Paper Currency and Scrip

Paper currency came into existence out of convenience. It is easier to carry a piece of paper that states a value to it than to carry the actual hard currency around in the pocket or purse. A scrip or currency in the past had value because it could be exchanged into something of real value such as gold or silver. Today’s currency can not be exchanged into “sound money” unless it is purchased as a collectible. In fact, most money is produced as cheaply as possible with governments looking to find cheaper metals and methods to use in circulation as coin currency or even cease to produce the smallest of denominations.

Worldwide paper currency has gone through quite a technology transformation to help avoid counterfeiting. Canada, the United States, Russia, and the European Union have many anti-counterfeiting measures implanted in each bill. The lower denominations, including the one and two dollar amounts, are produced as coinage. It is too costly to implement the security measures in the lower denominated bills. That is why they are minted. Besides, minted metal coins has an average circulation life of over twenty years and paper only two years.

Some of the new papers being used by a few countries in the production of paper currency is polymer based. This is to help reduce the cost of counterfeiting and keep the currency in circulation for up to ten years instead of two years.

To examine some examples of each country’s currency and their counterfeiting measures, you can see the different central banks money and what they do to prevent counterfeiting and thus protect their country’s currency.

Here is a link to a web site that specifically focuses on allowing the web surfer to view some different currencies from around the world through a country's central bank web site.