The dollar (USD) is the unit of currency of the United States. It has also been adopted as the official and legal currency by the governments in a few other countries.
The U.S. dollar is normally abbreviated as the dollar sign, $, or as USD or US$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies and from others that use the $ symbol. It is divided into 100 cents.
According to the Federal Reserve, the U.S. dollar is the currency most used in international transactions.
In 1995, over US $380 billion were in circulation, two-thirds of which was outside the United States. By 2005, that figure had doubled to nearly $760 billion, with an estimated half to two-thirds being held overseas, representing an annual growth rate of about 7.6%.
As of December 2006, the dollar was surpassed by the euro in terms of combined value of cash in circulation. The current value of euro cash in circulation has risen to more than €695 billion, equivalent to about US$1 trillion at current exchange rates.
Currently, the U.S. dollar remains the world's foremost reserve currency. In addition to holdings by central banks and other institutions there are many private holdings which are believed to be mostly in $100 denominations. The majority of U.S. notes are actually held outside the United States.
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Finance
Etymology of the term dollar
Etymologically speaking, the term dollar came from Tolar, which was derived from Thaler, which in turn came from the name of a rich silver mine, Joachimsthal (The Valley of St. Joachim) in Bohemia.
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