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$ is used to represent dozens of local "dollars", not just USD. That's why you use "USD" when specificity matters. There's nothing wrong with "BTC" when you need to type something out about Bitcoin. Specialized symbols in font is not a scalable solution...

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Yep for example the US dollar symbol is also used for the Mexican peso and Canadian dollar. To differentiate they simply use codes i.e. US, CAN, MXN where context is needed. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollar_sign

... Which once led an intern to submit an expense report for me for USD $2,800 for a dinner in Guadalajara. After a stern talking-to by accounting I did the rest of my receipts myself.

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