500 Som

Kyrgyzstan's 500 Som denomination entered circulation as part of the country's ongoing effort to stabilize its currency system after the Som's introduction in May 1993 — a unilateral break from the ruble zone that caught Moscow off guard and left Kyrgyzstan temporarily isolated from CIS trade arrangements. By 2000, the National Bank had accumulated enough experience with counterfeiting pressures to justify the hologram strip, which was relatively advanced for Central Asian issues at that point.

Pick 17 is the first 500 Som to incorporate the full three-layer security package. Earlier high-denomination Kyrgyz notes had relied on watermark and thread alone.