Facts about US Currency
Written by David Barth, May 5, 2008
From page 60 of March 2008,issue of Wired
- The average one dollar US note is retired and mutilated after 21 months. Coins are retired after about
30 years. The cost to create a coin is three times the cost to make a note.
- The average wallet may have enough cocaine to attract a drug-sniffing dog. Studies have shown that
cocaine can be detected on more than 70 percent of US bills due to ATMs spreading the dust across the entire
money supply.
- An increasing number of investors are trading currencies instead of stocks. There has been a
71 percent increase in currency transactions since 2004. Past favorites have been currencies from Australia,
New Zealand, and Canada.
- Pennies are no longer made of copper. They consist mostly of tin. It costs the US Government
more than a penny to make a penny.