A government report just released argues that the only way for the U.S. government to stay ahead of counterfeiters is to use nanotechnology.

If this happens, our money will no longer be a printed piece of paper. It will become a very thin, very high-tech machine.

“Say you snap a dollar bill between your fingers and the edges become rigid,” says Alan Goldstein, a molecular engineering professor at Alfred University. “And then you pull on them and the edges become normal currency handled every day.”

Currency could have dynamic images, too. Squeeze Ben Franklin’s face and he might smile or wink or turn purple. Within a decade, Goldstein says, we could use incredibly strong molecules that feel and act like paper, but cannot be cut with scissors.