It should be noted that the published image is merely a prototype, as actual quantum money hasn't been printed yet.
"We demonstrate that it is possible to use quantum states to prepare a banknote that cannot be ideally copied without making the owner aware of unauthorized actions. We provide the security conditions for quantum money by investigating the physically-achievable limits on the fidelity of 1-to-2 copying of arbitrary sequences of qubits. These results can be applied as a security measure in quantum digital rights management," the researchers declared.
The idea of 'quantum money' was originally proposed by physicist Stephen Wiesner, who in a paper that was published in 1983 argued that by using quantum physics one could create banknotes that would be impossible to forge.
