The Trump Rebate Banking system (TRB) is a scam targeting fans of Donald Trump. TRB system vendors sell membership materials and collectible items, like "Trump coin" medallions (unrelated to the $Trump cryptocurrency token), "Trump Bucks" banknotes, and metal checks, that they suggest will become legal tender under a future monetary system.
Physical "Trump coins" have been sold since 2016. Among Trump fan groups on Telegram, Trump coins and Trump-branded cryptocurrency have been promoted by affiliate marketers. ClickBank, an affiliate marketing network, said that Trump coins were their most popular product in October 2021, and the second-most popular the following month. Popularity soared after the January 6 United States Capitol attack. To promote the coins, marketers falsely claimed that Nancy Pelosi intended to ban them. Many posts compared Trump coins to bitcoin, claiming that their price was going to increase. [1] Some promotion, such as on TikTok, used synthesized audio of Trump endorsing the products. [2]
In 2023, NBC News identified three Colorado-based companies, Patriots Dynasty, Patriots Future, and USA Patriots, as being behind the marketing operation for "Trump Bucks" and TRB membership cards, collectibles marketed as being redeemable for a cash value in the future. [3] For example, a "$10,000 Diamond Trump Bucks" banknote, sold for $99.99, was claimed to be redeemable by membership cardholders at banks and major retail stores. [4] Orders were fulfilled from ShipOffers, a fulfillment and distribution operation for many companies, from a warehouse in Aurora, Colorado. [5] NBC News spoke to several banks and retail companies, none of which indicated that they would accept these collectibles. [3] Following the investigation, ClickBank said that it had disabled web sites that were selling Trump Bucks. [6]
In February 2024, a Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty investigation traced a lucrative Trump-themed memorabilia fraud to Veles, North Macedonia, where people promoted items via Telegram channels. [7] A similar scam, promising that a "Trump Liberty Coin" purchased for $149 could be redeemed at Bank of America for $100,000, circulated in April 2024; a Bank of America spokesperson denied any connection between the bank and the coins. [8]
A currency is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins. A more general definition is that a currency is a system of money in common use within a specific environment over time, especially for people in a nation state. Under this definition, the British Pound sterling (£), euros (€), Japanese yen (¥), and U.S. dollars (US$) are examples of (government-issued) fiat currencies. Currencies may act as stores of value and be traded between nations in foreign exchange markets, which determine the relative values of the different currencies. Currencies in this sense are either chosen by users or decreed by governments, and each type has limited boundaries of acceptance; i.e., legal tender laws may require a particular unit of account for payments to government agencies.
The krona is the currency of the Kingdom of Sweden. It is one of the currencies of the European Union. Both the ISO code "SEK" and currency sign "kr" are in common use for the krona; the former precedes or follows the value, the latter usually follows it but, especially in the past, it sometimes preceded the value. In English, the currency is sometimes referred to as the Swedish crown, as krona means "crown" in Swedish. The Swedish krona was the ninth-most traded currency in the world by value in April 2016.
The Australian dollar is the official currency and legal tender of Australia, including all of its external territories, and three independent sovereign Pacific Island states: Kiribati, Nauru, and Tuvalu. In April 2022, it was the sixth most-traded currency in the foreign exchange market and as of Q1 2024 the sixth most-held reserve currency in global reserves.
The Iraqi dinar is the currency of Iraq. The Iraqi dinar is issued by the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI). On 7 February 2023, the exchange rate with the US Dollar was US$1 = 1300 dinars.
Legal tender is a form of money that courts of law are required to recognize as satisfactory payment in court for any monetary debt. Each jurisdiction determines what is legal tender, but essentially it is anything which, when offered ("tendered") in payment of a debt, extinguishes the debt. There is no obligation on the creditor to accept the tendered payment, but the act of tendering the payment in legal tender discharges the debt.
The bolívar is the official currency of Venezuela. Named after the hero of South American independence Simón Bolívar, it was introduced by President Guzman Blanco via the monetary reform of 1879, before which the venezolano was circulating. Due to its decades-long reliance on silver and gold standards, and then on a peg to the United States dollar, it was long considered among the most stable currencies.
The United States twenty-dollar bill (US$20) is a denomination of U.S. currency. A portrait of Andrew Jackson, the seventh U.S. president (1829–1837), has been featured on the obverse of the bill since 1928; the White House is featured on the reverse.
The Arab Emirates Dirham (; Arabic: درهم إماراتي, abbreviation: د.إ in Arabic, Dh and Dhs or DH in Latin; ISO code: AED is the official currency of the United Arab Emirates. The dirham is subdivided into 100 fils . It is pegged to the United States Dollar at a constant exchange rate of approximately 3.67 AED to 1 USD.
