Currency Bill Tracking
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Currency bill tracking is the process of tracking the movements of
banknote A banknote or bank notealso called a bill (North American English) or simply a noteis a type of paper money that is made and distributed ("issued") by a bank of issue, payable to the bearer on demand. Banknotes were originally issued by commerc ...
s, similar to how
ornithologists __NOTOC__ This is a list of ornithologists who have articles, in alphabetical order by surname. See also :Ornithologists. A * John Abbot – US * Clinton Gilbert Abbott – US * William Louis Abbott – US * Humayun Abdulali — India * Joseph ...
track migrations of birds by
ringing Ringing may mean: Vibrations * Ringing (signal), unwanted oscillation of a signal, leading to ringing artifacts * Vibration of a harmonic oscillator ** Bell ringing * Ringing (telephony), the sound of a telephone bell * Ringing (medicine), a ri ...
them. It is usually facilitated by any one of a number of websites set up for the purpose, which can track currency among the users of that website. A user may register a bill by entering its serial number, and if someone else has already registered the bill, then the "route" of the bill can be displayed. Some bill tracking sites encourage marking a bill before spending it, whereas others do not. This usually depends on the laws of the country issuing the currency. The most popular currencies for currency tracking are the
euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...
, the
United States dollar The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...
(USD), and the
Canadian dollar The Canadian dollar (currency symbol, symbol: $; ISO 4217, code: CAD; ) is the currency of Canada. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $. There is no standard disambiguating form, but the abbreviations Can$, CA$ and C$ are frequently used f ...
(CAD).


Background and legal status

Originally beginning in the United States in the mid-1990s, the phenomenon or hobby of currency tracking quickly spread first to Canada and then beyond. Especially with the Euro bill tracking, trackers have taken on a much more competitive nature and have formed communities within their respective sites. Many successful sites incorporate some sort of social media, either through site specific unique techniques, or through outside popular social media sites. In the
Eurozone The euro area, commonly called the eurozone (EZ), is a Monetary union, currency union of 20 Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union (EU) that have adopted the euro (Euro sign, €) as their primary currency ...
because multiple countries having adopted the Euro, this easily leads to competition between trackers in different countries; in the United States competition plays out at the state or county level; and in Canada, at the provincial level. Marking bills in Canada with ink or rubber stamp is not illegal. In the United States, marking bills is illegal if there is intent to render the bill "unfit to be re-issued"; however, this is rarely enforced and only a fine is faced, if convicted. Marking is widespread in both countries. In the Eurozone marking is not universal, and varies by region. The
European Central Bank The European Central Bank (ECB) is the central component of the Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) as well as one of seven institutions of the European Union. It is one of the world's Big Four (banking)#International ...
considers the marking of bills (as well as the destruction of them) to be legal and not exclusive to governments.


Popular currency bill tracking websites

Some of the most popular websites for bill tracking include the following:


North America

*
Where's George? Where's George? is a website that tracks the natural geographic circulation of American paper money. Its popularity has led to the establishment of a number of other currency tracking websites and sites that track other objects, such as used b ...
, started in December 1998. * Where's Willy? for
CAD Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve c ...
(Canada).


Europe

*
EuroBillTracker EuroBillTracker (EBT) is a website designed for tracking euro banknotes. It was inspired by the US currency bill tracking website Where's George? The aim is to record as many notes as possible to know details about their distribution and movement ...
was started on January 1, 2002, to track
euro banknotes Banknotes of the euro, the common currency of the eurozone (euro area members), have been in circulation since the first series (also called ''ES1'') was issued in 2002. They are issued by the national central banks of the Eurosystem or the Eur ...
. It is the largest of the euro tracking sites. * DoshTracker, launched in 2001 and relaunched in 2012, allows
pound sterling Sterling (symbol: £; currency code: GBP) is the currency of the United Kingdom and nine of its associated territories. The pound is the main unit of sterling, and the word '' pound'' is also used to refer to the British currency general ...
banknotes to be tracked around the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
and abroad


Oceania

* The Money Tracker, started in March 2006, tracks
Australian dollar The Australian dollar (currency sign, sign: $; ISO 4217, code: AUD; also abbreviated A$ or sometimes AU$ to distinguish it from other dollar, dollar-denominated currencies; and also referred to as the dollar or Aussie dollar) is the official ...
s and has similar functionality to Where's George.


Asia

* WheresRupee is a modern web-based tracking platform for tracing the movement of
Indian rupee The Indian rupee (symbol: ₹; code: INR) is the official currency of India. The rupee is subdivided into 100 '' paise'' (Hindi plural; singular: ''paisa''). The issuance of the currency is controlled by the Reserve Bank of India. The Reserve ...
(INR) currency notes. It allows users to log serial numbers and view geographic history with map visualizations. It supports dark mode, live geolocation tracking, and user-generated tracking entries.


In popular culture

The act of tracking a $20 bill was the binding theme between various stories in the film ''
Twenty Bucks ''Twenty Bucks'' is a 1993 American comedy-drama film directed by Keva Rosenfeld and starring Linda Hunt, Brendan Fraser, Gladys Knight, Elisabeth Shue, Steve Buscemi, Christopher Lloyd, William H. Macy, David Schwimmer, Shohreh Aghdashloo and S ...
''. A similar scheme to currency bill tracking – and said to be inspired by it – is
BookCrossing BookCrossing (also known as BC, BCing or BXing) is defined as the practice of leaving a book in a public place to be 'caught' by others, who may then do likewise. The term is derived frobookcrossing.com a free online book community which was f ...
, which tracks the movement of secondhand books which are marked and then "released into the wild". In one episode of the Czechoslovak comic series ''
Rychlé šípy Rychlé šípy ("The Rapid Arrows") is the name of a fictional club of five boys by the Czech people, Czech writer Jaroslav Foglar. Consisting of Mirek Dušín, Jarka Metelka, Jindra Hojer, Červenáček ("Red Cap"), Rychlonožka ("Speedy") and a ...
'', the boy club releases a marked 1 crown coin and then they track the coin through
Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...
.


See also

*
Geocaching Geocaching (, ) is an outdoor recreational activity, in which participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or mobile device and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, called ''geocaches'' or ''caches'', at sp ...
* Letterboxing * Postcrossing


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Currency Bill Tracking Numismatics Internet object tracking Hobbies Surveillance