Hello, and welcome back to Inc.'s 1 Smart Business Story. The axolotl refuses to metamorphose, so it stays aquatic its entire life, keeping those distinctive external gills that make it look perpetually baby-faced. In 2021, Mexico featured the adorable salamander on a $50 peso note worth about $2.50 USD.

The design won the 2022 International Banknote of the Year Award and sparked a collector's market where single bills now sell for $550 on eBay. About 12.9 million people are hoarding the banknote, pulling $26 million out of circulation. Author Juan Villoro explains that the axolotl mirrors Mexico's cultural identity as a nation forever negotiating what it means to transform or remain itself. Find out how a tiny endangered salamander became a national monetary obsession.

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BY MARÍA JOSÉ GUTIERREZ CHAVEZ, EDITORIAL FELLOW

According to the Bank of Mexico (Banxico), around 12.9 million people are hoarding the Mexican $50 peso bill.

For many, a banknote is worth as much as the number plastered on it. But, for millions of Mexican’s, one type of banknote is worth much more.

According to the Bank of Mexico (Banxico), around 12.9 million people are hoarding the Mexican $50 peso bill due to its popular design.

Released in October 2021, the pinkish-purple banknote features two vignettes. On one side,  Mexico’s national seal depicts an eagle perched on a cactus, overlaid in front of a Diego Rivera rendering of Tenochtitlan, the ancient Aztec city where the country’s capital now lies. On the other side, is the image of a pink axolotl seemingly floating above Xochimilco, the remnants of the city’s lake Texcoco.

The axolotl predates not only the Spanish colony, but the Aztec empire itself. A type of mole salamander, the tiny creature does not undergo metamorphosis leading to a fully aquatic lifetime and the visible gills that gives the animal its distinct look.

The particular specimen featured on the banknote, however, is no ordinary axolotl. In fact, it is modeled after “La Gorda,” a popular axolotl that resides in Axolotitlán, a museum that focuses on preserving the species. Gorda, which roughly translates to “chubby,” starred in a six-hour photoshoot where illustrators examined the animals. While the animal has always been emblematic of Mexico City, the banknote has catapulted the species into stardom.

While each bill is worth around $2.5 dollars, people’s obsession has left $26 million dollar’s worth of banknotes out of circulation with most saying they are keeping the bill purely because “they like the design.” And others have opted to sell the coveted bill to interested buyers, with one banknote currently listed for $550 dollars on ebay. Of those surveyed by Banxico, only 12 percent say they regularly collect other banknotes. 

And it’s not only Mexicans who are obsessed. In 2022, the International Bank Note Society awarded the design the Banknote of the Year Award (yes that is a thing), going up against 20 banknotes released that year around the world. Another fun fact—the government has released an augmented reality app that brings certain bills to life through animations.

This focus on design is intended, in part to raise awareness about the plight of the axolotl, which are critically endangered. “We used to see jaguars and hummingbirds as souvenirs, but today we see the axolotl introduced into our culture, and into everyday life,” Pamela Valencia, director of Axolotitlán told El Pais. “We can’t rescue something if we don’t know it exists…This is the great first step towards improving the conditions of the species.”

But Mexicans’ passion for the amphibian goes beyond just the aesthetics of the cute creature, as famed Mexican author Juan Villoro noted in the local newspaper Reforma. The axolotl is innately Mexican not only for its endemic quality, but for its existential contradictions, acting as a physical representation of belonging.

“Mexico surged from the collision between two cultures,” he wrote. “The axolotl represents a fight with itself: to be or not to be a salamander.”

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