Foreign exchange firm Travelex has introduced a currency for interstellar commerce.

From the press release:

It is the first currency of its kind in the universe and has been developed in partnership with a team of scientists from the National Space Centre and the University of Leicester.

They clearly have the inside track if they can be so sure it’s the “first of its kind in the universe”, but it’s fun all the same. 🙂

The Quasi Universal Intergalactic Denomination (QUID — slang for money in Britain and Ireland) is made from plastic and has no sharp edges, which would be lethal in a zero-g environment. Each features the solar system: eight planets around a central sun (poor Pluto; I and more than one million other have not forgotten you).

Here they be:

One quid is worth €8.68, $12.50 or £6.25, with the different colours having different values. The company is planning ahead for when space tourism is commonplace — it has applied to set up the first bureau de change on the moon.

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