US Dollar

The US dollar is the currency of the United States of America. USD is the currency code for the US dollar. $ is the symbol for the US Dollar. The US dollar originated with the Coinage Act of 1792. At its inception, the US dollar was pegged to silver and gold. In 1900, the Gold Standard Act was passed and as a result the US dollar began to be pegged to gold alone. The gold standard was suspended temporarily in 1933 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) issued various executive orders (i.e. Executive Order 6102 of April 3, 1933 aka "the gold confiscation order") and passed several acts with Congress (i.e. Gold Reserve Act of 1934) in an effort to deal with the significant deflation caused by the great depression. Finally, in 1971, in an effort to deal with rampant inflation, the Nixon administration decided to limit how dollars could be exchanged for gold. This was the beginning of the end for the gold standard and in 1975, the US dollar became a free floating currency. The Federal Reserve Bank, the central bank of the USA, distributes the US dollar. The US dollar is considered the most important international trade currency. The US dollar is also one of the major currencies trading on foreign exchange (Forex) markets. Additionally, the US dollar is used as the major reserve currency of the world. The US dollar is nicknamed buck and greenback.