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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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In Christian tradition, the love of money is condemned as a sin primarily based on texts such as Ecclesiastes 5:10 and 1 Timothy 6:10. The Christian condemnation relates to avarice and greed rather than money itself. The Christian texts (scriptures) are full of parables and use easy-to-understand subjects, such as money, to convey the actual message, there are further parallels in Solon and Aristotle, and Massinissa—who ascribed love of money to Hannibal and the Carthaginians. Avarice is one of the seven deadly sins in the Christian classifications of vices (sins). This is a phrase that was borrowed from Diogenes. (Full article...)

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The euro (symbol: €; currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the 27 member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the euro area or, more commonly, the eurozone. The euro is divided into 100 euro cents.

The currency is also used officially by the institutions of the European Union, by four European microstates that are not EU members, the British Overseas Territory of Akrotiri and Dhekelia, as well as unilaterally by Montenegro and Kosovo. Outside Europe, a number of special territories of EU members also use the euro as their currency. (Full article...)

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... that Russian money, known as qiang tie by locals, was used as legal currency in some regions of China for decades?
... that American first lady Lou Henry Hoover secretly sent money to families in need during the Great Depression?
... 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 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 Starbucks raised money for HIV/AIDS research using their red holiday cups?
... that a TV station in Windsor, Ontario, was spared from closure even though it lost money for ten consecutive years?
... that Russian indie artist polnalyubvi bought her first guitar with money earned from busking with her violin?
... that barley was once used as a form of money?

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

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

In the news

5 March 2025 – Elder financial abuse: The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District Court of Vermont indicts and charges 25 Canadians for conspiracy to defraud elderly people in the United States out of US$21 million and charges five of those 25 with conspiracy to commit money laundering. (NPR)
27 February 2025 –: The prosecutor's office in Paris, France, closes a criminal complaint case by the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) against technology company Apple for alleged money laundering and deceptive business practices related to the purchase of minerals in the DRC from armed militias. It is one of the DRC's two lawsuits, with another in Belgium. (Reuters)
12 February 2025 – Foreign relations of the United States: The Trump administration agree to send convicted money launderer Alexander Vinnik back to Russia in exchange for the release of American teacher Marc Fogel, who was serving a 14-year sentence for entering the country with 17 grams of medical cannabis. (Reuters) (NBC News)
23 January 2025 –: Four people are killed and five more injured in a stampede at Cambodian businessman Sok Kong's home in Phnom Penh. Kong was giving away food and money amid Lunar New Year celebrations. (AP)