What is the strangest Fiat currency you have seen?

[YOSHIE]

I've ever seen and the craziest is the Pengo currency, this money was formed before the Second World War broke out, which is better known today is (Hungary).

Try to imagine with one 100 million billion paper currency valued at only 20 cents, this money was traded around the 1946 century.
But it is no longer in use, has been replaced by a currency called (Forint),
This is what I found the highest number of paper currencies, and the cheapest exchange rate. Only 20 cents.

[Kakmakr]

I am a numismatist <Coin collector> and have been doing this as a hobby for several years. I kinda like the coins with the hole in the centre, like the five-yen coin or the fifty-yen coin. A lot of coins have these holes and the reason for that is to string them together as a kind of wallet, with a piece of rope. 

Some ancient Chinese coins had squares cut into the centre instead of the round shape, because it was said that it was easier to string them together, when it has the square in the middle. 

I think the weirdness of some Fiat currencies are spilling over to Alt coins now, with people naming their tokens, things like PotCoin or TrumpCoin and Fonziecoin (FONZ), Selfiecoin, Pizzacoin and strange things like that. 

[Darker45]

I am a numismatist <Coin collector> and have been doing this as a hobby for several years. I kinda like the coins with the hole in the centre, like the five-yen coin or the fifty-yen coin. A lot of coins have these holes and the reason for that is to string them together as a kind of wallet, with a piece of rope.  

Well, my country is a little unique and creative in designing coins. They've walked the extra mile in innovating coin shapes. Others may think that coin = circle, but no, not when you're in the Philippines, at least years ago. I kind of missed them actually. But in a country where leaders are so fond of issuing new versions of coins and bills, you'd have to avoid getting too attached to a single design or shape.

Not only do we have a coin with a hole at the center like a doughnut, we also have a decagon coin, a square coin with smooth edges, and a coin with flower-like edges. Now, beat that!


(Coins are not in actual sizes. Further, all images are not mine. They are all searched through Google and pasted into a single page.)

[sheenshane]

To be honest I had never seen that 5 cents coin here in our country, I would love to have that coin as a part of my collections. I'm also a coin collector but the coin I have is about in the year 1980s.

This might sound common, but I really find dollar currency weird. I've always loved conspiracies and theories. And the eye is one of my favorites. It's so strange why does the Government has put an eye and the triangle on their fiat, but never revealed the reason why was it there. I find it strange as I don't really understand what would the eye really stand for. Is there anyone here who would share me an interesting article about it?

[dothebeats]

In Vietnam, all bills have a picture of President HO CHI MINH on the back of the bill and the front is a place of the country of Vietnam.  And the largest face value of the bill is 500,000 Dong. This bill is equivalent to $ 23

I kinda noticed that Ho Chi Minh is on every bill that the Vietnamese have during my stay in Hanoi. I kinda thought about the colorblind people for a sec but seeing how big those numbers are in the back and front, plus the unique design for each bill at the back, I know that they will be safe lol.

As for my pick, any currency that lets me experience being a 'millionaire' fascinates me. Here in the Philippines, having a million pesos is sufficient to buy you a used sports car, or a downpayment to a nice loft in the metros. In Vietnam, a million dong would get you a nice dinner, good haircut + shave and some more for booze and night life. In the US, having a million dollars gets you a nice car, possibly a nice house for 2 and a few tens of thousands savings in the bank.

I only experienced being a millionaire in Vietnam and the Philippines. I am yet to see visit other countries for my on-going field work. I wish I am also a millionaire back in Canada but.. Oh well.

[FlightyPouch]

I think that would be the Philippine peso itself. It is one of the worst-performing currency in Asia. Since there is no strange fiat currency in our country, maybe I can count those coins being used by the elderly. When they have these coins in the past, they put it in their doorsteps. Now they are even putting coins that are used and sometimes being mistaken as a coin that just fallen out of their pocket and most of the time it is hilarious.

[omone1]

Or Zimbabwe dollars:



Thats 100 000 000 000 000 $ bill. You have to be a millionaire to buy a chewing gum i guess.

I have one of those hanging on my wall.
I bought it on Ebay a few years ago.
Just a memento of how it can happen ("slow at sstart, then all of a sudden" se DM graph above) to have BTCUSD in the millions.

Every true bitcoiner should have one of those.

Zimbabwean economy has since crippled resulting in hyper-inflation to buy bread you need a wheelbarrow full of Zimbabwean dollars. Yet this country has the highest literate population as per country literacy in African nations, but the former President messed up things. 

