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...)

Selected article -

Dollar (/dɒlər/) is the name of more than 25 currencies. The United States dollar, named after the international currency known as the Spanish dollar, was established in 1792 and is the first so named that still survives. Others include the Australian dollar, Brunei dollar, Canadian dollar, Eastern Caribbean dollar, Hong Kong dollar, Jamaican dollar, Liberian dollar, Namibian dollar, New Taiwan dollar, New Zealand dollar, Singapore dollar, Trinidad and Tobago dollar, and several others. The symbol for most of those currencies is the dollar sign $; the same symbol is used by many countries using peso currencies.

The name 'dollar' originates from the tolar which was the name of a 29-gram (1.0 oz) silver coin called the Joachimsthaler minted in 1519 in the western part of Bohemia (now the Czech Republic). The word thaler itself comes from the German word Thal, i.e. 'valley'. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

Selected currency -

The guilder (Dutch: gulden, pronounced [ˈɣʏldə(n)] ^ⓘ) or florin was the currency of the Netherlands from 1434 until 2002, when it was replaced by the euro.

The Dutch name gulden was a Middle Dutch adjective meaning 'golden', and reflects the fact that, when first introduced in 1434, its value was about equal to (i.e., it was on par with) the Italian gold florin. The Dutch guilder was a de facto reserve currency in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. (Full article...)

List of selected currencies

Did you know -

... 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 a member of Active Bird Community made a solo EP with money intended for the band's fifth album?
... that Everyone Hates Elon invited members of the public to destroy a Tesla Model S to raise money for food banks?
... that Ivan I of Moscow earned the nickname "Kalita", which literally means 'money bag'?
... that Money Shot: The Pornhub Story was described by multiple reviewers as unsalacious?
... that Thurgood Marshall, amid a Kansas desegregation case, said "god damn it, give that white lady the money"?
... that a group of parents discovered that a children's charity had been embezzling money?
... that people are robbing Lebanese banks to get their own money back?

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 -

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

Image 1Undated Kelzang tangka (1910), reverse (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 2Banknotes of different currencies with a face value of 5000 (from Money)
Image 3Tibetan kong par tangka, dated 13-45 (= AD 1791), reverse (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 4Tibetan undated silver tangka, struck in 1953/54, obverse. (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 5Egyptian gold stater of Nectanebo II: reverse with hieroglyphs nfr-nb, minted in Egypt around 360 BC. (from Money)
Image 6Gold coins are an example of legal tender that are traded for their intrinsic value, rather than their face value. (from Money)
Image 7Tibetan "gaden" Tangka, undated (ca. AD 1840), reverse (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 8"Bent bar" of the Gandhara Janapda unearthed with Achaemenid and Greek coins, Gandhara, c.350 BC. (from Punch-marked coins)
Image 9A 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 10A 1914 British gold sovereign (from Money)
Image 11Sino Tibetan silver tangka, dated 58th year of Qian Long era, obverse. Weight 5.57 g. Diameter: 30 mm (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 12Tibetan undated silver tangka, struck in 1953/54, reverse. (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 13Tibetan silver tangka with Ranjana (Lantsa) script, dated 15-28 (= AD 1894), reverse (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 14A hoard of mostly Mauryan punch-marked coins (from Punch-marked coins)
Image 15Ancient Jewish coin, engraved menorah, from the Hasmoneon kingdom 37-40 BCE (from Money)
Image 16Tibetan silver tangka with Ranjana (Lantsa) script, dated 15-28 (= AD 1894), obverse (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 17Sino Tibetan silver tangka, dated 58th year of Qian Long era, reverse. Weight 5.57 g. Diameter: 30 mm (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 18Printing paper money at a printing press in Perm (from Money)
Image 19Tibetan undated silver tangka (2nd half of 18th century) with eight times the syllable "dza" in vartula script, reverse (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 20Silver, ½ Karshapana coin, “Babyal Hoard” type, of the Kuru Janapada (450–315 BC) (from Punch-marked coins)
Image 21Paper money from different countries (from Money)
Image 22Undated Kelzang tangka (1910), obverse (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 23Song Dynasty Jiaozi, the world's earliest paper money (from Money)
Image 24A person counts a bundle of different Swedish banknotes. (from Money)
Image 25Tenga of Muhammad Khudayar Khan, struck at the Kokand mint, dated 1862–1863 (from Kokand tenga)
Image 26A check, used as a means of converting funds in a demand deposit to cash (from Money)
Image 27US dollar banknotes (from Money)
Image 28Money Base, M1 and M2 in the U.S. from 1981 to 2012 (from Money)
Image 29President J. K. Paasikivi illustrated in a former Finnish 10 mark banknote from 1980 (from Money)
Image 30Tibetan kong par tangka, dated 13-45 (= AD 1791), obverse (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 31Punch-marked coins discovered from Chandraketugarh. (from Punch-marked coins)
Image 32Euro banknotes and coins (from Money)
Image 33Tibetan undated silver tangka (2nd half of 18th century) with eight times the syllable "dza" in vartula script, obverse (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 34"Babyal Hoard" type, of the Kuru Janapada (350–315 BCE) (from Punch-marked coins)
Image 35Café in Delft accepting Bitcoin (from Money)
Image 36Tibetan "gaden" Tangka, undated (ca. AD 1840), obverse (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 37Huizi currency, issued in 1160 (from Money)

In the news

13 March 2026 – Illegal drug trade in Latin America: Bolivian authorities arrest suspected Uruguayan drug cartel leader Sebastián Marset during a police operation in Santa Cruz de la Sierra. Marset, who is wanted by several countries and has a US$2 million reward linked to money laundering allegations, is detained along with four other individuals. (AFP via France 24)
12 March 2026 – Hungary–Ukraine relations: Hungary returns two seized armored cars to Ukraine but retains approximately US$82 million in cash and gold as authorities investigate suspected money laundering. (Reuters)
4 March 2026 – Scam centers in Cambodia: Taiwanese prosecutors indict 62 people, including Chen Zhi, for their alleged links to the Prince Group, a multinational criminal network that operates scam centers in Cambodia. They also charge 13 companies with offences related to the criminal organization and money laundering. (DW)
24 February 2026 – Bolivia–United States relations: Bolivia resumes operational cooperation with the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to combat drug trafficking and organized crime after a 17-year suspension. Bolivia says the renewed collaboration will include efforts to address money laundering linked to the illicit drug trade. (Reuters)
8 February 2026 – Connections of Jeffrey Epstein: Mona Juul, Norway's ambassador to Iraq and Jordan, resigns after the foreign ministry opened an inquiry into her past contacts with Jeffrey Epstein, amid media reports that Epstein left money to her children. (AFP via Daily Tribune)
4 February 2026 – United States–Venezuela relations: Venezuelan businessmen Raúl Gorrín and Alex Saab, both allied with de jure president Nicolás Maduro, are arrested in Caracas during a joint operation with U.S. law enforcement agencies on bribery and money laundering charges, with Saab expected to be extradited to the U.S. (Reuters)

Topics

– By region –

– By name –

– By country –

– Historical currencies –

– Other –

Wikimedia

The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:

Commons
Free media repository
Wikibooks
Free textbooks and manuals
Wikidata
Free knowledge base
Wikinews
Free-content news
Wikiquote
Collection of quotations
Wikisource
Free-content library
Wikiversity
Free learning tools
Wiktionary
Dictionary and thesaurus

Sources

More portals

Discover Wikipedia using portals