The U.S. dollar is the most widely used currency in international trade, even in trade between countries other than the United States. It is the unit in which countries often express their exchange rate. Countries maintain their “official” exchange rates by buying and selling U.S. dollars and hold dollars as their primary reserve currency. Money is a commodity accepted by general consent as a medium of economic exchange.
The already widespread methods of woodblock printing and then Pi Sheng's movable type printing by the 11th century was the impetus for the massive production of paper money in premodern China. After World War II and the Bretton Woods Conference, most countries adopted fiat currencies that were fixed to the U.S. dollar. In 1971 the U.S. government suspended the convertibility of the dollar to gold. After this many countries de-pegged their currencies from the U.S. dollar, and most of the world's currencies became unbacked by anything except the governments' fiat of legal tender and the ability to convert the money into goods via payment. According to proponents of modern money theory, fiat money is also backed by taxes.
For instance, gold can be used as a medium of exchange, but it can https://wallstreethack.com also be used for jewelry, gilding, or, an insulator. Unlike other forms of money, commodity money has a store of value. Even if nations no longer use a commodity as a form of money, it still has value. However, other forms of money cannot