[mamahdedeh]

Or Zimbabwe dollars:



Thats 100 000 000 000 000 $ bill. You have to be a millionaire to buy a chewing gum i guess.

I have one of those hanging on my wall.
I bought it on Ebay a few years ago.
Just a memento of how it can happen ("slow at sstart, then all of a sudden" se DM graph above) to have BTCUSD in the millions.

Every true bitcoiner should have one of those.

Zimbabwean economy has since crippled resulting in hyper-inflation to buy bread you need a wheelbarrow full of Zimbabwean dollars. Yet this country has the highest literate population as per country literacy in African nations, but the former President messed up things. 

it is not only the former president that has made Zimbabwe's economy worse off, the policies taken seem to spoil its people to be unproductive, so that when oil prices fall they have no other reliable output. plus the chaotic economy makes this country become hyper inflation

[Averim]

Currently one of the strangest Fiat currency is Venezuelan Bolivar. Can you imagine that it is cheaper to use banknotes than toilet paper. You can use banknotes to light the fireplace because they worth less than kindling. That's what hyperinflation do with fiat currency.



Or Zimbabwe dollars:



Thats 100 000 000 000 000 $ bill. You have to be a millionaire to buy a chewing gum i guess.

I suppose the paper from they are made is more expensive than the bolivar....sad situation...

[hello_good_sir]

Has to be one of the ones that are severely affected by hyperinflation and you have their denominations in the trillions...

It's almost like an ironic reminder that what you're transacting with are simply worthless pieces of paper, even though initially, everything was backed by silver and gold.

Saving fiat in the long run in the bank is shooting yourself in the foot. There is no doubt that BTC currently doesn't have the transactional capabilities in practice of fiat yet, but it's still a much better long term store of value.

[Janation]

In our country, that would be the old 10 peso bill.

The person in there is Apolinario Mabini. He is one of the known names in our country as he is one of the leaders in the revolution against Spain. For me, he is just printed weirdly in that bill, just look it yourself. LINK HERE

[joeperry]

Noobs! Let my fellow Indonesian take this to another level:


Source, and see more here: https://www.brilio.net/duh/bikin-ngelus-dada-8-tingkah-usil-coret-coret-uang-bergambar-pahlawan-1809025.html

PS: I know it's funny and somewhat artistic, but please be aware that such action is punishable by law. Don't try this at home

Lol, this made me laugh. Some people really do funny stuff even though they know it's illegal or punishable by the law and they know that this paper money may not be accepted if they do this but still they do this funny stuff.

[justdimin]

Zimbabwe is literally a cautionary tale about what could potentially happen if the politicians get their way and do whatever the hell they want without people revolting about it. Normally, before all of that happened and it looked all that bad, people should have started a strike and a riot to stop what the country was trying to do and get the control of it.

Unfortunately in the world where media is controlled so much, revolution is seen as anarchy and that seen as bad people but do you really think people using a wheelbarrow amount of money to buy a bread is a better option than a few weeks of riots to stop the governments from doing whatever the hell they want? I certainly think it is not. For a while there was some example around the world but they were quickly solved and now we are living the troubles of it since they were unsuccessful.

[qwertyup23]

Currently one of the strangest Fiat currency is Venezuelan Bolivar. Can you imagine that it is cheaper to use banknotes than toilet paper. You can use banknotes to light the fireplace because they worth less than kindling. That's what hyperinflation do with fiat currency.



Or Zimbabwe dollars:



Thats 100 000 000 000 000 $ bill. You have to be a millionaire to buy a chewing gum i guess.

Yup, I was about to say this one. Hyperinflation in Venezuela and Zimbabwe caused the value of its currency to significantly decrease while its face-value remained significantly high. Usually when the economic conditions of a country is on the red, the value of the currency drops. People on those countries have a higher demand on products but they cannot purchase anything due to the lack of supply on the market. With this in mind, the currency becomes worthless that they result in the barter system of trading.

[wack slacker]

In Vietnam, all bills have a picture of President HO CHI MINH on the back of the bill and the front is a place of the country of Vietnam.  And the largest face value of the bill is 500,000 Dong. This bill is equivalent to $ 23

I kinda noticed that Ho Chi Minh is on every bill that the Vietnamese have during my stay in Hanoi. I kinda thought about the colorblind people for a sec but seeing how big those numbers are in the back and front, plus the unique design for each bill at the back, I know that they will be safe lol.

