History Main / FictionalCurrency

* ''LightNovel/IsItWrongToTryToPickUpGirlsInADungeon'' uses Vals.
* ''Literature/KonoSuba'' uses "eris" as currency, which also happens to share a name with a local goddess in the setting's pantheon.
* ''Literature/MoribitoGuardianOfTheSpirit'' has "han" as its basic currency unit, and lugals, which are 100 han.

* ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'' has multiple in-universe instances of this, depending on which VRMMO it applies to.
** "Cor" for Sword Art Online (an abbreviation for "Coin of Radius")
** "Yrd" for Alfheim Online
** [[WeWillSpendCreditsInTheFuture "Credits"]] for Gun Gale Online; notably, these are exchangeable for real-world yen (100:1), meaning this particular VRMMO is registered as a casino and some play the game for a living.
** "Shia" for Underworld
** "El" for Unital Ring

* The main currency of ''LightNovel/RebuildWorld'', is "aurum", which is given in both coins and bills. It's the local currency managed by the MegaCorp Sakashita Heavy Industries. It seems to be analogous to real-life yen.
** Large corporations mostly trade using "chrome", which is the currency of the Old World {{Precursors}}. There are ancient vending machines that still work and accept chrome to dispense miraculous medicines and such, but they have extremely lethal security systems to prevent theft.

* ''LightNovel/VioletEvergarden'' uses "kohls" on the continent of Telsis.

* ''Literature/RebornAsASpaceMercenaryIWokeUpPilotingTheStrongestStarship'' uses the Ener, which is noted by the protagonist, Hiro, to be roughly 100 yen. This indicates that it's roughly one US dollar, give or take a few pennies.

* While most settings of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' simply use the GoldSilverCopperStandard the novels for ''TabletopGame/{{Eberron}}'' refer to the coins as Galifars, Sovereigns, Crowns, and platinum Dragons. Most settings ''did'' tend to have actual names for the currency floating around... it was just that except for ''Eberron'' most of them had several different currencies using the copper/silver/gold/platinum system, with wide acceptance for most making just calling the coins for their metallic category a wide-spread and very common general nickname.

* The Orks of ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' use their own teeth as currency. Apparently, this works because their teeth grow back constantly but also decay over time once removed. Poverty is rarely a problem as an Ork short on "Teef" can easily punch any one of his fellow Boyz in the jaw if he needs some spare change.
** The Imperium at large does not bother with currency, preferring to charge tithes and taxes in the form of whatever resource their planets can offer, be it food, ammunition or recruits. For everything else, either Credits or Thrones are used instead.

* ''LightNovel/KonoSubarashiiSekaiNiShukufukuO'' uses "eris" as currency, which also happens to share a name with a local goddess in the setting's pantheon.

* The ''Franchise/MegaMan'' franchise uses zenny, most prominently in the ''Legends'' series, but it occasionally shows up in earlier entries (''Command Mission'') or other media (''Mega Man (Archie Comics)'').

Inventing a fictional currency helps establish a setting as unique, and when done well it builds immersion. Of course, when done poorly, it can have the opposite effect — having an unexpected or unexplained reference to a made-up word that means "money" can be confusing or distracting. Often, a fictional currency will be roughly equivalent in value to a real-life one; this saves the writer the effort of having to do conversion rates mentally. The most common targets for this treatment tend to be the dollar or the yen. This is occasionally explicit, as with the [[Manga/{{Trigun}} double dollar]] or the [[TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}} nuyen]]. The zeni (or [[SpellMyNameWithAnS zenny]]) is a popular name for fictional currencies in Japanese media.[[note]]It comes from the word for [[ShapedLikeItself "money" or "coin"]].[[/note]]

* ''{{VideoGame/Fallout}}'' most prominently uses caps (literally old Nuka-Cola bottle caps, backed by the water merchants of The Hub) as their post-apocalyptic currency, but the New California Republic also produces NCR dollars (gold coins in Fallout 2 and heavily devalued paper money in New Vegas). The Legion produces their own money, but it's directly based on two Ancient Roman coins: the aureus and denarius.

* ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter'' uses zenny, [[CreatorThumbprint true to Capcom fashion]]. However, some services and goods instead cost "points", the exact name of which depends on the game you're playing; in ''Monster Hunter tri-'' and ''3 Ultimate'' it's Moga Points (since you live in Moga Village), in ''4'' and ''4 Ultimate'' it's Caravan Points (since you're part of a traveling caravan), and in ''Generations'' and ''Generations Ultimate'' it's Wycademy points (since you represent the Wycademy, a FantasticScience institution). Most likely, the points are not material, but instead a form of credit.

* ''VideoGame/Pikmin2'' has the Poko as the currency of the planet Hocotate.

* Used in ''Anime/SpiceAndWolf'', where each nation has it's own gold, silver, and copper coins, with churches and Earl's minting their own at will. The very first arc dealt with the devaluation of "Trenni" silver coins.

* The currency of ''WebAnimation/MonkeyWrench'' is called "pixels", and appears to be mostly digitally traded. When it does appear in physical form, it's glowing blue cubes of various but similar sizes, potentially denoting value by size.

* ''LightNovel/IWokeUpPilotingTheStrongestStarship'' uses the Enel, which is noted by the protagonist, Hiro, to be roughly 100 yen. This indicates that it's roughly one US dollar, give or take a few pennies.

* In ''Franchise/JohnWick'', the criminal underworld uses a separate system of gold coins for transactions, whether it's paying for a CleanupCrew to get rid of a body or simply gaining entrance to a bar. Its value relative to real currency is intentionally vague and inconsistent, as [[WordOfGod according to the directors]], its status as an "in the know" token for the underworld is more important than an exchange rate; if you're worried about how much something costs, you're not truly part of the world of assassins.

Compare CallARabbitASmeerp, though {{Justified|Trope}} in that one generally ''expects'' there to be different names for different currencies. Contrast GoldSilverCopperStandard, where the money used isn't a currency at all, but precious metals are used instead; the two may overlap when different names are given to the appropriate coins. Compare ''and'' contrast with EnergyEconomy, where energy, either a real form or fictional, is used for currency. Examples are often a GlobalCurrency. WeWillSpendCreditsInTheFuture is a ScienceFiction-specific subtrope. See also WeirdCurrency and PracticalCurrency.

* ''VideoGame/{{Pikmin}} 2'' has the Poko as the currency of the planet Hocotate.

* The orks of ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' use their own teeth as currency. Apparently, this works because their teeth grow back constantly but also decay over time once removed.

** Other forms of currency have appeared in the series, such as the ancient [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame Dwemer]] coins in ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'', but to date, they have been treated as VendorTrash which can be sold for the standard gold coins.

* ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing'' uses meat as currency, while [[WorthlessYellowRocks precious metals]] are VendorTrash.

%% ''VideoGame/PhantasyStar'' uses meseta.

* ''TabletopGame/HumanOccupiedLandfill'' has grobules, a small lumpy egg often scavenged from battlefields and slaughter sites. If left alone, it will mature into the festering groblinoid, which is larger and smells like rancid oatmeal and is worth ten grobules for no discernible reason. Eventually, that will hatch into the grobling, a snarling mass of claws and fangs and killing urge which is not only worthless as a monetary unit but will also savagely assault its owner and everyone else in the area. It also releases a gas that causes nearby grobules and groblinoids to hatch prematurely into adult forms so they can join in. After everything else is dead, they lay new grobules and promptly die from boredom. Then new victims show up and loot the new hoard, and the cycle repeats. The alternative is the Confederate Chit, but nobody other than offworlders put any value in that.

** [[WeWillSpendCreditsInTheFuture "Credits"]] for GGO; notably, these are exchangeable for real-world yen (100:1), meaning this particular VRMMO is registered as a casino and some play the game for a living.

** "Cor" for SAO (an abbreviation for "Coin of Radius")
** "Yrd" for ALO

* The currency of ''LightNovel/RebuildWorld'', is "aurum", which is given in both coins and bills. It seems to be analogous to real-life yen.

** Naturally, your local Ferengi currency exchanger is more than happy to turn all of this into gold-pressed latinum, in easy-to-handle denominations of slips, strips, bars, and bricks. Note that the gold is considered worthless; it's the liquid latinum inside that holds value. Going by the ''Deep Space Nine'' episode "Body Parts", 100 slips makes a strip and 20 strips makes a bar, and so 2000 slips makes a bar.