, Hungary's economy was destroyed. To pay for everything, the government just kept printing more and more money. This led to hyperinflation, where prices doubled every 15 hours.
The situation got so crazy that people eventually stopped counting. They literally swept money into the gutters because it was worth less than the paper it was printed on. On August 1, 1946, the government introduced a new currency called the Forint and wiped out the old bills. One Forint was worth $4 \times 10^{29}$ of the old pengő!
The Hungarian 100 quintillion pengő bill is the world record holder for the highest denomination ever issued. It serves as a stark reminder of what happens when an economy loses control of its currency, turning money into nothing more than colorful scrap paper.
