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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Monopoly money (symbol: ₩) is a type of play money used in the board game Monopoly. It is different from most currencies, including the American currency or British currency upon which it is based, in that it is smaller, one-sided, and does not have different imagery for each denomination. (Full article...)

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The Columbian half dollar is a coin issued by the Bureau of the Mint in 1892 and 1893. The first traditional United States commemorative coin, it was issued both to raise funds for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition and to mark the quadricentennial of the first voyage to the Americas of Christopher Columbus, whose portrait it bears. The Columbian half dollar was the first American coin to depict a historical person.

The coin stems from the desire of the Columbian Exposition's organizers to gain federal money to complete construction of the fair. Congress granted an appropriation, and allowed it to be in the form of commemorative half dollars, which legislators and organizers believed could be sold at a premium. Fair official James Ellsworth wanted the new coin to be based on a 16th-century painting he owned by Lorenzo Lotto, reputedly of Columbus, and pushed for this through the design process. When initial sketches by Mint Chief Engraver Charles E. Barber proved unsatisfactory, fair organizers turned to a design by artist Olin Levi Warner, which after modification by Barber and his assistant, George T. Morgan, was struck by the Mint. (Full article...)

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... that Neha Pendse, the lead actress of the Marathi film June, contributed some of her own money towards its production?
... that Colin Stubs spent the prize money from his first international tennis title on an old Volkswagen to travel around Europe?
... that the song "Money" by the Drums was certified gold by the RIAA over a decade after its initial release?
... 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 a nuclear reactor was nearly built at the New York Hall of Science, but the money for the institution instead went to Yankee Stadium?
... that placekicker Cam Little donated money to a Down syndrome organization for every field goal he made?
... 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 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?"

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

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

In the news

28 May 2025 – Corruption in Albania: Former Albanian president Ilir Meta is formally charged with corruption, money laundering, tax evasion, and concealing property from authorities. The charges were detailed in a report from anti-corruption prosecutors. Meta was arrested in October. (AP)