Latinum is a rare, silver-colored liquid metal that cannot be replicated. For everyday use, it is suspended inside gold (which is worthless to replicator-equipped species) to act as a solid carrying medium.
The Ferengi Standard System =
- 100 Slips = 1 Strip
- 20 Strips = 1 Bar (or 2,000 Slips)
- 20 Bars = 1 Brick (or 40,000 Slips)
Federation Credit Exchange Rate
- 1 Big Bar ≈ 100,000 Federation Credits
Foreign Currency Equivalents (Memory Beta)
- Cardassian Drokna / Lek: The Cardassian Union issues gold-sealed latinum chits. Depending on the purity, one Drokna is worth anywhere from 3 slips to ¼ of a bar. Because Cardassian molecular engineering is actually superior at containing liquid latinum, Ferengi banks jealously penalize them, accepting Cardassian tender at only 85% of its true market weight.
- Klon Peags: A game wager currency. 350 Klon Peags is roughly equivalent to 80–90 bars of latinum.
Buying Power
Slips (Pocket Change)
A single slip represents the absolute lowest denomination.
| Cost | Item / Service Purchased | Context / Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Slip | FCA waiting room fee | Cost to stand in the Ferengi Commerce Authority lobby, or to ask the receptionist one question. |
| 2 Slips | Doctor's waiting room fee | Standard entry fee just to walk into the clinic of Dr. Orpax (elite Ferenginar physician). |
| 3 Slips | FCA chair rental | Cost to rent a chair to sit down while waiting inside the FCA. |
| 5 Slips | Casino table buy-in | Standard buy-in wager for a low-stakes table of Dabo or Tongo at Quark's Bar. |
Strips (Everyday Purchases)
A strip is solid consumer spending money. Having a few strips in your pocket means you can eat well, buy clothes, or secure a night’s lodging.
| Cost | Item / Service Purchased | Context / Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Strip | Premium drink / Holosuite | Cost of a glass of vintage Kanar or a high-end holosuite rental. |
| 1 Strip, 15 Slips | Bajoran art sculpture | Winning auction price at Quark's for a rare Bajoran bronze/triptin sculpture. |
| 2 Strips | Childhood pajamas | Price Rom negotiated to buy Nog's old pajamas at a souvenir auction. |
| 5–10 Strips | Courier job / Tip | Respectable tip or standard fee for a short-haul smuggling/courier run on DS9. |
Bars (Major Wealth & Business)
A single Bar represents serious money. A handful of bars is life-changing for a common citizen.
| Cost | Item / Service Purchased | Context / Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Bar | Holosuite retirement | Quark noted 1 Bar (plus a jeweled ring) was enough to "move into a holosuite and live there." |
| 2 Bars | Humanoid female (slave) | Standard "scrap" resale value on the Orion black market. |
| 5 Bars | 100 gross stem bolts | Wholesale asking price for 14,400 self-sealing stem bolts. |
| 5 Bars | Mercenary prison break | Quark's estimate to hire "five Nausicaans, a fast ship, and very few questions." |
| 5 Bars | Bar daily revenue | Average gross revenue generated by Quark's Bar on a really good business day. |
| 5–30 Bars / wk | Underworld consultant | Scaling weekly salary for a high-level private underworld shipping consultant. |
| 10 Bars | Finder's fee | An "overly generous" reward for locating a high-value missing person. |
| 17 Bars, 3 Strips, 5 Slips | Ferengi life savings | The total accumulated life savings of Rom (an adult FCA technician) in 2372. |
| 20 Bars | Desiccated Nagus remains | Standard price for one disk of the vacuum-desiccated remains of a famous Grand Nagus. |
| 36 Bars | Gamma Quadrant artifact | Winning auction price for a historic, museum-grade Gamma Quadrant statue. |
| 105 Bars | Gem-studded dagger | Price of a unique alien dagger from the Gamma Quadrant. |
| 189 Bars | Planetary grain shipment | Total market cost for a massive planetary bulk shipment of Kohlanese barley. |
| 199 Bars | Magical rings | Price Ashrock paid to buy 42 ancient "Rings of Paltriss". |
| 500 Bars | Quark's remains | Fortune Liquidator Brunt paid for Quark's future desiccated remains. |
Bricks & Mega-Wealth
Bricks are used exclusively for institutional banking, planetary GDPs, and syndicate warlords.
| Cost | Item / Service Purchased | Context / Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 100 Bricks (2,000 Bars) | Morn's retirement fortune | The liquid latinum extracted from Morn's second stomach. |
| 3,000 Bars | Crime lord title | Cash bribe required to buy the title of Delbaj inside the Orion Syndicate. |
| 10,000 Bricks | Interstellar fleet | Down payment used by a government to buy a massive fleet of freighters. |
| 2 Million Bars | Planetary warp fuel deposit | Payout earned by geologist Glav for selling a massive Calvinum deposit. |
| 5 Billion Bars | National treasury | The entire planetary national treasury of the planet Sigma V. |
Summary of Macro-Economics
If you translate Latinum into a modern 21st-century Earth mindset:
| Denomination | Estimated 21st-Century USD | Real-World Purchasing Equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Slip | $2 – $5 | Buy a soda / pay a petty toll |
| 1 Strip | $200 – $500 | Buy dinner for four / get a nice hotel room |
| 1 Bar | $5,000 – $10,000 | Buy a used car / hire a hitman / live for a few months |
| 1 Brick | $100,000 – $200,000 | Buy a small private starship / purchase real estate |