Fun Stuff

Surprising money facts

DATE | 07/21/26
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Do you know these money facts? You might be surprised.

A banknote can be folded 4,000 times. U.S. currency is pretty durable.

The dollar sign ($) was first used in 1785. The official adoption of the dollar sign in the U.S. evolved from the Spanish symbol for pesos.

Like crisp bills? U.S. dollars are 75% cotton and 25% linen, so it’s actually fabric. To iron the money, dampen the bill slightly with a spritz bottle, put a towel under the bill and another on top of it, then iron the money in a circular motion on low heat.

There was only one woman ever to appear on a U.S. bill. Martha Washington’s likeness appeared on the $1 Silver Certificate, first issued in 1886 and discontinued in 1957.

There’s an ATM on every continent. There are more than 3 million cash machines around the world—even in remote places like Easter Island and Antarctica!

There’s not much tangible currency left in the world. Economists estimate only 8% of the world’s currency is actual cash, with the rest existing in electronic bank accounts.

Source: SoFi