[ithkuil]

apparently the $ sign has its origins in the spanish Peso, where the p and s were gradually being merged together in abbreviations.

futhermore the US Dollar itself stems from the Spanish Dollar:

"The U.S. dollar was directly based on the Spanish Milled Dollar when, in the Coinage Act of 1792, the first Mint Act, its value was fixed [..] as being "of the value of a Spanish milled dollar as the same is now current

[mirimir]

True enough.

But it's still potentially confusing, when stuff gets translated with no context for currency values. Especially, I imagine, if you don't know either Spanish or English.

[jsmthrowaway]

Correct. They had it first, which is why I lightly check the “they use $ too? That’s confusing.” sentiment.

The Dutch, ever innovative in trade, can lay claim as a bigger influence on the word “dollar” and the currency form itself, however, and colonial Americans traded regularly in Dutch daalders (we still pronounce it that way, unlike doh-LAHR/doh-LAHR-ehss for the Spanish varieties). Daalders themselves were descendants of Bohemian thalers, as were Spanish dollars. We just borrowed the neighboring dollars when the time came, probably due to our foreign policy environment at the time, trade with Florida, and so on.