What is the currency?
The invention of paper money allowed for rapid development of the global economy, as people finally didn’t have to carry all of the good and heavy gold with them while traveling. The banks and remote money transfers have come later naturally. Currency is basically a medium of exchange for goods and services. In today’s world most of the money transfers take place online. In most stores you can pay easily with a special card or just your smartphone and we are heading into a fully cashless era. The development of blockchain technology, which is used to create fully digital cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin may be the next step in the evolution of how we perceive money and conduct transfers and exchanges.
How many currencies are there in the World?
According to the United Nations reports, there are currently 180 currencies, which are widely recognized and used. The US Dollar is one of the most popular, as it’s used in more than 30 countries. Some countries even connect their currency’s value directly to the USD. It is the most traded currency in the world. Another popular one is Euro, which may act as Europe's alternative for USD.
Dedicated Currency Symbols
While for all of the currencies, there is a dedicated three letter shortcut, some of the currencies have also their own popular symbol, which makes it easy to recognize this currency. You can easily type and paste it into your texts, as these signs are officially and widely supported. Some should be easily accessed by using your regular keyboard shortcuts, such as shift+4 for the USD: “$” sign. You can also use it’s unicode: U+00024, or HTML code: $, or HEX value: $. Each currency sign has its own values.
| Currency | Currency code | Currency symbol |
| Euro | EUR | € |
| Pounds sterling | GBP | £ |
| US dollar | USD | $ |
| Russian Ruble | RUB | ₽ |
| Japanese yen | JPY | ¥ |
Cryptocurrency dedicated symbols
Crypto market is still in a very young stage and the blockchain technology, which is used to transfer the digital money securely and cheaply hasn’t yet been widely adopted. Yet, some of the coins have gained enough popularity and adapted their symbols. The most notable example is Bitcoin, the first and most popular cryptocurrency, which got its own symbol added to the symbol standard. You can use the “₿” like a regular character in most text editors and websites.
| Currency | Currency code | Currency symbol |
| Bitcoin | BTC | ₿ |
| Monero | XMR | ɱ |
| Litecoin | LTC | Ł |
| Ethereum | ETH | Ξ |
Below you can find a list of all currency symbols, which countries they are from and their special three-letter shortcuts. These shortcuts are often used when you buy currencies on forex markets.
List of currency symbols: Europe
| Country | Currency | Currency code |
| Bulgaria | Bulgarian lev | BGN |
| Switzerland | Swiss franc | CHF |
| Czechia | Czech koruna | CZK |
| Denmark | Danish krone | DKK |
| Euro area countries | Euro | EUR |
| United Kingdom | Pounds sterling | GBP |
| Croatia | Croatian Kuna | HRK |
| Georgia | Georgian lari | GEL |
| Hungary | Hungarian forint | HUF |
| Norway | Norwegian krone | NOK |
| Poland | Polish zloty | PLN |
| Russia | Russian ruble | RUB |
| Romania | Romanian leu | RON |
| Sweden | Swedish krona | SEK |
| Turkey | Turkish lira | TRY |
| Ukraine | Ukrainian hryvna | UAH |
List of currency symbols: Middle East and Africa
| Country | Currency | Currency code | Currency symbol |
| UAE | Emirati dirham | AED | د.إ |
| Israel | Israeli shekel | ILS | ₪ |
| Kenya | Kenyan shilling | KES | Ksh |
| Morocco | Moroccan dirham | MAD | .د.م |
| Nigeria | Nigerian naira | NGN | ₦ |
| South Africa | South african rand** | ZAR | R |
List of currency symbols: The Americas
| Country | Currency | Currency code | Currency symbol |
| Brazil | Brazilian real | BRL | R$ |
| Canada | Canadian dollars | CAD | $ |
| Chile | Chilean peso | CLP | $ |
| Colombia | Colombian peso | COP | $ |
| Mexico | Mexican peso | MXN | $ |
| Peru | Peruvian sol | PEN | S/. |
| USA | US dollar | USD | $ |
List of currency symbols: Asia & The Pacific region
| Country | Currency | Currency code | Currency symbol |
| Australia | Australian dollars | AUD | $ |
| Bangladesh | Bangladeshi taka | BDT | ৳ |
| China | Chinese yuan | CNY | ¥ /元 |
| Hong Kong | Hong Kong dollar | HKD | $ / HK$ / “元” |
| Indonesia | Indonesian rupiah | IDR | Rp |
| India | Indian rupee | INR | ₹ |
| Japan | Japanese yen | JPY | ¥ |
| Malaysia | Malaysian ringgit | MYR | RM |
| New Zealand | New Zealand dollar | NZD | $ |
| Philippines | Philippine peso | PHP | ₱ |
| Pakistan | Pakistani rupee | PKR | Rs |
| Singapore | Singapore dollar | SGD | $ |
| South Korea | South Korean won | KRW | ₩ |
| Sri Lanka | Sri Lankan rupee | LKR | Rs |
| Thailand | Thai baht | THB | ฿ |
| Vietnam | Vietnamese dong | VND | ₫ |