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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A money-back guarantee, also known as a satisfaction guarantee, is essentially a simple guarantee that, if a buyer is not satisfied with a product or service, a refund will be made.

The 18th century entrepreneur Josiah Wedgwood pioneered many of the marketing strategies used today, including the satisfaction-or-money-back guarantee on the entire range of his pottery products. He took advantage of his guarantee offer to send his products to rich clientele across Europe unsolicited. The money-back guarantee was also a major tool of early U.S. mail order sales pioneers in the United States such as Richard Sears and Powel Crosley Jr. to win the confidence of consumers. (Full article...)

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The tenge (ten-gay, /ˈtɛŋɡeɪ/ or /tɛŋˈɡeɪ/; Kazakh: теңге, teñge [tʲeŋˈɡʲe]; Russian: тенге; sign: ₸ ; code: KZT) is the currency of Kazakhstan. It is divided into 100 tiyn (tea-ANN, Kazakh: тиын, tiyn [təˈjən]). (Full article...)

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Did you know -

... that Chen Diexian's 1913 autobiographical novel The Money Demon mainly details his own love affairs?
... that Thurgood Marshall, amid a Kansas desegregation case, said "god damn it, give that white lady the money"?
... 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 Everyone Hates Elon invited members of the public to destroy a Tesla Model S to raise money for food banks?
... 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 Ivan I of Moscow earned the nickname "Kalita", which literally means 'money bag'?
... 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 1Tenga of Muhammad Khudayar Khan, struck at the Kokand mint, dated 1862–1863 (from Kokand tenga)
Image 2Gold coins are an example of legal tender that are traded for their intrinsic value, rather than their face value. (from Money)
Image 3Tibetan "gaden" Tangka, undated (ca. AD 1840), reverse (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 4Euro banknotes and coins (from Money)
Image 5Silver, ½ Karshapana coin, “Babyal Hoard” type, of the Kuru Janapada (450–315 BC) (from Punch-marked coins)
Image 6A check, used as a means of converting funds in a demand deposit to cash (from Money)
Image 7Tibetan undated silver tangka (2nd half of 18th century) with eight times the syllable "dza" in vartula script, reverse (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 8Huizi currency, issued in 1160 (from Money)
Image 9Printing paper money at a printing press in Perm (from Money)
Image 10Undated Kelzang tangka (1910), reverse (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 11President J. K. Paasikivi illustrated in a former Finnish 10 mark banknote from 1980 (from Money)
Image 12Tibetan "gaden" Tangka, undated (ca. AD 1840), obverse (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 13Paper money from different countries (from Money)
Image 14Tibetan silver tangka with Ranjana (Lantsa) script, dated 15-28 (= AD 1894), reverse (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 15Tibetan kong par tangka, dated 13-45 (= AD 1791), obverse (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 16A hoard of mostly Mauryan punch-marked coins (from Punch-marked coins)
Image 17Ancient Jewish coin, engraved menorah, from the Hasmoneon kingdom 37-40 BCE (from Money)
Image 18A 1914 British gold sovereign (from Money)
Image 19"Babyal Hoard" type, of the Kuru Janapada (350–315 BCE) (from Punch-marked coins)
Image 20Egyptian Gold stater of Nectanebo II: reverse with hieroglyphs nfr-nb (around 360 BC). (from Money)
Image 21Tibetan silver tangka with Ranjana (Lantsa) script, dated 15-28 (= AD 1894), obverse (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 23US dollar banknotes (from Money)
Image 24Tibetan kong par tangka, dated 13-45 (= AD 1791), reverse (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 25Tibetan undated silver tangka, struck in 1953/54, reverse. (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 26A person counts a bundle of different Swedish banknotes. (from Money)
Image 27Undated Kelzang tangka (1910), obverse (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 28"Bent bar" of the Gandhara Janapda unearthed with Achaemenid and Greek coins, Gandhara, c.350 BC. (from Punch-marked coins)
Image 29Money Base, M1 and M2 in the U.S. from 1981 to 2012 (from Money)
Image 30Banknotes of different currencies with a face value of 5000 (from Money)
Image 31Punch-marked coins discovered from Chandraketugarh. (from Punch-marked coins)
Image 32Tibetan undated silver tangka, struck in 1953/54, obverse. (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 33A 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 34Song Dynasty Jiaozi, the world's earliest paper money (from Money)
Image 35Café in Delft accepting Bitcoin (from Money)
Image 36Tibetan undated silver tangka (2nd half of 18th century) with eight times the syllable "dza" in vartula script, obverse (from Tibetan tangka)
Image 37Sino Tibetan silver tangka, dated 58th year of Qian Long era, reverse. Weight 5.57 g. Diameter: 30 mm (from Tibetan tangka)

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)

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