The sum is the official currency of Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan replaced the ruble with the sum at par in on 16 July 1994. No subdivisions of this sum were initially issued and only banknotes were produced, in denominations of 1, 3, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 200, 500, 1,000, 5,000, and 10,000 sum. Further series, however, have introduced coins and a subunit, the tiyin. Because it was meant to be a transitional currency, the design was rather simplistic.
Polymer banknotes are banknotes made from a synthetic polymer such as biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP). Such notes incorporate many security features not available in paper banknotes, including the use of metameric inks. Polymer banknotes last significantly longer than paper notes, causing a decrease in environmental impact and a reduced cost of production and replacement. Modern polymer banknotes were first developed by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and The University of Melbourne. They were first issued as currency in Australia during 1988 ; by 1996, the Australian dollar was switched completely to polymer banknotes. Romania was the first country in Europe to issue a plastic note in 1999 and became the third country after Australia and New Zealand to fully convert to polymer by 2003.
Canadian Tire money, officially Canadian Tire 'money' or CTM, is a loyalty program operated by the Canadian retail chain Canadian Tire Corporation (CTC). It consists of both paper coupons introduced in 1958 and used in Canadian Tire stores as scrip, and since 2012 in a digital form introduced as Canadian Tire Money Advantage, rebranded in 2018 as Triangle Rewards. Issuance of paper Canadian Tire Money ended in 2020. Canadian Tire Money has been noted as the most successful loyalty program in Canadian retail history.
A private currency is a currency issued by a private entity, be it an individual, a commercial business, a nonprofit or decentralized common enterprise. It is often contrasted with fiat currency issued by governments or central banks. In many countries, the issuance of private paper currencies and/or the minting of metal coins intended to be used as currency may even be a criminal act such as in the United States. Digital cryptocurrency is sometimes treated as an asset instead of a currency. Cryptocurrency is illegal as a currency in a few countries.
The currencies of Puerto Rico closely follow the historic development of the territory. As a Province of Spain and a territory of the United States, Puerto Rico was granted the use of both foreign and provincial currencies. Following the Spanish colonization in 1508, Puerto Rico became an important port, with its own supply of gold. However, as the mineral reserves ran empty within the century, the archipelago's economy suffered. The Spanish Crown issued the Situado Mexicano, which meant that a semi-regular shipment of gold from the Viceroyalty of New Spain would be sent to the island, as a way to provide economic support. Between 1636 and 1637, Philip IV of Spain imposed a tax which had to be paid using a revenue stamp. Inspired by this, Puerto Rico began producing banknotes in 1766, becoming the first Overseas Province to print 8-real banknotes in the Spanish Empire and which in the Spanish government's approval of subsequent issues.
A cryptocurrency, crypto-currency, or colloquially, crypto, is a digital currency designed to work through a computer network that is not reliant on any central authority, such as a government or bank, to uphold or maintain it.
Dogecoin is a cryptocurrency created by software engineers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer, who decided to create a payment system as a joke, making fun of the wild speculation in cryptocurrencies at the time. It is considered both the first "meme coin", and more specifically the first "dog coin". Despite its satirical nature, some consider it a legitimate investment prospect. Dogecoin features the face of Kabosu from the "doge" meme as its logo and namesake. It was introduced on December 6, 2013, and quickly developed its own online community, reaching a peak market capitalization of over US$85 billion on May 5, 2021. As of 2021, it is the sleeve sponsor of Watford Football Club.
OneCoin is a fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme conducted by offshore companies OneCoin Ltd and OneLife Network Ltd, both founded by Ruja Ignatova in concert with Sebastian Greenwood. OneCoin is considered a Ponzi scheme due to its organisational structure of paying early investors using money obtained from newer ones. It was also a pyramid scheme due to the recruiting of investors without providing any actual product. The company maintained its own database of coins rather than using a blockchain and had no mining process which limited its ability to release and circulate coins. Many of the people central to OneCoin had been previously involved in similar schemes and business malpractice. OneCoin was described by The Times as "one of the biggest scams in history".
The petro (₽), or petromoneda, launched in February 2018, was a crypto token issued by the government of Venezuela.
A cryptocurrency bubble is a phenomenon where the market increasingly considers the going price of cryptocurrency assets to be inflated against their hypothetical value. The history of cryptocurrency has been marked by several speculative bubbles on a boom to bust cycle.
A stablecoin is a type of cryptocurrency where the value of the digital asset is supposed to be pegged to a reference asset, which is either fiat money, exchange-traded commodities, or another cryptocurrency.
Diem was a permissioned blockchain-based stablecoin payment system proposed by the American social media company Facebook. The plan also included a private currency implemented as a cryptocurrency.