The Central Bank of Estonia published third-quarter 2025 figures on cash issuance, recirculation and cash access. It issued 8.8 million banknotes worth EUR 292.5 million and 3.7 million coins worth EUR 2.1 million, with issuance 5% lower for banknotes and 33% lower for coins than in the second quarter. Commercial banks returned 3.0 million coins worth EUR 0.22 million, with the one-cent coin representing half of all coins returned. Coin returns were 44% lower than in the second quarter and, after elevated returns earlier in the year following the introduction of the rounding rule, had fallen back by the end of the quarter to around the recent-years average of about 3.3 million coins per quarter. A total of 6.7 million banknotes worth EUR 234 million were returned to the central bank, 7% more than in the second quarter, and cash sorting led to the destruction of 1.44 million unfit banknotes while the remainder were put back into circulation. Cash withdrawals from ATMs totalled 5.5 million transactions worth EUR 944 million, around 7% fewer withdrawals than a year earlier, while ATM cash deposits were EUR 494 million, also 7% lower year on year; Estonia had 662 ATMs at quarter-end, including 224 that accept deposits, alongside 17 bank offices and about 700 retail cash-withdrawal points. The central bank continued to exchange Estonian kroons into euros, recording 209 exchange transactions worth EUR 51,713 in the quarter, while estimating that kroons equivalent to EUR 43.4 million remain unreturned. On cash integrity, expert analysis was carried out 75 times covering 906 banknotes, and the Estonian Forensic Science Institute registered 126 counterfeit euro banknotes and 22 counterfeit coins in the quarter. The joint coin exchange programme run with Omniva is available until the end of 2025 at specified post offices.

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