BNB to melt 10,527 tons of old Leva coins

Bulgaria is preparing to print its first euro banknotes under the quota allocated by the European Central Bank. The euro banknotes that entered circulation at the beginning of 2026 were provided by the Eurosystem, announced Iliya Lingorski, member the Governing Council of the Bulgarian National Bank.

In an interview with BNR, he said that the coins withdrawn from circulation will soon be melted down as scrap. The total quantity of coins is impressive – over 10,527 tons. By the end of January, more than 3.3 billion coins of various denominations were in circulation.

• Bulgarians now pay only in euros – what did we spend our last levs on?
• One quarter of Bulgarians levs still in people,the euro - sole legal currency

Iliya Lingorski reminded Bulgarians not to rush if they still have levs, as commercial banks will exchange them free of charge until the end of June. After that date, the Bulgarian National Bank will exchange levs for euros indefinitely and free of charge. “Even if you find levs after 10 years, the Bulgarian National Bank will exchange them without any charge”, the banker explained.

Edited by Ivo Ivanov

Translated by Kostadin Atanasov