Currency Currency A currency (from , "in circulation", from ), in the most specific use of the word, refers to money in any form when in actual use or circulation as a medium of exchange, especially circulating banknotes and coins. A more general definition is that a currency is a "system of money" (monetary units) in common use, especially in a nation. Under this definition, US dollars, British pounds, Australian dollars, European euros and Russian ruble are examples of currency. These various currencies are recognized as stores of value and are traded between nations in foreign exchange markets, which determine the
World currency Habsburg territories. Prior to and during most of the 19th century, international trade was denominated in terms of currencies that represented weights of gold. Most national currencies at the time were in essence merely different ways of measuring gold weights (much as the yard and the meter both measure length and are related by a constant conversion factor). Hence some assert that gold was the world's first global currency. The emerging collapse of the international gold standard around the time of World War I had significant implications for global trade. Before 1944, the world reference currency was the United Kingdom's