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The U.S. dollar is the currency most used in international transactions. Although U.S. dollar is a fiat currency, several countries use it as their official currency, and in many others it is the de facto currency.
The United States dollar (sign: $| USD) is the unit of currency of the United States The U.S. dollar is normally abbreviated as the dollar sign, $, or as USD or US$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies and from others that use the $ symbol.
The symbol $, usually written before the numerical amount, is used for the U.S. dollar (as well as for many other currencies). The sign's ultimate origins are not certain, though it is possible that it comes from the symbol for the New Spanish (Mexican) peso which in turn comes from the Spanish Coat of arms. This takes the form of two vertical bars and a swinging cloth band in the shape of an "S". An equally accepted, and better documented, explanation is that it is this symbol for peso was the result of a late eighteenth-century evolution of the scribal abbreviation "ps." The p and the s eventually came to be written over each other giving rise to $.
The United States dollar is unique in that there have been more than 10 types of banknotes, such as Federal Reserve Bank Note, gold certificate, and United States Note. The Federal Reserve Note is the only type that remains in circulation since the 1970s.
The largest denominations of currency currently printed or minted by the United States are the $100 bill and the $100 one troy ounce Platinum Eagle.
Currently printed denominations are $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100. Notes above the $100 denomination ceased being printed in 1946 and were officially withdrawn from circulation in 1969. These notes were used primarily in inter-bank transactions or by organized crime; it was the latter usage that prompted President Richard Nixon to issue an executive order in 1969 halting their use. With the advent of electronic banking, they became less necessary. Notes in denominations of $500, $1,000, $5,000, $10,000, and $100,000 were all produced at one time; see large denomination bills in U.S. currency for details.
Yen Japan was officially adopted by the Meiji government in an Act signed on May 10, 1871. The new currency, in the form of a silver coin similar to the contemporary Mexican Peso, was gradually introduced beginning from July of that year. The yen replaced the complex monetary system of the Edo period, based on the mon. The New Currency Act of 1871 stipulated the adoption of the decimal accounting system of yen (1,), sen (1⁄100), and rin (1⁄1000), with the coins being round and cast as in the West. The yen was legally defined as 0.78 troy ounces (24.26 g) of pure silver, or 1.5 grams of pure gold. The same amount of silver is worth about 1181 modern yen, while the same amount of gold is worth about 4715 yen. The Act also moved Japan onto the gold standard. (The sen and the rin were eventually taken out of circulation at the end of 1953.
The yen sign: ¥; code: JPY is the currency of Japan. It is the third most-traded currency in the foreign exchange market after United States dollar and the euro. It is also widely used as a reserve currency after the U.S. dollar, the euro (EU) and the pound sterling (GBP).
The euro is the second largest reserve currency and the second most traded currency in the world after the U.S. dollar. with more than €751 billion in circulation, the euro is the currency with the highest combined value of cash in circulation in the world, having surpassed the U.S. dollar (2008). Based on IMF estimates of 2008 GDP and purchasing power parity among the various currencies, the Eurozone is the second largest economy in the world.
The name euro was officially adopted on 16 December 1995. The euro was introduced to world financial markets as an accounting currency on 1 January 1999, replacing the former European Currency Unit (ECU) at a ratio of 1:1. Euro coins and banknotes entered circulation on 1 January 2002.
The euro (€) is the official currency of 16 of the 27 member states of the European Union (EU). The states, known collectively as the Eurozone, are Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain. The currency is also used in a further five European countries, with and without formal agreements and is consequently used daily by some 327 million Europeans. Over 175 million people worldwide use currencies which are pegged to the euro, including more than 150 million people in Africa.
Pound Sterling (GBP)is the third-largest reserve currency, after the US dollar and the euro. The pound sterling is also the fourth-most-traded currency in the foreign exchange market after the US dollar, the euro, and the Japanese yen. Pound sterling ( £; ISO code: GBP), often simply called the pound, is the currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown dependencies (the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands) and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and British Antarctic Territory. It is subdivided into 100 pence (singular: penny). The Gibraltar pound, Falkland Islands pound and Saint Helena pound are separate currencies, pegged to the pound sterling.
The full, official name, pound sterling, (plural: pounds sterling) is used mainly in formal contexts and also when it is necessary to distinguish the United Kingdom currency from other currencies with the same name. Otherwise the term pound is normally used. The currency name is sometimes abbreviated to just sterling, particularly in the wholesale financial markets, but not when referring to specific amounts; for example, "Payment is accepted in sterling" but never "These cost five sterling". The abbreviations "ster." or "stg." are sometimes used. The term British pound is commonly used in less formal contexts, although it is not an official name of the currency. A common slang term is quid (singular and plural) which is thought to derive from the Latin phrase "quid pro quo". There is some uncertainty as to the origin of the term "pound sterling". Some sources say it dates back to Anglo-Saxon times, when coins called sterlings were minted from silver; 240 of these sterlings weighed one pound, and large payments came to be made in "pounds of sterlings". Other references, including the Oxford English Dictionary, say a sterling was a silver penny used in England by the Normans, and date the term to around 1300. For more discussion of the etymology of "sterling" see Sterling silver. The pound (GBP) and euro (EU) fluctuate in value against one another, although there may be correlation between movements in their respective exchange rates with other currencies such as the US dollar. Inflation concerns in the UK led the Bank of England to raise interest rates in late 2006 and 2007. This caused the pound to appreciate against other major currencies, and with the US dollar depreciating at the same time, the pound hit a 15-year high against the US dollar on 18 April 2007, having reached US$2 for the first time since 1992 the day before.
The pound and many other currencies continued to appreciate against the dollar, and sterling hit a 26-year high of $2.1161 on 7 November 2007. However, since the global financial crisis in late 2008, the pound has since depreciated at one of the fastest rates in the history, reaching a 24-year low of $1.35 per £1 on January 23, 2009 . In addition, since late 2007 the pound has weakened against the euro, falling below €1.25 in April 2008. A further decline was seen during the remainder of 2008; most dramatically in December when the rate hit an all-time low at €1.0219 (29/12).
The pound appreciated in early 2009 and, as of mid June, is at €1.17. The currency sign is the pound sign, originally ₤ with two cross-bars, then when the currency was decimalised, £ with a single cross-bar. The pound sign derives from the blackletter "L", an abbreviation of Librae in Roman £sd units (librae, solidi, denarii) used for pounds, shillings and pence in the British pre-decimal duodecimal currency system. Libra was the basic Roman unit of weight, derived from the Latin word for scales or balance.
