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

Captain Euro is a fictional comic book superhero character, created in 1999 as a way to promote the European Union, and specifically the launch of the Euro, the single European currency that arrived in 2002. The character has been featured on a website (first at captaineuro.com, later at captaineuro.eu) since 1999. Captain Euro has been featured on comic books and comic strips available on its website and as comic books on Amazon. The website's contents are available only in English.

Captain Euro, the campaign, website and all the additional characters ans storylines were created by Nicolas De Santis of the consulting firm Twelve Stars for the EU. Twelve Stars was already working for the EU in various identity and brand projects, including with the European Parliament. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

Selected currency - show another

The Latvian lats (plural: lati, plural genitive: latu, second Latvian lats ISO 4217 currency code: LVL) was the currency of Latvia from 1922 until 1940 and from 1993 until it was replaced by the euro on 1 January 2014. A two-week transition period during which the lats was in circulation alongside the euro ended on 14 January 2014. The lats is abbreviated as Ls and was subdivided into 100 santīmi (singular: santīms; from French centime), abbreviated as an s after the santīm amount.

The Latvian lats has been recognized as one of the 99 entries of the Latvian Culture Canon. (Full article...)

List of selected currencies

Did you know - load new batch

... that Starbucks raised money for HIV/AIDS research using their red holiday cups?
... that medievalist Edward Rand rang the doorbell of Harvard president Charles William Eliot and asked him: "I would like to go to Harvard; do you have any money?"
... that Money Shot: The Pornhub Story was described by multiple reviewers as unsalacious?
... 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 modernist architect Paul Rudolph was said to have run out of money three times while designing the Modulightor Building?
... that Martha Washington's portrait on the 1896 US one-dollar silver certificate is the most recent time that a woman has been featured on US paper money?
... that American first lady Lou Henry Hoover secretly sent money to families in need during the Great Depression?
... that Russian indie artist polnalyubvi bought her first guitar with money earned from busking with her violin?

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