Private currency

States, municipalities, private banks, railroad and construction companies, stores, restaurants, churches and individuals printed an estimated 8,000 different types of money by 1860.

In Australia, private currency had first been used since the arrival of European settlers in 1788, and into the early years of Federation before the Bank Notes Tax Act 1910 effectively shut down the circulation of private currencies by imposing a 10% tax on the practice, making it economically prohibitive.

They are exchangeable with other pound notes on a one-to-one basis, and circulate freely within the United Kingdom, though not legal tender, not even in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

In fact, technically, no banknote (including Bank of England notes) qualifies as legal tender in Scotland or Northern Ireland.

Examples include: Canadian Tire money and Pioneer Energy's Bonus Bucks.

Customer reward and loyalty programs operated by businesses are sometimes counted as private currencies.

[16] On 6 August 2013, Federal Judge Amos Mazzant of the Eastern District of Texas of the Fifth Circuit ruled that bitcoins are "a currency or a form of money" (specifically securities as defined by Federal Securities Laws), and as such were subject to the court's jurisdiction.

[17][18] In August 2013, the German Finance Ministry characterized Bitcoin as a unit of account,[19][20] usable in multilateral clearing circles and subject to capital gains tax if held less than one year.

The Liberty Dollar was a commodity-backed private currency created by Bernard von NotHaus and issued between 1998 and 2009.

[22][23] The charges stemmed from the government view that the Liberty silver coins too closely resembled official coinage.

[27] In 2008, Cruz was indicted by a Federal grand jury in Florida on one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States under 18 U.S.C.

[28] As of late October 2010, Cruz was still a fugitive,[29] though an associate was convicted on related charges and sentenced to prison for eight years.