The leva and stotinka, which will gradually be withdrawn from circulation, will be destroyed to prevent abuse and fraud through their reuse.
„The amount of leva banknotes currently in circulation is about 640 tons, which is equivalent to approximately 32 tyras. The total weight of the coins reaches 7,700 tons – this is over 385 tyras. "All banknotes and coins that are withdrawn from circulation will be destroyed," explained Stefan Tsvetkov, the chief cashier of the Bulgarian National Bank, back in December.
The coins will undergo a demonetization process with specialized machines, during which the images on them will be completely erased, and the metal itself will turn into scrap. This scrap will be sold by the BNB. There is no risk that the coins will be used to make euro coins, since the metals and alloys used are different.
The banknotes will be destroyed by irreversibly cutting them into fine strips, after which they will be briquetted. The process will be carried out with the BNB's own equipment and under enhanced security measures, so as to exclude the possibility of banknotes falling into the hands of persons who would try to exchange them in banks for euros.
Such actions are standard practice and are always applied when withdrawing damaged or counterfeit banknotes and coins from the market, so that they cannot re-enter circulation and be used for fraudulent purposes.
Back in March 2025, the central bank announced a tender for a buyer of 7.7 million tons of scrap metal. At that time, the available coins amounted to about 52 thousand tons, and the remaining 7.6 million tons will be obtained after the melting of all coins withdrawn from circulation in connection with Bulgaria's accession to the eurozone.
According to the terms, the contract will have a term of five years, and the scrap will be offered in separate batches with a minimum quantity of 10 tons. The buyer will undertake to transport the metal from the BNB bases in Sofia, Plovdiv and Varna, as well as to melt it, without having the right to restore, assemble or in any way produce Bulgarian coins.
According to BNB data, there are on average about 3.3 billion coins in circulation. The largest share is of 1 and 2 stotinki coins - over 917.8 million and 862.7 million pieces, respectively. The one-cent coin weighs 1.8 grams, and the two-cent coin weighs 2.5 grams. The 2-leva metal coins are significantly fewer in number – 97.1 million pieces, but each of them weighs 9 grams.