Currency bill tracking is the process of tracking the movements of

banknote A banknote—also called a bill (North American English), paper money, or simply a note—is a type of negotiable instrument, negotiable promissory note, made by a bank or other licensed authority, payable to the bearer on demand. Banknotes w ...

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 * Joseph H. Acklen – US *Humayun Ab ...

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 rin ...

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 before spending, 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 (symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

, the

United States Dollar The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

(USD), and the Canadian Dollar (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 eurozone (EZ), is a currency union of 19 member states of the European Union (EU) that have adopted the euro ( €) as their primary currency and sole legal tender, and have thus fully implemented EMU polic ...

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 prime component of the monetary 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 most important centra ...

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:

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 tracking website Where's George? The aim is to record as many notes as possible to know details about their distribution and movements, fo ...

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 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 Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and abroad

Oceania

* The Money Tracker, started in March 2006, tracks

Australian dollar The Australian dollar (sign: $; code: AUD) is the currency of Australia, including its external territories: Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and Norfolk Island. It is officially used as currency by three independent Pacific Isla ...

s and has simialar functionality to Where's George.

In popular culture

The act of tracking a $20 bill was the binding theme between various stories in the film '' Twenty Bucks''. A similar scheme to currency bill tracking – and said to be inspired by it – is

BookCrossing BookCrossing (also BC, BCing or BXing) is defined as "the practice of leaving a book in a public place to be picked up and read by others, who then do likewise." The term is derived from bookcrossing.com, a free online book club which was foun ...

, 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 writer Jaroslav Foglar. Consisting of Mirek Dušín, Jarka Metelka, Jindra Hojer, Červenáček ("Red Cap"), Rychlonožka ("Speedy") and a dog named B ...

'', the boy club releases a marked 1 crown coin and then they track the coin through

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

References

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