💰 Moneypublished 2w ago
The British Banknote Promise That Now Pays Itself
Every banknote issued by the Bank of England carries the historic inscription: "I promise to pay the bearer on demand the sum of..." signed by the Chief Cashier. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, this pledged an immediate exchange for physical gold or silver coin. Britain abandoned the gold standard in 1931, making the promise purely ceremonial. Handing a twenty-pound note to the central bank today legally entitles you only to another twenty-pound note.
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