Data Sphere

Though I have not yet read all the background from the books, I was wondering if we know of any official currencies in the Infinity universe.

Do the powers have their own? Does O12 support a "universal" currency?

I'm pretty sure each of the factions maintains its own currency. It allows them to do all the tricks of financial engineering the governments of today do, including affecting exchange rates to support export, for example.

PanO and Yu Jing are already huge - a couple of planets each, plus massive holdings on other worlds. It gives them one hell a lot of economic space to grow and do business on their own inside.

Haqqislam is smaller, but it still controls an entire star system of Bouraq, plus several massive space stations, booming with commerce: an excellent opportunity to profit from currency exchange (or accept foregin - that is, non-Haqq - money on deflated value... and profit!).

Nomads are, I guess, too independent to use the same currency as everyone else, though they might as well be using some Nomad-specific currency to trade among themselves.

Finally, Ariadna had to set up a working economy during their time of isolation. Which means - they had to have some form of currency - and I'd say they are unlikely to have abandoned it after rediscovery (since I can't see any reason for it). Quite opposite - with the independency tendncies still present in the Ariadnan society, I wouldn't be surprised if each of the nation-states of Ariadna had its own currency!

O-12 might be using some virtual currency as a method of reference, but again - no reason to make it mandatory in the entire Human Sphere,

As mentioned in the other forum, PanO uses the Oceana.

I suspect that Yu Jing uses the yuan or the renminbi, which are both currencies of the PRC today.

Haqq probably uses the 'dinar', which is a common currency name in the middle east today.

USAriadna almost certainly still uses dollars. Mervingia most likely uses francs, Caledonia pounds, and Kazaks rubles.

I suspect that the three Nomad ships all have different currencies. Corregidor's is probably based on the work-credit. I bet that Tunguska's is some BitCoin-equivalent, and I'm not sure what Bakunin would use.

Section9 wrote:USAriadna almost certainly still uses dollars. Mervingia most likely uses francs, Caledonia pounds, and Kazaks rubles.

You wouldn't think that they'd have established a common currency on Dawn? I'd guess that the current state of ethnic segregation evolved over time as opposed to being from day 1...

Personally, I'm not sure whether Ariadna would have one currency or four. Also, keep in mind that historically, it was meant to work as a single colony, which would suggest it was intended to have a single currency. And rather not a ruble.
Of course, it doesn't mean one or more groups couldn't ve estabilished their own currency later.

Could be either way.

@ Section9 - Yuan and Renminbi are, basically, two names for the same currency.

As for Nomads - I like the idea of Tunguskan BitCoin. Still, they probably handle any currency imaginable. I'd doubt the other ships having different currencies though. That would be going down too much, and save for national pride not very practical (and I perceive Nomads - especially those of Corregidor) as very, very practical people.
So my guess would be they've adopted Tunguskan BitCoin - next-to-impossible to forge, and difficult to trace - as their basic currency. Tunguska is the Nomad Money, isn't it?
Also, if you are paid by foreigners - either for your exostic & illegal wares (Bakunin) or your had work (Corregidor), you want to get back something you can spend without exchanging it a dozen times....


I'd guess that corporate stock could be popular currency too.

Errhile wrote:@ Section9 - Yuan and Renminbi are, basically, two names for the same currency.

As I understand it from someone who spends a semester every couple years there teaching, one is legal to use for international trade and one is strictly for internal circulation (I don't remember which is which). I suspect that eventually the Chinese will get rid of the internal-use-only, as soon as they finally let their currency even up with the "proper" exchange rate. It has been moving there, about 1-2% a year, so in about 20-40 years from today.

Renminbi is the name they use in China (information I got from someone who is living there full time for the last 20+ years...), which would make Yuan the name that is used for international variant.

Though it is also possible that there are two currencies, both named Yuan / renminbi, and one being used for internal, the other for international trade / dealing with tourists (a similar system, as I understeand, was at least a couple of years ago used in Cuba).