20 lei - Regele Mihai I

Scheduled for release in 2026, this note marks the first time Mihai I has appeared on Romanian currency since the communist regime forced his abdication in December 1947 — an act the king himself later described as made under direct threat of mass arrests. His rehabilitation in public memory was a slow, politically contested process across the post-1989 decades.

Designer Mihai Cosmin Dinu also worked on earlier issues in the current polymer series, though this 20 lei returns to paper rather than continuing that substrate.