In order to furnish suitable notes for circulation as Federal reserve notes, the Secretary of the Treasury shall cause plates and dies to be engraved in the best manner to guard against counterfeits and fraudulent alterations, and shall have printed therefrom and numbered such quantities of such notes of the denominations of $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100, $500, $1,000, $5,000, $10,000 as may be required to supply the Federal Reserve banks. Such notes shall be in form and tenor as directed by the Secretary of the Treasury under the provisions of this chapter and shall bear the distinctive numbers of the several Federal reserve banks through which they are issued.

(Dec. 23, 1913, ch. 6, §16 (par.), 38 Stat. 267; Sept. 26, 1918, ch. 177, §3, 40 Stat. 969; Pub. L. 88–36, title I, §3, June 4, 1963, 77 Stat. 54; Pub. L. 103–325, title VI, §602(g)(3), Sept. 23, 1994, 108 Stat. 2293.)

This chapter, referred to in text, was in the original “this Act”, meaning act Dec. 23, 1913, ch. 6, 38 Stat. 251, as amended, known as the Federal Reserve Act. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see References in Text note set out under section 226 of this title and Tables.

Section is comprised of the seventh par. (formerly the eighth par.) of section 16 of act Dec. 23, 1913. For classification to this title of other pars. of section 16, see Codification note set out under section 411 of this title.

**1994**—Pub. L. 103–325, which directed amendment of “[t]he 1st sentence of the 8th undesignated paragraph of section 16 of the Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 418)” by substituting “the Secretary of the Treasury shall” for “the Comptroller of the Currency shall under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury,” was executed by making the substitution in this section for “the Comptroller of the Currency shall, under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury,” to reflect the probable intent of Congress.

**1963**—Pub. L. 83–36, which directed amendment of “[t]he first sentence of the ninth paragraph of section 16 of the Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 418)” by inserting “$1, $2,” after “notes of the denominations of”, was executed by making the insertion in this section, to reflect the probable intent of Congress.

**1918**—Act Sept. 26, 1918, which directed general amendment of “the ninth paragraph of section sixteen of the Federal reserve Act, as amended by the Acts approved September seventh, nineteen hundred and sixteen, and June twenty-first, nineteen hundred and seventeen,” was executed to the eighth par. of section 16 of act Dec. 23, 1913 (now classified to this section), to reflect the probable intent of Congress. Prior to amendment, text read as follows: “In order to furnish suitable notes for circulation as Federal reserve notes, the Comptroller of the Currency shall, under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, cause plates and dies to be engraved in the best manner to guard against counterfeits and fraudulent alterations, and shall have printed therefrom and numbered such quantities of such notes of the denominations of $5, $10, $20, $50, $100, as may be required to supply the Federal reserve banks. Such notes shall be in form and tenor as directed by the Secretary of the Treasury under the provisions of this Act and shall bear the distinctive numbers of the several Federal reserve banks through which they are issued.”