That is when the 20-year clock started ticking for ... "Paying with an ant" was what the Swiss called using the old 1,000 franc notes. Unless the law changes, those ants face extinction.

Basel: As many as half a million fans heading to Basel for the Eurovision Song Contest this week are about to discover that Swiss prices stoked by the franc ... in Basel’s old town, costing ...

More than half of all Swiss cash in circulation, almost 50 billion francs ($56 billion), is held in 1,000-franc bills, though a significant part of those notes might be in other countries ...