Global Currency Types and Precious Metal Investment

As a leader in precious metal investment and collection, LCR Coin believes in the value of knowledge. A deep understanding of, and a desire to always learn more about precious metals like gold and silver, the financial markets, and your own financial circumstances is an important part of setting up you and your family’s future financial security. With our passion for always striving to know more, we like to use our blog to educate you about some of the broader topics when it comes to precious metal investment, buying gold, silver investments and more. In this entry, we’re taking a look at something that many, if not most people take for granted - currency, and how many different currencies there are.

What Is Currency?

Put simply, currency means money - something specifically used and of a defined value that can be exchanged for something else. Many countries have different currencies, though some - such as countries in Europe - will use a single currency. Smaller areas may use their own forms of currency - a written IOU, for example, can be considered a type of currency - but these are not nationally accepted by controlling financial institutions. This means that you might be able to use an IOU with a friend or someone you know, but you won’t be able to use it at your local supermarket. More recently, however, there have emerged some currencies that are outside of the mainstream financial markets. Known as “cryptocurrencies”, these have emerged primarily online, but have gained some traction in more mainstream circles, though are more volatile and unreliable than typical currency.

How Many Are There?

Just how many currencies are there? We’re all familiar with the US dollar, and most of us are aware of Mexican pesos, the Euro, and British pound sterling, but there are many more in circulation. As of 2017, there are around 280 different, known types of currency in circulation around the world. This includes more minor types of currency in smaller territories, as well as mainstream currency. Many countries share the name “dollar” that residents of the US are most familiar with, such as Australia, the Caribbean, Singapore, Taiwan, and more. Still, other countries share the “pound” label with the United Kingdom - Lebanon, Egypt, Sudan, and others. While these countries share the names of currency, the value is different as they do not share the actual currency itself. Examples of differently named currencies are many - Russian rubles, Indian rupees, Japanese yen, Moroccan dirham, South African rand, and many more. In addition, nineteen of the twenty-eight member countries of the European Union (EU) use the Euro, introduced at the beginning of 1999. If you’re considering precious metal investment, it’s also a good idea to get familiar with the difference currencies around the world and what they’re worth.

Oldest Currencies

If you have been researching precious metal investment for a while, you have likely realized how long people have been exchanging forms of currency for products or services. But, out of what we now most commonly recognize as currency, which is the oldest? With so many different currencies all over the world, and every country and its own form of money dating back so far, it is hard to definitively determined the actual oldest currency. Most widely accepted as the “oldest”, at least oldest still in use, is the British pound. The pound, or pound sterling, has been in use since before 800 AD, although there is still debate over whether it really is the oldest in circulation.

Newest Currencies

If the British pound is, at least potentially, the oldest currency, then what is the most recent? Oddly enough, it is another pound - the aforementioned South Sudan pound. Southern Sudan became its own country in 2011, introducing the South Sudanese pound as its currency in July of that year.

The Future of Currency and Precious Metal Investment

Even from this brief and broad glance at how many currencies exist globally, and how they change, we can see how fluid financial changes can be. If you want real security in your own, personal finances, then precious metal investment in gold and silver is the most reliable to secure it in an ever-changing world. Contact LCR Coin today to discuss your options.