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Fun money facts while we reach out to lenders
The first ATM opened in London in 1967. Its first customer was a TV comedian, and it paid out a maximum of £10.
U.S. paper money isn’t paper at all. It’s 75% cotton and 25% linen, which is why it survives the washing machine.
A $1 bill weighs about one gram. A million of them would weigh roughly a ton.
The only two non-presidents on U.S. bills in circulation today are Alexander Hamilton ($10) and Benjamin Franklin ($100).
On the island of Yap, money came as giant stone discs. When one changed hands, the stone often stayed put. Everyone just remembered who owned it.
The oldest known coins were struck in Lydia (modern Turkey) around 600 BC, from a natural mix of gold and silver.
China was printing paper money around 1,000 years ago, centuries before it caught on in Europe.
The U.S. Secret Service was created in 1865 to fight counterfeit money. Protecting presidents came later.
A $1 bill lasts about 6 or 7 years in circulation. A $100 bill lasts over 20, mostly because people spend it less often.
The largest note the U.S. ever printed was a $100,000 bill with Woodrow Wilson on it. It was only used between Federal Reserve Banks.
The U.S. Mint struck its last circulating penny in 2025. Each one had been costing more than 3 cents to make.
Calling a dollar a “buck” likely goes back to the 1700s, when deerskins were a common trade currency on the American frontier.
As the story goes, the first charge card, Diners Club, was born in 1950 after its founder forgot his wallet at a restaurant.
Stacking $1 bills a mile high would take more than 14 million of them.
The dollar sign most likely grew out of a shorthand for the Spanish peso, the coin that circulated in early America.
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