Portal:Money

The Money Portal

Euro coins and banknotes

Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are: medium of exchange, a unit of account, a store of value and sometimes, a standard of deferred payment.

Money was historically an emergent market phenomenon that possessed intrinsic value as a commodity; nearly all contemporary money systems are based on unbacked fiat money without use value. Its value is consequently derived by social convention, having been declared by a government or regulatory entity to be legal tender; that is, it must be accepted as a form of payment within the boundaries of the country, for "all debts, public and private", in the case of the United States dollar.

The money supply of a country comprises all currency in circulation (banknotes and coins currently issued) and, depending on the particular definition used, one or more types of bank money (the balances held in checking accounts, savings accounts, and other types of bank accounts). Bank money, whose value exists on the books of financial institutions and can be converted into physical notes or used for cashless payment, forms by far the largest part of broad money in developed countries. (Full article...)

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A currency is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins. A more general definition is that a currency is a system of money in common use within a specific environment over time, especially for people in a nation state. Under this definition, the Pound sterling (£), euro (€), Japanese yen (¥), and U.S. dollars (US$) are examples of (government-issued) fiat currencies. Currencies may act as stores of value and be traded between nations in foreign exchange markets, which determine the relative values of the different currencies. Currencies in this sense are either chosen by users or decreed by governments, and each type has limited boundaries of acceptance; i.e., legal tender laws may require a particular unit of account for payments to government agencies.

Other definitions of the term currency appear in the respective synonymous articles: banknote, coin, and money. This article uses the definition which focuses on the currency systems of countries (fiat currencies). (Full article...)

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Sterling (symbol: £; currency code: GBP) is the currency of the United Kingdom and nine of its associated territories. The pound is the main unit of sterling, and the word pound is also used to refer to the British currency generally, often qualified in international contexts as the British pound or the pound sterling.

Sterling is the world's oldest currency in continuous use since its inception. In 2022, it was the fourth-most-traded currency in the foreign exchange market, after the United States dollar, the euro, and the Japanese yen. Together with those three currencies and the renminbi, it forms the basket of currencies that calculate the value of IMF special drawing rights. As of late 2022, sterling is also the fourth most-held reserve currency in global reserves. (Full article...)

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Did you know -

... that Ivan I of Moscow earned the nickname "Kalita", which literally means 'money bag'?
... that Russian indie artist polnalyubvi bought her first guitar with money earned from busking with her violin?
... that Zack Kelly received a $500 signing bonus, lost money in his first professional seasons, and was released by two organizations before he made his Major League Baseball debut?
... that modernist architect Paul Rudolph was said to have run out of money three times while designing the Modulightor Building?
... that barley was once used as a form of money?
... that the church that attempted to sell a Kansas radio station could not locate the money allegedly paid by the buyer?
... that people are robbing Lebanese banks to get their own money back?
... that placekicker Cam Little donated money to a Down syndrome organization for every field goal he made?

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The following are images from various currency-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1US dollar banknotes (from Money)
Image 2Tibetan kong par tangka, dated 13-45 (= AD 1791), obverse (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 3Song Dynasty Jiaozi, the world's earliest paper money (from Money)
Image 4Gold coins are an example of legal tender that are traded for their intrinsic value, rather than their face value. (from Money)
Image 5Tibetan silver tangka with Ranjana (Lantsa) script, dated 15-28 (= AD 1894), reverse (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 6Printing paper money at a printing press in Perm (from Money)
Image 7Tibetan undated silver tangka (2nd half of 18th century) with eight times the syllable "dza" in vartula script, reverse (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 8Huizi currency, issued in 1160 (from Money)
Image 9A check, used as a means of converting funds in a demand deposit to cash (from Money)
Image 10Money Base, M1 and M2 in the U.S. from 1981 to 2012 (from Money)
Image 11Tibetan undated silver tangka (2nd half of 18th century) with eight times the syllable "dza" in vartula script, obverse (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 12A person counts a bundle of different Swedish banknotes. (from Money)
Image 13Tibetan kong par tangka, dated 13-45 (= AD 1791), reverse (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 14Tibetan silver tangka with Ranjana (Lantsa) script, dated 15-28 (= AD 1894), obverse (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 15Tibetan undated silver tangka, struck in 1953/54, reverse. (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 16A 1914 British gold sovereign (from Money)
Image 17A hoard of mostly Mauryan punch-marked coins (from Punch-marked coins)
Image 18A 640 BC one-third stater electrum coin from Lydia. According to Herodotus, the Lydians were the first people to introduce the use of gold and silver coins. It is thought by modern scholars that these first stamped coins were minted around 650 to 600 BC. (from Money)
Image 19Punch-marked coins discovered from Chandraketugarh. (from Punch-marked coins)
Image 20Banknotes of different currencies with a face value of 5000 (from Money)
Image 21Undated Kelzang tangka (1910), reverse (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 22President J. K. Paasikivi illustrated in a former Finnish 10 mark banknote from 1980 (from Money)
Image 23Tibetan "gaden" Tangka, undated (ca. AD 1840), reverse (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 24Sino Tibetan silver tangka, dated 58th year of Qian Long era, reverse. Weight 5.57 g. Diameter: 30 mm (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 25Undated Kelzang tangka (1910), obverse (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 26“Babyal Hoard” type, of the Kuru Janapada (350 - 315 BCE) (from Punch-marked coins)
Image 27Euro banknotes and coins (from Money)
Image 28"Bent bar" of the Gandhara Janapda unearthed with Achaemenid and Greek coins, Gandhara, c.350 BC. (from Punch-marked coins)
Image 29Ancient Jewish coin, engraved menorah, from the Hasmoneon kingdom 37-40 BCE (from Money)
Image 30Tibetan undated silver tangka, struck in 1953/54, obverse. (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 31Tenga of Muhammad Khudayar Khan, struck at the Kokand mint, dated 1862–1863 (from Kokand tenga)
Image 32Paper money from different countries (from Money)
Image 33Sino Tibetan silver tangka, dated 58th year of Qian Long era, obverse. Weight 5.57 g. Diameter: 30 mm (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 34Tibetan "gaden" Tangka, undated (ca. AD 1840), obverse (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 35Silver, ½ Karshapana coin, “Babyal Hoard” type, of the Kuru Janapada (450 BC - 315 BC) (from Punch-marked coins)