Claim: Viral videos show Pakistanis showing off a new PKR 1,000 banknote, as well as using it for purchases.
Fact: The banknote in question is not official but a printed version of a design that was submitted to an art competition back in 2024. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has not released any new currency notes and a spokesperson told Soch Fact Check that it “appears to be misinformation”.
On 21 June 2025, Facebook page ‘larkananews1’ posted (archive) a visual with a new purported Pakistani banknote worth PKR 1,000, alongside the following text:
“پاکستانیوں کہ لئے خوشخبری پاکستان نے جدید نئے قسم کی ڈجیٹل کرنسی مارکیٹ میں متعارف کروادی ہے۔ اس نوٹ کی خاص بات یہ ہے کہ اس نوٹ کی کوئی جعلی کاپی نہیں بنا سکے گا۔۔ نئے نوٹ کو کمد دیکھنے کہ لئے لنک کمینٹس باکس میں ہے
[Good news for Pakistanis: Pakistan has introduced a new type of digital currency in the market. The special thing about this note is that no one will be able to make a fake copy of this note. The link to view the new note is in the comments box.]”
Prior to that, the page also posted a similar claim (archive) on 18 June 2025. This one is captioned as follows:
“اسٹیٹ بینک آف پاکستان (SBP) تمام مالیت کے PKR 10، 20، 50، 100، 500، 1,000، اور 5,000 کے نئے کرنسی نوٹ متعارف کروانے کے لیے تیار ہے—جو 2025 کے دوسرے نصف میں شروع ہو رہا ہے، ممکنہ طور پر جولائی کے بعد۔ اس کا مقصد سیکیورٹی کو بڑھانا اور پاکستان کی ثقافتی شناخت کو اجاگر کرنا ہے. لنک پر کلک کرکے وڈیو دیکھ سکتے ہیں۔
[The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) is set to introduce new currency notes of all denominations—PKR 10, 20, 50, 100, 500, 1,000, and 5,000—starting in the second half of 2025, likely after July. The aim is to enhance security and highlight Pakistan’s cultural identity. You can watch the video by clicking on the link.]”
The second post features the front and back side of the new purported PKR 1,000 currency note.
Both posts include the link to the same Facebook reel (archive), the caption of which includes the hashtag “#pskistaninewcurrency.”
The Facebook reel shows a person holding new PKR 1,000 banknotes with warm colours — red, orange, and yellow hues — on one side, while the other depicts a vivid map of Pakistan. They then offer three of these to a mango seller. The background music features a slowed-down, masculine version of Lady Gaga’s song, “Bloody Mary,” likely this one.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check did not find any update, relevant press release or clarification about the claim on the SBP’s website, social media accounts or the WhatsApp channel.
We then reached out to SBP spokesperson Noor Ahmed, who said, “This appears to be misinformation. For accurate information, please refer to the State Bank of Pakistan’s official website and verified social media channels for fact-checks and updates.”
Pakistan’s current legal tender — the banknotes presently in circulation — can be found here and the PKR 1,000 was issued on 26 February 2007 (press release here).
Interestingly, we also observed that the viral design does not feature a serial number, nor other security features such as Braille marks, a seven-digit serial number, year of production, and the signature of former SBP governor Yaseen Anwar.
Posters listing the security features of the current banknotes can be found in English and Urdu, respectively, on the SBP’s website.
We also reverse-searched keyframes from the video, as well as the images of the banknotes, but most results were rehashed social media posts.
However, we did come across videos by an individual named Ali Usama, whose social media usernames include @BlogsbyUsama and @by_usama. He has been issuing clarifications since 21 June 2025, stating that the design in question is neither real nor official but that he created it for an art competition back in 2024.
In one post on 21 June, he wrote, “I want to clarify that this note was designed by me in 2024, and it is not real — it’s a fake note. This design has been viewed over 10 million times in Pakistan in the last 24 hours. People are sharing it on TikTok.” The same day, he said on Instagram that it was designed by him and that it was “not real”.
On 22 June, he reiterated his clarification. Two days later, on 24 June, he posted an explanation, in which he wrote, “I designed this note in 2024. This design was created during the State Bank of Pakistan’s currency note design competition. It went viral on various websites and social media.”
“Let me clarify the reality: This note is not real; [The] State Bank of Pakistan did not issue this note; [and] It’s purely an artistic and creative work by me,” he wrote, adding, “Please don’t spread this as real currency or fake news.”
However, given the traction his design gained on social media, he then released a video statement on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. Usama then showed the Photoshop Document (PSD) of his creation on a computer screen and verified it by removing and adding the layers that were merged to make it.
“I designed [the note] for the State Bank of Pakistan’s art competition in 2024, I was one of those designers,” he said. He mentioned that he added the same on his Behance portfolio on 10 September 2024, but someone printed his design, filmed a video, and then made it viral on social media.
“This note was not launched by the State Bank of Pakistan. I’m making this video to make it clear that I designed this note in 2024. I participated in a design competition. I never received any award at that time,” he added.
Soch Fact Check also checked Usama’s Behance portfolio, which indeed features the same banknote. Through this, we were also able to identify that the different signature seen briefly in the viral clip is not Yaseen Anwar’s but, in fact, Usama’s own name.
A list of the SBP’s 2024 art competition can be found here but does not include Usama’s submission as it was not among the winners. The central bank said in its announcement that while the shortlisted designs were “suggestive in nature”, they were “being shared with international designers who have been shortlisted to work with SBP and finalise designs for the new banknote series”.
“The International designers, while drawing inspiration from the local art submissions, will, however, be free to employ their own design expertise and imagination to create final designs for the new banknotes series,” it had said in the announcement.
We were also able to trace the map in the design to a 7 September 2007 blog on the website of Raza Ahmad Rumi, a journalist who is currently the editor of The Friday Times and NayaDaur Media.
It is important to note that prior to the 2024 art competition, the SBP had announced on 30 January 2024 that it had “initiated the process for designing and issuing a New Banknotes Series of all existing denominations”.
“It is an established practice of central banks to introduce new banknote series after every fifteen to twenty years to secure the integrity of banknotes and align them with the latest technological developments in the banknotes design and security features,” the central bank said at the time.
In January 2025, Profit reported that SBP governor Jameel Ahmad said the central bank intended to issue the newly-designed currency notes “starting in the second half of 2025”. He noted that “SBP aims to secure approval from the federal cabinet for the new notes within the next two to three months, ideally before June 2025,” the publication added. The Express Tribune reported the same.
Soch Fact Check, therefore, concludes that the viral videos and social media posts featuring PKR 1,000 currency notes with a new design are not official SBP banknotes.
We have previously fact-checked claims pertaining to the SBP and Pakistani banknotes here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Virality
Soch Fact Check conducted a search using relevant search terms and found that multiple videos featuring the same banknote have been circulating on social media.
Some of these can be found here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. Other posts can be viewed here, here, here, and here.
The claim was also shared here and here on X (formerly Twitter), here, here, here, here, and here on Instagram, and here on Threads. It was posted here and here on YouTube.
Some websites — here, here, here, and here — also published articles about the same, with false or misleading headlines.
We also came across posts and websites featuring a completely different PKR 1,000 banknote but this one appears to have been generated using artificial intelligence (AI) as it features illegible text.
Conclusion: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has not released any new currency notes and a spokesperson told Soch Fact Check that it “appears to be misinformation”. The banknote in question is not official but a printed version of a design that was submitted to an art competition back in 2024.
Background image in cover photo: Aqeel Ahmed Zia
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