Currency Symbols Block

Money makes the world go round, and Unicode makes money expressible in text. The Currency Symbols block at U+20A0–U+20CF provides dedicated code points for the world's monetary symbols, complementing the dollar sign $ (U+0024) and pound sign £ (U+00A3) that appeared in earlier ASCII and Latin character sets. This block tells a fascinating story of global commerce, monetary history, and the politics of symbol standardization.

The Currency Symbols Block (U+20A0–U+20CF)

The block spans 48 code points and contains symbols for currencies from every inhabited continent. Not every slot is filled — some code points are reserved for future additions — but the block includes symbols for most major and many minor currencies.

Key symbols and their stories:

The Euro Sign (U+20AC): A Design by Committee

The € symbol is one of the most carefully designed currency symbols in history. When the European Union introduced the euro in 1999, the European Commission ran a design contest and received over 30 entries. The winning design by Belgian graphic designer Alain Billiet is based on the Greek letter epsilon (ε) — a reference to the cradle of European civilization — with two horizontal lines signifying stability.

The Euro was added to Unicode in version 2.1 (1998), just ahead of its introduction, allowing software to support it before the currency launched. This proactive addition was a notable moment in Unicode's history.

The Indian Rupee (U+20B9): A Modern Addition

India had used the letter combination "Rs" and the symbol ₨ (U+20A8, generic rupee sign) for decades. In 2010, India adopted an official rupee symbol through a national design competition won by D. Udaya Kumar. The winning design combines the Devanagari letter RA (र) with a horizontal bar reminiscent of the Latin letter R.

Unicode 6.0 (2010) added ₹ at U+20B9 within months of its official adoption — a remarkably fast inclusion that reflected Unicode's improved processes for adding new symbols.

The Bitcoin Symbol (U+20BF): Cryptocurrency Enters Unicode

₿ at U+20BF was added in Unicode 10.0 (2017), making Bitcoin the first — and so far only — cryptocurrency with an official Unicode symbol. The symbol was proposed because Bitcoin had achieved sufficient global recognition and the symbol was in widespread use in financial contexts.

The symbol itself (a capital B with two vertical strokes) was created pseudonymously by Satoshi Nakamoto in Bitcoin's early days, inspired by the dollar sign's design convention. Its Unicode inclusion was somewhat controversial, with some arguing it was premature given cryptocurrency's uncertain status, while others pointed to its widespread adoption in financial media.

Other major cryptocurrencies (Ethereum, Litecoin, etc.) do not have dedicated Unicode code points and rely on non-standard characters or text abbreviations.

The Dollar Sign and Its Variants

The dollar sign $ (U+0024) predates the Currency Symbols block entirely, having been in ASCII since 1963. Its origin is debated — theories include it being derived from the Spanish "P" for pesos with a superscript "s," or from the letters "U" and "S" overlapping. The most credible theory traces it to the "PS" abbreviation for Spanish pesos.

Unicode includes several dollar-related characters beyond U+0024: - ＄ U+FF04 — Fullwidth Dollar Sign (for CJK text alignment) - 💲 U+1F4B2 — Heavy Dollar Sign (emoji variant)

The generic currency sign ¤ (U+00A4) appears in Latin Extended blocks and was historically used as a placeholder when the local currency symbol was unknown.

Currencies Without Dedicated Symbols

Many currencies of the world lack dedicated Unicode code points and are represented by ISO 4217 three-letter codes or Latin letter combinations:

• Chinese yuan/renminbi: Uses ¥ (U+00A5, shared with Japanese yen), or the abbreviation CNY or RMB
• Swiss franc: CHF or Fr (no dedicated symbol)
• Swedish/Norwegian/Danish krone: kr (shared, no dedicated symbol)
• Australian/Canadian dollar: A$ / C$ (letter prefix + dollar sign)
• Saudi riyal: SAR or SR (no Unicode symbol)

The absence of a dedicated symbol for the yuan is notable given China's economic significance. There have been proposals to add a distinct yuan symbol, but the ¥ character has become entrenched in practice.

Font and Rendering Considerations

Not all currency symbols are equally well-supported across fonts. The Euro (€) and Pound (£) have near-universal font support. The Indian Rupee (₹) and Turkish Lira (₺) have excellent support in modern fonts. However, symbols like the Livre Tournois (₶) or Spesmilo (₷) are rarely supported and may render as boxes in most fonts.

Developers handling international commerce should: 1. Test currency symbol rendering across target operating systems 2. Use Unicode code points rather than HTML entities when possible 3. Consider fallback text (e.g., "NGN" if ₦ doesn't render) 4. Store prices as numbers with ISO 4217 codes, format with the symbol only for display