Intelligent banknote neutralisation, explained.

Make the cash inside it worthless to an attacker. Dye-stain in the cassettes spoils the notes when the ATM is attacked, which removes the reason to attack it. Stronger safes alone change the method, not the motive: criminals answered them with more gas and more explosives. Choose by the attacks you face: BiNK for explosive attacks, iBiNK for explosive, rip-out and grinding.

Use dye-stain that the blast itself triggers. BiNK's ink container is ruptured by the same shockwave that breaches the safe, whether the explosive is solid or gas, so no sensor has to detect the attack. After BiNK went into more than 16,000 South African ATMs (SBT), reported bombings fell from 365 in 2010 to 129 in 2015 (SABRIC).

These attacks involve no explosion, so they need an active defence. iBiNK keeps BiNK's passive layer and adds an active layer for rip-out and grinding.

In layers: a safe around the cassettes, and a banknote neutralisation system (IBNS) inside them that stains or glues the notes if the ATM is attacked. The safe is the barrier; neutralisation spoils the prize.

Stained notes can't be spent, and central banks treat them as unfit to stay in circulation (Banco de Portugal). With no prize, the attack isn't worth the risk.

The one that matches the attacks you face. For explosive attacks, passive dye-stain works with no power or sensors. Where rip-out and grinding are common too, add an active layer, as iBiNK does. Tell us what hits your ATMs and we'll show you the evidence for each.

It is worthless to the thief: the stain marks the notes as stolen. In the euro area, central banks exchange notes damaged by an IBNS only for the owner who was robbed, or someone acting for them (National Bank of Belgium).

A cash-protection system that makes banknotes unusable when someone attacks the container holding them: an ATM cassette, a cash-in-transit case or a vault. Most stain the notes with a permanent security ink; some use glue that fuses the notes into a block. Spoiling the cash removes the reward, so the attack isn't worth making. The term is also spelled "intelligent banknote neutralization system".

Making notes unfit for use, by staining or gluing them, so they can't be spent or banked without raising questions. Central banks treat neutralised notes as unfit to stay in circulation (Banco de Portugal).

Protecting cash wherever it can be attacked: in ATMs, in cash-in-transit cases on the pavement and in vehicles, and in vaults. SBT's BiNK and iBiNK protect ATM cassettes against explosive and physical attacks.

An active system relies on sensors and electronics to detect an attack and then release the ink, so it needs power and has to recognise the attack correctly. Passive dye-stain, which SBT invented, needs no detection: the shockwave of the explosion that breaches the safe also ruptures the ink container. With no sensors, batteries or electronics, there's nothing to fail and no false activations.

Passive dye-stain is triggered by the blast itself, solid or gas. A solid-explosive shockwave travels at 8.5 km/s and a gas one at 1.8 km/s (BEXPLO); either way the ink container ruptures as the safe is breached.

Those attacks involve no explosion, so a purely passive device has nothing to trigger it. SBT's iBiNK keeps BiNK's passive layer and adds an active layer for rip-out and grinding.

In the euro area, notes damaged by an IBNS can be exchanged only at the request of the owner who was the victim of the crime, or someone acting for them, under the European Central Bank's rules (National Bank of Belgium). For other currencies, ask the central bank that issues them.

It removes the reason for them. In South Africa, reported ATM bombings fell from 365 in 2010 to 129 in 2015 (SABRIC), after BiNK passive dye-stain went into more than 16,000 ATMs (SBT).

An IBNS maker for ATM and cash-in-transit protection, formed when Oberthur Cash Protection (France) and Feerica (Portugal) completed their merger in December 2025, after a letter of intent signed in July 2025 (Oberthur Feerica press release, 2 December 2025).

Feerica's online monitoring platform: a web portal that shows the status of protected ATMs and cash-in-transit operations, with real-time GPS tracking and a history log for audits (Feerica).

Feerica's ATM dye-stain device. It connects to the ATM's PC core, or goes online through an optional 3G/4G observer module, so cassettes' armed or disarmed status can be monitored in ON-Smart (Feerica).

Connected systems are built around electronics: modules, power and network links that report status. BiNK has none of these to depend on, because the blast itself is the trigger. Where you also face rip-out and grinding, iBiNK adds an active layer to the same passive technology.

No. Secure Banking Technology is an independent R&D company in Edenvale, South Africa, and the inventor of passive shockwave dye-stain. ON-Smart and SmartStain are Oberthur Feerica's product names.