Taiwan News
Date: 2016-06-17
By: Chiu Po-sheng and Frances Huang, Central News Agency

Taiwan’s central bank said Friday it will auction off Taiwan dollar notes with special serial numbers starting on June 30 to boost government revenues.

People in Taiwan tend to favor banknotes with special serial numbers and are willing to pay large sums for them, as has been seen in seven similar auctions held by the central bank in the past four years.

Among the most coveted notes are those with serial numbers with one or more 8s, such as “000008” and “000088,” because the number eight sounds like the word for “making a fortune” in Mandarin.

The central bank said it has entrusted state-owned Bank of Taiwan, the country’s largest lender, to conduct the auction online, which will start at 10 a.m. on June 30 and run through 10 a.m. on July 5.     [FULL  STORY]