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...)

Refresh with new selections below (purge)

Selected article - show another

The Coinage Act of 1792 (also known as the Mint Act; officially: An act establishing a mint, and regulating the Coins of the United States), passed by the United States Congress on April 2, 1792, created the United States dollar as the country's standard unit of money, established the United States Mint, and regulated the coinage of the United States. This act established the silver dollar as the unit of money in the United States, declared it to be lawful tender, and created a decimal system for U.S. currency.

By the Act, the Mint was to be situated at the seat of government of the United States. The five original officers of the U.S. Mint were a Director, an Assayer, a Chief Coiner, an Engraver, and a Treasurer (not the same as the secretary of the treasury). The Act allowed that one person could perform the functions of Chief Coiner and Engraver. The Assayer, Chief Coiner and Treasurer were required to post a $10,000 bond with the Secretary of the Treasury. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

Selected currency - show another

The hryvnia (/(hə)ˈrɪvniə/ (hə-)RIV-nee-ə; Ukrainian: гривня [ˈɦrɪu̯nʲɐ] ^ⓘ, abbr. грн hrn; sign: ₴; code: UAH) has been the national currency of Ukraine since 2 September 1996. The hryvnia is divided into 100 kopiykas (Ukrainian: копійка). It is named after a measure of weight used in Kievan Rus'. (Full article...)

List of selected currencies

Did you know - load new batch

... that Russian indie artist polnalyubvi bought her first guitar with money earned from busking with her violin?
... that even though a village said that it did not want a church, Indonesian politician Thoriqul Haq allocated land and money to build one along with a musalla?
... that modernist architect Paul Rudolph was said to have run out of money three times while designing the Modulightor Building?
... that the first women's dormitory built at Hampton University was partially paid for with money collected by the school's choir in tours led by Thomas P. Fenner?
... that Neha Pendse, the lead actress of the Marathi film June, contributed some of her own money towards its production?
... that the general manager of a Cleveland TV station believed its owner to be "just tired of losing money"?
... that fake Buddhist monks scam tourists out of money to build non-existent temples?
... that a nuclear reactor was nearly built at the New York Hall of Science, but the money for the institution instead went to Yankee Stadium?

Related portals

Get involved

For editor resources and to collaborate with other editors on improving Wikipedia's Money-related articles, see WikiProject Numismatics.

Need help?

Do you have a question about Money-related content on Wikipedia that you can't find the answer to?

Consider asking it at the Wikipedia reference desk.

General images - show another

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

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