Is the Japanese yen more expensive than the Chinese yuan? Which currency consists of one hundred bani? Which currency is used on Christmas Island? And why are prices in the United Arab Emirates the easiest to calculate for Polish tourists? It sounds like a quiz for numismatists, but there will be no more questions, just fun facts about Conotoxia.com currency offer.
In 2010, Cinkciarz.pl, our Polish brand and company belonging to Conotoxia Holding, launched an online currency exchange with a relatively extensive "starter pack". Apart from the Polish zloty, customers could exchange the euro, the US, Australian and Canadian dollars, the pound, the francs, the yen, the Czech koruna, the Norwegian and Danish krone and the Swedish krona - 11 monetary units in total.
Some market competitors still cannot offer a comparable product range. Meanwhile, Conotoxia, significantly expanding the range of services, has been successively enlarging the number of available currencies as well. Currently, there are 28 of them, and if you choose a multi-currency payment card by Conotoxia, you will get access to over 160 currencies at favourable rates.
Our dearest pound sterling
It is important to focus on what Conotoxia offers to exchange. Among the 28 currencies on offer, the leader seems to be the British pound (GBP), for which you have to pay - according to data from February 22nd, 2021, - 1.15 EUR.
Although "historically" we are accustomed to a higher rate for this currency, the dispute on a trade deal between the United Kingdom and the European Union does not have a positive impact on the pound.
Market value is not the only benchmark for the dominant role of sterling. It is also considered to be the oldest currency in the world, whose first banknotes were handwritten. Globalexchange website informs us that at the end of the 10th century, 15 cows could be bought for one pound. Today, for the same amount, you can buy just over a litre of milk in the UK.
Only since 1971 has the pound consisted of 100 pence, the earlier division was not associated with the metric system, and it divided the British currency unit into 20 shillings.
Forint as the cheapest
1 EUR is enough to buy nearly 349 forints. The Hungarian currency is so cheap that the exchange offices do not give a unit price, but rather quotations referring to 100 HUF. This is why there are banknotes in Hungary with denominations not found in other countries, and those who use them have two and three times more zeroes in front of their eyes.
While in some European countries it is quite rare to come across a banknote with the highest 500 denomination, in Hungary a set of banknotes starts with 500 forints and reaches 20,000.
However, there is a good chance that the forint, which owes its name to gold coins (fiorino) minted in Florence, will soon cease to be the cheapest currency on offer at Conotoxia.com. And this is not at all because a denomination is being prepared in Hungary. The reason is likely to be the entrance to the eurozone. If this happens, Hungary will not say goodbye to its centuries-old tradition as the forints have been in circulation only since 1946. Before the change, Hungary was exposed to an even greater number of zeros with billiards of pengö.
The end of the forint may also mean that the Polish zloty (also on Conotoxia's offer) will lose its currency's nephew, because although the monetary units of Poland and Hungary differ in their valuation, both of them react almost identically to global trends and external influences, which is why financial analysts often put them together.
Quotations from distant Emirates
The United Arab Emirates Dirham (AED) is 20 years younger than the Hungarian forint. It appeared in circulation in 1966, replacing the Gulf rupee.
A European looking at only one side of an AED banknote could have a serious problem determining the value based on oriental inscriptions. Fortunately, on the reverse side, they will find familiar English inscriptions and Arabic numbers.
Poles can compare prices in the AED with Polish zloty practically without any thought. In fact, it also happens that zloty's value is the closest to dirham. According to the rates of February 22nd, 2021, 1 AED cost... 0.99 PLN!
Six different kinds of dollars and the Thai baht
The USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Hong Kong are linked by a shared currency name. Although there are five different monetary units in these five countries and China's special administrative region, all are dollars.
The US ones are printed on paper that consists of cotton and flax. On the 20-dollar note, the former US General and President Andrew Jackson (1767-1845) is presented, who at the peak of his political career and power belonged to the strong opponents of paper money, respecting only gold and silver coins.
A fun fact from Payspacemagazine: Residents of the United States lose coins every year, whose total value exceeds 60 million USD. Can you imagine if they were to throw everything away in one place?
People in Thailand probably do not allow themselves to have any disrespect towards money, especially paper money. Since November 2019, Conotoxia has been offering its clients the Thai baht, responding to the interest of tourists visiting this Asian country and entrepreneurs importing goods from there.
When buying currency online, you may not realize that every 20, 50, 100, 500 and 1000 baht banknote bears an image of the current king of Thailand. The image of the ruler is very carefully protected there, and Thais must be extremely careful with their money. Stepping on a Thai banknote could result in going to... prison.
Bani and concave print
Out of the puzzles presented earlier, three more need to be solved.
1) With one yuan (CNY), we can buy 15 yen (JPY). The Chinese currency is therefore much more expensive than the Japanese yen, yet in the sphere of the major financial institution, the yen is much more significant. After the US dollar and the euro, it is the third-largest trading currency in the world.
Moreover, the yen seems to be a nightmare of counterfeiters. The banknotes with the denominations 1000, 2000, 5000 and 10,000 are considered to be perfectly protected by holograms, watermarks and tactile concave print.
The ban is the Romanian equivalent of the penny, and 100 bani (this form of plural is on Romanian coins) is 1 leu. Interestingly, the 10 bani banknote (already withdrawn from circulation) holds the Guinness record: with a size of 2.75 x 3.80 cm, it was the smallest paper money in the world.
Although Christmas Island lies closest to Indonesia, it is the outer territory of Australia. Therefore, it is easy to guess: on the island you pay with Australian dollars. Although they appeared in circulation only in 1963, replacing the Australian pounds, it should be noted that Australians play an innovative role in money production. In 1988 they introduced polymer banknotes, commonly called plastic, encouraging change for practical reasons. First of all, polymer dollars are more difficult to counterfeit; secondly - such bills wear much slower than traditional ones. More countries were convinced of this, so today Australia produces polymer bills for Romania, Mexico, Thailand and Singapore.
All currencies on Conotoxia's offer can be found at https://conotoxia.com/currency-exchange/exchange-rates