Pound Sterling · GBP
£ symbol · 1 country currently using this currency.
Currency info
Currency family: Pound
The pound sterling is the oldest currency still in use, with origins tracing back over 1,200 years to Anglo-Saxon England.
- Originated from the pound weight of silver in medieval England, with the £ symbol derived from the Latin 'libra'
- Became the world's primary reserve currency during the British Empire's height in the 19th and early 20th centuries
- Transitioned from the gold standard to fiat currency in 1931 during the Great Depression
- Decimalized in 1971, replacing the old system of pounds, shillings, and pence with a simpler 100 pence per pound structure
- Remains one of the world's oldest continuously used currencies still in circulation
