Fresh Fiat

Short answer: US paper money is made by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, part of the Treasury Department, which has printed the nation's currency since 1862. All of it comes from two plants, in Washington, D.C., and Fort Worth, Texas.

Coins are a separate job, made by the US Mint. The notes are Federal Reserve notes, and the Federal Reserve Board, as their issuing authority, sends the BEP an annual print order. The 2025 order, approved on July 16, 2024, called for 4.1 billion to 5.9 billion notes worth $83.2 billion to $113 billion. The Board says the main driver in recent years has been replacing unfit notes destroyed in normal processing, along with demand at home and abroad. The BEP reported finishing the 2025 order at 4.8 billion notes. The 2026 order ranges from 3.8 billion to 5.1 billion notes, and a redesigned $10, the first of the 'Catalyst' series, is due in 2026. The dollar is 'fiat' money because its value rests on law and trust rather than a promise to swap it for gold. The last link, letting foreign governments convert dollars to gold, ended on August 15, 1971, when President Nixon suspended convertibility. The footage shows a currency plant: sheets on presses, stacks of printed notes and bundles moving along conveyors.