The adaptation of more than 200,000 automated teller machines (ATMs), which supplied around 70% of the new banknotes utilised for transactions within less than one week, was another key factor in the euro cash changeover. From the outset, European citizens showed a great deal of enthusiasm and have been very fast in adopting their new money.
Two weeks after the introduction of the euro banknotes and coins, the value of euro banknotes in circulation was higher than that of national banknotes, and the vast majority of cash transactions in the euro area were being conducted in euro. In the last few months, the Eurosystem, i.e.