The pound sterling is the standard currency unit of the United Kingdom and is issued by the Bank of England. The auxiliary currency units were originally Shiling and Penny, 1 pound was equal to 20 shillings, and 1 shilling was equal to 12 pence. On February 15, 1971, the Bank of England implemented a new currency rounding system, and the auxiliary currency unit was changed to New Penny, 1 pound is equal to 100 new pennies; currently, the banknotes in circulation are 5, 10, 20 and 50 pound denominations, as well as 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 new pennies and 1 pound of coinage.

The United Kingdom officially adopted the gold standard in 1821, and the pound became the standard monetary unit of the United Kingdom. Each pound contains 7.32238 grams of pure gold. When World War I broke out in 1914, Britain abolished the gold standard, gold coins stopped circulating, and Britain stopped converting gold. On May 13, 1925, Britain implemented the gold nugget standard. Later, due to the world economic crisis, in September 1931 It was forced to give up on the 21st, and the pound evolved into a banknote that could not be redeemed; however, due to the need for exchange control, the gold content of the pound was still stipulated as 3.58134 grams on December 18, 1946.

By the beginning of the 20th century, the pound had always been the most important means of international payment and reserve currency in the capitalist world. After World War I, the pound's international reserve currency status tended to decline and was gradually replaced by the U.S. dollar. ; During the outbreak of World War II, the United Kingdom implemented strict foreign exchange controls and fixed the pound exchange rate at 1 pound to 4.03 U.S. dollars; on July 15, 1947, the United Kingdom announced that the pound would be freely convertible. Due to the rapid loss of foreign exchange reserves, Foreign exchange controls were restored in August of the same year; in September 1949, the British announced a 30.5% devaluation of the pound, devaluing the pound against the US dollar to US$2.80. On November 18, 1967, the pound devalued again, with the exchange rate against the US dollar falling to US$2.40. The gold content of the pound also dropped to 2.13281 grams; after the U.S. dollar implemented a floating exchange rate on August 15, 1971, the pound began to determine its price against the U.S. dollar based on the unchanged gold content. After the U.S. dollar officially devalued on December 18 of the same year, the new exchange rate of the pound against the U.S. dollar The official exchange rate appreciated to 2.6057 US dollars per pound. The actual exchange rate can float within the range of 1 pound to 2.5471 U.S. dollars to 2.6643 U.S. dollars, with a fluctuation of about 4.5%; on March 19, 1973, eight Western European countries formed a joint floating group, but the United Kingdom did not participate and continued to float independently; in January of the following year, the pound The real exchange rate system became a managed floating exchange rate mechanism. In the same year, the pound area shrank to include only the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Cayman Islands and the Channel Islands. The gold reserves issued by the pound were at least equivalent to more than 2.65 billion pounds. On October 8, 1990, the pound joined the European Monetary System, and its control over the monetary system The fluctuation range of various currency exchange rates is 6%; on September 16, 1992, the United Kingdom announced that the pound would temporarily leave the European Monetary System.