UTC  Heres Answerscoms definition for US legal tender Legal Tender is anything that by law a debtor may require his creditor to receive in payment of a debt in the absence of the appearance in the contract itself of an agreement for payment in some other manner The tender is an admission of the debt and in some jurisdictions if refused discharges the debt  Interestingly enough the USC does not have a definition for legal tender yet utilizes the phrase in a statute Sigh Legislators these days      March