According to the United States Department of the Treasury's site, there is no federal law requiring that businesses accept currency or coins as payment for goods or services.
When the public realized that the paper money was "good as gold," there was no rush to redeem, and greenbacks continued as the accepted currency.
"The U.S.'s exorbitant privilege" — of issuing the world's most widely accepted currency — "allows it not to have a budget, to bump against debt limit with scant market reaction," said Luis de la Calle, a Mexican economist.
And yet, most of the world's most urgent crises can be traced back to unfairness both in the distribution of natural resources and the capital that serves as the accepted currency to make things happen.
We should also be concerned that organizations like OPEC may decide to accept currencies other than the dollar for payment -- an idea unthinkable then.The situation in 2005 will not be similar; it will be more dire.
Currently, USD, EUR, GBP and JPY are accepted currencies, with six more coming in the near future, according to the Ruxum founder.
Some exchanges are based in one country but accept currencies from several countries, such as Australia's CoinJar, Slovenia's BitStamp, or the United States' Coinbase.
Additional votes for China in the IMF and World Bank must be conditional on a Chinese commitment to derestrict their currency and accept reserve currency status.
In other words, European practice reflects the dollar's "exorbitant privilege" as the only true global currency, freely accepted by currency traders and investors in China and around the world.
10.47am GMT Q: Will Scots keep the pound regardless of whether or not the rest of the UK accepts a currency union?