As for my pick, any currency that lets me experience being a 'millionaire' fascinates me. Here in the Philippines, having a million pesos is sufficient to buy you a used sports car, or a downpayment to a nice loft in the metros. In Vietnam, a million dong would get you a nice dinner, good haircut + shave and some more for booze and night life. In the US, having a million dollars gets you a nice car, possibly a nice house for 2 and a few tens of thousands savings in the bank.

I only experienced being a millionaire in Vietnam and the Philippines. I am yet to see visit other countries for my on-going field work. I wish I am also a millionaire back in Canada but.. Oh well.

Thank you for your experience of using money.  In my country, all the people are millionaires and the rich are those with more than 1 billion VND.  That amount is equivalent to about 83000 Usd.  Although the monetary value in our country is lower than in other countries, the consumption level is increasing quickly and I do not feel cheap at all.

[palle11]

Zimbabwe is literally a cautionary tale about what could potentially happen if the politicians get their way and do whatever the hell they want without people revolting about it. Normally, before all of that happened and it looked all that bad, people should have started a strike and a riot to stop what the country was trying to do and get the control of it.

Unfortunately in the world where media is controlled so much, revolution is seen as anarchy and that seen as bad people but do you really think people using a wheelbarrow amount of money to buy a bread is a better option than a few weeks of riots to stop the governments from doing whatever the hell they want? I certainly think it is not. For a while there was some example around the world but they were quickly solved and now we are living the troubles of it since they were unsuccessful.

You are right... Inflation is actually a government caused problem because of the policies they bring that doesn't support the economic. Such policies might enrich few people in government and leave the masses to drain in abject poverty. Taking appropriate measures to ensure that government puts on their thinking cap will help to better hyperinflation.

[shield132]

Can you imagine that it is cheaper to use banknotes than toilet paper. You can use banknotes to light the fireplace because they worth less than kindling. That's what hyperinflation do with fiat currency.

Yeah, it is hard to believe but it's happened before--I remember reading stories of stuff like this happening in Weimar Republic Germany (if I have the terminology correct).

Yes, situation was really worse, in restaurants prices of products were changing in live, very frequently. If coffee was 5 euro for example, it was quickly becoming 15 euro. (During ww1 currency in Germany was Weimar Republic Reichsbanknote). But I am really amazed how quickly they were able to recover and build great economics.
This is the picture that shows how bad the situation was:

Obviously this is one of the great things about bitcoin, that it's a currency that can't be hyperinflated.  The only problem that comes to my mind is that while bitcoin's supply is limited, the total supply of all cryptocurrencies has the potential to become basically unlimited.  I'm not sure that's much of a problem since most new coins don't gain any real popularity, but still.

Governments are doing that manually, people in government make great money in it, they borrow - we pay. Just apply this to fiat and they'll shine too but as I said, they won't do it.

As far as OP's topic goes, there's a country that produces paper money with a vertical orientation and I can't remember which country it is.  I saw pictures of the notes and they looked pretty cool.  But honestly, all I ever see is US dollars so pretty much every foreign currency looks really cool to me.  I remember being fascinated with the paper money when I went to Canada as a kid.

Canada produced paper money with vertical orientation and their 10$ banknote (Viola Desmond note) won international bank note reward.
Here is the image:

[beerlover]

All these "funny looking" currencies are like that for a reason I suppose. Have you guys ever seen Canadian dollar? Maybe the inflation is not that high there or maybe the nation is amazing but seriously look at all the Canadian dollars and you will realize that they all look insanely funny to me. Maybe it is because of the colors or maybe it is another reason, I really don't know what causes it but to me the "one milliard x dollars" type of things are not the real funny ones, they are simply just sad and I do not find that all that funny at all, I find the funny looking ones very funny.

Euro and dollar for example is not funny at all because they are boring looking. So all in all, to me "funny" looking ones or strange ones are not because of the zeros attach to it but more about how they look.

[vintages]

I so much agree with the person that mentioned Zimbabwe currency. I use to think that the strangest fiat was the Iranian and Paraguayan Guarani currency till I came across the Zimbabwe fiat.
I wonder what figure they will create since they already reached up to trillion already. To them, the introduction of this note was to solve certain economic issues but yet things are no different.

[airdnasxela]

It's not an official currency in our country (Philippines) but a certain group issued their own currency and printed their own money. It is not being recognized by the central bank of the Philippines. It's already weird to create their own currency but what's weirded is that in their paper money, it has the face of their queen! The Philippines doesn't have a queen because the Philippines is republic and we only have presidential form of government. Imagine a monarchy system and a queen in a republic and democratic country. That's definitely weird.