Euro in Madrid. The euro was introduced to world financial markets as an accounting currency on 1 January 1999, replacing the former European Currency Unit (ECU) at a ratio of 1:1 (US$1.1743). Physical euro coins and banknotes entered into circulation on 1 January 2002, making it the day-to-day operating currency of its original members, and by March 2002 it had completely replaced the former currencies. While the euro dropped subsequently to US$0.83 within two years (26 October 2000), it has traded above the U.S. dollar since the end of 2002, peaking at US$1.60 on 18 July 2008. In late 2009, the
50 euro note became the currency of over 300 million people in Europe. For the first three years of its existence it was an invisible currency, only used in accounting. Euro cash was not introduced until 1 January 2002, when it replaced the national banknotes and coins of the 12 countries in the eurozone, such as the Dutch guilder and the Portuguese escudo. Today, the €50 note is used by some 332 million Europeans and in the 22 countries which have it as their sole currency (with 20 legally adopting it). Slovenia joined the Eurozone in 2007, Cyprus and Malta in 2008, Slovakia