Money Money or currency was a medium of exchange used to facilitate transactions of goods or services . Societies that used money were described as practicing currency - based economics . ( ) Money on Earth prior to First Contact . In the 19th , 20th , and early in the 21st century , dollar s were one of the commonly used forms of money . ( ; ; ; ) . Another example of currency used in Earth was the British pound ( , ) amongst others . During the 2020s , the United States of America used credit chip s as a form of currency . ( ) . The colloquialism " bucks " was still in use as late as 2032 to refer to money , specifically the dollar . ( ) In 2063 , Zefram Cochrane explained to Commander Riker that his motivation for inventing warp drive was to get rich . Money was frequently an element of Holographic programs set in the past . ( ; ) The New World Economy . Money in the 21st century sense was not used on 24th century Earth , as the result of a worldwide economic reorganization in the late 22nd century . The exact nature of the Federation economy was difficult to describe ; while money may not have entirely ceased to exist , it did not play the central role in the lives of Federation and Earth citizens that it once did . The descriptions given by various Federation citizens varied : Money as a figure of speech . In certain cases , references to money were made in a manner that were construed or explained as euphemistic or idiomatic , with no literal implications of money directly being used : The Federation and money . Wealth was not totally abandoned by all Federation citizens , and an individual such as philanthropist Carter Winston could acquire a vast personal fortune during the late 23rd century . ( ) Notably , the crew of the , faced with severe resource limitations after being flung into the Delta Quadrant , treated rations on replicator and holodeck use as currency and traded these among themselves . < br > Bartender Quark had repeated financial interactions with Federation personnel . On numerous occasions , Starfleet officers gambled to win latinum at Quark ' s Bar , including Julian Bashir , Thomas Riker , and Jadzia Dax . ( ; ) His bar also routinely extended credit to its patrons , including Federation citizens and members of Starfleet . ( , ) In 2372 , he sold " Quark ' s Treasure " – a damaged Ferengi shuttle which had belonged to him – for scrap after it was disabled in the Sol system , and was given enough to cover passage back to Deep Space 9 . ( ) Later that year , Benjamin Sisko threatened Quark to collect on five years ' " back rent " that was unpaid , though the actual motivation behind the threat was not fiscal . ( ) Quark later stated that he was in debt to some unnamed Humans , but considered defaulting on them a trivial matter . ( ) In 2373 , he indirectly caused damage to a cargo bay , and was informed that he would have to bear the burden for the repairs , though it was not clear if this burden was financial in nature . ( ) When Quark rescued from a Federation starbase after he was arrest ed on Thalos VI , he had to pay a fine before he could be released . ( ) Appendices . Background information . In the final draft script of , self - appointed " Captain " Kevin Riley , while suffering from polywater intoxication , announced to the crew of the that all male crewmen who attended an upcoming formal dance would be " raised one pay grade . " According to Riley , this was to compensate them for all the female crewmen who attended the event each being provided with a pint of perfume from ship ' s store s . In the final draft script of , Doctor McCoy jokingly told Captain Kirk that , if McCoy was permitted to " just sit quietly in the background and hear " Kirk give Charles Evans a disciplinary talk , he " would gladly give up a year ' s pay . " The final draft script of implied that the society on Earth Two involved money , as a wig scripted to be worn by Jahn was described ( in one of the teleplay ' s stage directions ) as having a price tag still attached while the wig was being worn . Ronald D . Moore commented , " " By the time I joined TNG , Gene [ Roddenberry ] had decreed that money most emphatically did NOT exist in the Federation , nor did ' credits ' and that was that . Personally , I ' ve always felt this was a bunch of hooey , but it was one of the rules and that ' s that . " " A cut scene in the script of would have established that , as of 2063 , " no one " had used currency in ten years , apparently due to scarcity . However , a currency called Dome money was also mentioned . In the first draft script of , when Ryan became surprised that could synthesize a required amount of valve seal s in approximately forty minute s , Tucker joked that he could take longer to do so but that he " charge [ d ] by the hour . " An ultimately omitted line of dialogue from the final draft script of featured 21st century Human exclaiming to 22nd century Vulcan T ' Pol , " " You act like money doesn ' t mean anything ! " " Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman , screenwriters of and , said in a question - and - answer session with fans that " there ' s money , or some kind of credit system " in the alternate reality . Apocrypha . There are many mentions of payment and currency in the " Balance of Power " by Dafydd ab Hugh . There are non - canon ical references to Federation citizens receiving allotments of Replicator Credits ( to provide food and other material needs ) and Structure Credits ( for housing and storage ) in some " Star Trek " - derived works . In the Mirror universe of the alternate reality - set comic " Live Evil " , mentions a monetary unit called the " chit " . In the 25th - century timeline of Star Trek Online , a currency system called " Energy Credits " ( EC ) has achieved near - universal acceptance among galactic powers , including the Klingon Empire and Romulan Star Empire . EC may be exchanged by individuals or traded for goods and services , and many commodities have a fixed EC " cost " to obtain from a replicator . It is implied that EC are intended as a direct representation of the amount of energy used to replicate or construct a given item , allowing commodities to become " cheaper " if they can be created for less energy . It is not known whether EC is used at large in the same way as regular currency , or if it is simply a convenient way for the game to facilitate more traditional economic activity .