USD
The United States dollar (sign: $; code: USD) is the unit of currency of the United States; it has also been adopted as the official currency of some other countries. The U.S. dollar is normally abbreviated as the dollar sign, $, or as USD or US$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies and from others that use the $ symbol. It is divided into 100 cents.
Taken over by the Congress of the Confederation of the United States on July 6, 1785,<ref>Journals of the Continental Congress --Wednesday, JULY 6, 1785.</ref> the U.S. dollar is the currency most used in international transactions.<ref>The Implementation of Monetary Policy - The Federal Reserve in the International Sphere</ref> Several countries use the U.S. dollar as their official currency, and in many others it is the de facto currency.<ref>Benjamin J. Cohen, The Future of Money, Princeton University Press, 2006, ISBN 0691116660; cf. "the dollar is the de facto currency in Cambodia", Charles Agar, Frommer's Vietnam, 2006, ISBN 0471798169, p. 17</ref> In 1995, over US $380 billion were in circulation, two-thirds of which was outside the United States. By 2005, that figure had doubled to nearly $760 billion, with an estimated half to two-thirds being held overseas,<ref>FRB: Currency and Coin Services</ref> representing an annual growth rate of about 7.6%. However, as of December 2006, the dollar was surpassed by the euro in terms of combined value of cash in circulation.<ref>FT.com / Markets / Currencies - Euro notes cash in to overtake dollar</ref> Since then the current value of euro cash in circulation has risen to more than €695 billion, equivalent to US$991 billion at current exchange rates.<ref>ECB: Latest figures</ref>
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