"The digital euro will complement the existing means of payment and will not replace cash – that's why it is a good idea to learn how to check euro banknotes and coins," was the message from the gathering held on 27 March at "Ivan Rabuzin" Cultural Centre  in Novi Marof, as part of the "FinPis 4 YOU" project at the Novi Marof Secondary School, which was also attended by experts from the Croatian National Bank, and which was organised by the CNB's Visitors' Centre. In her presentation entitled "Virtual Currencies – A Passing Trend or the Future of Money," Ivana Parać from the Legal Area spoke about the impact of technology on money and payments. She explained the terms 'money', 'currency' and 'legal tender', and pointed out how virtual currencies fit into the aforementioned categories. She also gave a brief overview of the emergence of Bitcoin and the reasons for the failure of the Libra project, Facebook's virtual currency. In conclusion, she presented the digital euro project: the reasons for its introduction, its advantages, and the purposes for which it will be used, and answered the question of whether the digital euro will replace cash.

Andrea Dubravčić from the Currency Area spoke about the protection against counterfeiting of cash and ways to recognise counterfeits. In order to facilitate the determination of authenticity, the CNB ensures the supply of banknotes and coins suitable for circulation by separating worn and damaged banknotes and coins. In addition, the CNB teaches citizens how to recognise counterfeit cash: it introduces them to the security features of euro banknotes and coins, how to check their authenticity and how to handle suspicious banknotes. Thus, the participants of today's gathering were introduced to the watermark, hologram, embossed print, colour-changing number and other security features, and they were also able to practice the methods of checking: Look! Feel! Tilt! Statistics also speak to the importance of mastering this practice: during 2024, the Croatian National Bank recorded 4,516 counterfeit euro banknotes with a nominal value of EUR 395,870.00 and 6,984 counterfeit euro coins with a nominal value of EUR 13,706.00.

The presentations by the central bank experts were attended by around two hundred students and teachers from the Novi Marof Secondary School, with which the CNB cooperates on improving the general economic and financial literacy of students. As part of the "FinPis 4 YOU" project, a workshop was held for students from the Novi Marof Primary School on the security features of euro banknotes and coins and how to detect counterfeits: the secondary school students and their teachers passed on their knowledge and skills to primary school students.