Ruble sign

Ruble sign
Reference design for the ruble sign used since 2013

The ruble sign (, RUB) is the currency sign used for the Russian ruble, the official currency of Russia. It features a sans-serif Cyrillic letter Р (R in the English alphabet) with an additional horizontal stroke. The design was approved on 11 December 2013 after a public poll that took place a month earlier.[1] The international three-letter code (according to International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard ISO 4217) for the ruble is RUB. In Unicode, it is encoded at U+20BD RUBLE SIGN (HTML ₽).

In Russian orthography, the sign usually follows the number (the monetary value). In English orthography, it usually precedes the number.

History

The debates about adopting a national currency symbol for the Russian ruble began nearly from the start of Russia's transition to a market economy and its economic integration into the global market in the 1990s, soon after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The idea was to reach the same level of recognition and therefore of influence as well-known currency signs such as $ (the US dollar), ¥ (the Chinese yuan or the Japanese yen) and £ (the UK pound). There were several contests to choose the ruble sign, hosted by different organizations. However, the Central Bank of Russia did not adopt one of the winning symbols from these early contests.

In 2007, the initiative group of Russian design bureaus and studios proposed to use ₽, the stroked Cyrillic letter Р (R in the English alphabet), to represent the ruble. Soon after, many electronic retailers, restaurants and cafés started to use the sign unofficially. It became very popular and was widely used as a de facto standard.

The five final options in the public poll on the website of Central Bank of Russia

In November 2013, the Central Bank of Russia finally decided to adopt a national currency sign. It placed a public poll on its website with five pre-chosen options.

A Russian ruble coin from a special series featuring the ruble sign

The design provided earlier by the design community that was informally yet widely used (₽) was on the poll's list and got the most votes. On 11 December 2013, ₽ was approved as the official sign for the Russian Federation's ruble.[1]

Other uses of the symbol

The cryptocurrency Petro, backed by government of Venezuela uses the same symbol as the Ruble. The Philippine Peso however uses a similar symbol however the double or single lines cross the upper part of letter P and not the bottom part. The currency symbol used in-game in the Pokemon media franchise is also identical to the Ruble sign.

References

  1. 1 2 "Currency Geeks Rejoice, Russia Has A New Symbol For The Rouble". Business Insider.
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