Converter forex rate

As history has shown, anything that a group of people in an economy attaches value to can be used as currency. For practical reasons, Lydian currency took on the form of a round coin, which became the first ever standardized unit of currency. Paper currency, on the other hand, was invented in Asia and was brought back to Europe by Marco Polo after his travels to Asia.

Modern currency is much more uniform and regulated. Major currencies in the world today take on the physical form of paper bills or coins which are easily carried on a person, but most of a person's currency is typically stored in digital accounts. The value of these currencies is backed by the promise of their issuing governments, which makes them fiat money currency declared by the government to be an official medium of payment but is not backed by a physical commodity.

Before fiat money existed, currencies were usually backed by a commodity such as gold or silver. While modern currency is physically represented by coins and paper bills, most large-scale currency transactions are done electronically. Modern technology utilizes sophisticated currency exchange mechanisms and systems to exchange currencies between digital accounts rather than physically. Even the exchange of currency for everyday goods and services such as groceries or haircuts involves physical currencies less and less due to the growing popularity of debit cards, credit cards, and mobile payments.

Cryptocurrencies are digital currencies operating independently of a central bank or authority, in which encryption techniques are used to regulate the generation of units of currency as well as to verify the transfer of funds.

The current technology behind cryptocurrencies is called blockchain, which is a decentralized ledger of all transactions across a peer-to-peer network. A prominent feature of blockchain is that participants can confirm transactions without the need for a central clearing authority, such as a central bank or government.

The value of cryptocurrencies fluctuates, just like a regular currency, and they can be traded in the same way as any other currency. Some experts say that there is a slight chance that cryptocurrencies become the currency of the future. For the purposes of this calculator, Bitcoin is the only cryptocurrency available for conversion at the moment. Currencies used in different countries are rarely, if ever, exactly equal in value. As a result, exchange rates the rate at which a currency is exchanged for another exist to enable the equal exchange of currencies.

Real-time exchange rates are supplied by the foreign exchange market forex , the same place where most currency transactions take place. Foreign Exchange cash transactions are available to RBC clients only.

Exchange rates quoted in the media are the exchange rates, used by banks and other market participants to buy and sell currencies in the wholesale market. Client transactions require additional processing and are usually for much smaller amounts, and as a result, are priced using a retail rate. Exchange rates applied to cash transactions include shipping and handling charges, making the exchange rate for cash less favorable than the non-cash rate. Non-cash rates are applied to paper instruments such as cheques and drafts.

Non-cash rates are also applied to incoming and outgoing wire payments and other electronic transactions. These instruments do not require physical storage or movement, and incur less time and cost for processing than cash transactions. Therefore a more favorable rate is applied to non-cash instruments.

It is often more beneficial to convert your Canadian dollars to the local currency of your travel destination before you leave Canada.

Many banks, foreign exchange kiosks and hotels in other countries charge commission or service charges in addition to exchange rates that are often higher than those in Canada when converting your Canadian dollars to their local currency. MENU How can we help you? Menu list Articles list Location list Contact list. Select Destination. Our latest currency calculator is a direct descendent of the fast and reliable original "Universal Currency Calculator" and of course it's still free!

Learn more about Xe , our latest money transfer services, and how we became known as the world's currency data authority. Xe Currency Converter Check live foreign currency exchange rates. Convert Send Charts Alerts. We use midmarket rates These are derived from the mid-point between the "buy" and "sell" transactional rates from global currency markets. They are not transactional rates. Learn more. EUR — Euro. Xe Live Exchange Rates Inverse.

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