What is a Bank Note?
A bank note is a promissory note issued by a bank. It is payable on demand, sometimes in the form of precious metals like gold and silver, and sometimes in exchange for assets such as bonds issued by the bank. Bank notes are considered legal tender, and they are used in billions of financial transactions all over the world every day. A bank note, in other words, is currency or money. Originally, people paid for goods and services with objects of physical value, such as precious metals. Over time, governments began issuing bank notes, pieces of paper which could be exchanged for these objects of value. Although the paper itself is physically worthless, it represents value. These certificates were much lighter and more practical to carry around than piles of gold and silver. Small denominations of currency were cast in coins made from less precious metals, so people generally carried around a mixture of bank notes in paper and small coin. Over time, the use of a gold or silver standard t
