You've seen it on Mr. Monopoly’s hat. It pops up in old cartoons and high-end fashion logos. Yet, look at your smartphone keyboard right now and you’ll likely only see the single-stroke version: $. It’s a bit weird when you think about it. The dollar sign with two lines used to be the gold standard for representing wealth, but it has slowly started to fade into the background of digital design. Honestly, most people assume it's just a stylistic choice, a bit of "flair" for the wealthy. That isn't the whole story.
Money is messy. Its history is even messier.
The double-barred symbol isn't just a font variation; it carries the weight of several competing historical theories, some of which are probably myths, while others are backed by actual ledger books from the 1700s. Whether you call it the "cifrão" or the "double-stroke dollar," this symbol represents a specific evolution of global trade.
Where the dollar sign with two lines actually came from
The most popular theory you’ll hear at a bar is that the dollar sign with two lines comes from the initials of the United States. "U" over "S." If you drop the bottom curve of the U, you get two vertical lines over an S. It sounds perfect. It feels patriotic. It is almost certainly wrong.
Historians like Lawrence Majewski have pointed out that the symbol was being used well before the United States was even a glimmer in George Washington's eye. The real culprit? The Spanish Peso. Back in the late 18th century, the Spanish American peso—specifically the "piece of eight"—was the unofficial global currency. Merchants didn't want to write "pesos" over and over again in their ledgers. They used an abbreviation: "ps."
Eventually, these merchants got lazy. They started sliding the "s" on top of the "p." If you draw a lowercase "p" and put an "s" over it, then strip away the loop of the "p," you’re left with a vertical line through an S. But where does the second line come from?
The Pillars of Hercules
This is where the history gets cool. The Spanish coat of arms featured the Pillars of Hercules, which represented the Strait of Gibraltar. These pillars were wrapped in a scroll that read Plus Ultra, meaning "further beyond." On the Spanish silver coins that circulated in the American colonies, these two pillars appeared prominently.
Early scribes likely used two vertical lines to represent those pillars, wrapped in an "S" shaped scroll. This wasn't just a "dollar" sign; it was a symbol of the Spanish Empire's reach. When the U.S. Mint was established in 1792, they adopted the symbol because everyone was already using the Spanish currency anyway. We basically "borrowed" the branding of the most successful currency of the era.
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Why did we lose the second line?
If you look at early American documents, the dollar sign with two lines is everywhere. It felt substantial. However, the 20th century brought the typewriter, and later, the computer.
Efficiency killed the double bar.
Early typewriter designers realized that a single vertical stroke was easier to see on a small metal slug. It also looked cleaner when typed onto thin paper. When the digital age arrived, ASCII (the standard code for characters) only included one version of the dollar sign: $. Since memory was expensive in the early days of computing, we didn't have room for two versions of the same thing. The single-bar version won because it was faster to render and easier to read on low-resolution screens.
It's kinda sad. We traded historical symbolism for 8-bit convenience.
The Cifrão: A different beast altogether
We can't talk about the dollar sign with two lines without mentioning Portugal and Brazil. They have their own version called the cifrão. While it looks identical to the double-barred dollar sign, its history is totally separate.
In Portuguese-speaking countries, the cifrão is the official sign for the escudo (before the Euro) and the Brazilian real. Interestingly, the cifrão is used as a decimal separator. You wouldn't write $10.50; you’d write 10$50.
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Modern uses in branding
Even though the single line is the king of digital text, luxury brands still cling to the double line. It evokes a sense of "old money." Think about the way a "Money Bag" emoji is drawn on different platforms. Some, like WhatsApp or Apple, fluctuate between one and two lines depending on the OS version, but the two-line version almost always feels more "expensive."
- Financial Institutions: Older banks often keep the double-stroke in their stone engravings.
- Gaming: Think of The Sims or Grand Theft Auto. Designers use the double-barred version to make "Simoleons" or "Cash" feel like an object rather than just a number.
- Pop Art: Andy Warhol famously used the double-stroked sign in his 1981 "Dollar Sign" series. He chose the double line because it was more "graphic" and screamed "commercialism."
Common misconceptions about the symbol
A lot of people think the lines have to do with the "Gold Standard." They'll tell you one line means silver and two lines mean gold. Honestly? There is zero historical evidence for that. It’s a back-formed explanation that people made up to sound smart at parties.
Another weird myth is that it’s a simplified version of the British Pound (£) symbol. That makes no sense. The Pound sign comes from a "L" (for libra), while the dollar sign is clearly "S" based. Don't let the internet's "fun facts" rabbit holes fool you.
How to use it today
If you’re a designer or a writer, when should you actually use the dollar sign with two lines?
If you're writing a formal business report or a piece of financial software, stick to the single bar ($). It’s the universal standard for "currency" in code. If you try to force a double-barred symbol into a CSV file, you're going to have a bad time.
But, if you’re working on branding for a vintage-style company, or perhaps a logo for a finance podcast, the double bar is your friend. It signals "history," "stability," and "tangible wealth."
Finding the symbol on your keyboard
You won't find it on a standard QWERTY layout. To get a true double-barred dollar sign (the cifrão) in a digital document, you usually have to dig into Unicode.
- Unicode: U+0024 is the standard dollar sign.
- The Cifrão: U+0024 is often rendered with two lines in specific fonts like "Courier" or "Old English," but a specific Portuguese cifrão doesn't always have its own distinct slot in every font family.
- Font Choice: The easiest way to get the look is to change your font. Typefaces like Baskerville, Caslon, or Bodoni often have more traditional, double-leaning flourishes in their currency symbols.
What this means for your money
The evolution of the dollar sign with two lines is a reminder that even the things we use every day—like the icons in our bank apps—have deep, complicated roots in colonialism, trade wars, and technical limitations.
The move toward the single bar reflects our shift from "physical" money (pillars of silver) to "digital" money (bits and bytes). As we move closer to a cashless society, the symbol itself might eventually become as archaic as the "cents" sign (¢), which has almost vanished from modern keyboards entirely.
If you want to use the double-barred sign effectively in your own work, remember that it is a tool for storytelling. Use it when you want to remind people of the weight and history of money, rather than just the price of a cup of coffee.
To apply this knowledge practically, look at your brand's typography. If you are in a "disruptor" space (crypto, fintech), the single-line $ fits the minimalist aesthetic. If you are in "trust" industries (law, wealth management, heritage goods), finding a font that supports the dollar sign with two lines can subtly communicate that your roots go deeper than the internet age. Pay attention to the details; your customers' subconscious certainly does.