What is the origin of the $ sign?

The origin of the "$" sign has been variously accounted for, however, the most
widely accepted explanation is that the symbol is the result of evolution,
independently in different places, of the Mexican or Spanish "P's" for pesos, or
piastres, or pieces of eight. The theory, derived from a study of old manuscripts, is
that the "S" gradually came to be written over the "P," developing a close
equivalent of the "$" mark. It was widely used before the adoption of the United
States dollar in 1785.

From Thalers to Dollars

The history of the dollar is a story involving many countries in different continents.
The word dollar is much older than the American unit of currency. It is an
Anglicised form of "thaler", (pronounced taler, with a long "a"), the name given to
coins first minted in 1519 from locally mined silver in Joachimsthal in Bohemia.
(Today the town of Joachimsthal lies within the borders of the Czech republic and
its Czech name is Jáchymov). Thaler is a shortened form of the term by which the
coin was originally known - Joachimsthaler.
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
Organization and Functions
The Department of the Treasury is organized into two major components: the
Departmental Offices and the operating bureaus. The Departmental Offices are
primarily responsible for the formulation of policy and management of the
Department as a whole, while the operating bureaus carry out the specific
operations assigned to the Department. The basic functions of the Department of
the Treasury include:
Economic, international economic, and fiscal policy
Government accounting, cash, and debt management
Promulgation and enforcement of tax and tariff laws
Assessment and collection of internal revenue
Production of coin and currency
Supervision of national banks and thrifts
The Departmental Offices are composed of divisions headed by Assistant
Secretaries, a General Counsel, or Inspectors General who report to the Secretary
through the Deputy Secretary, the Under Secretary for International Affairs, the
Under Secretary for Domestic Finance, or the Under Secretary for the Office of
Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. Most of these divisions are located within the
Main Treasury Building in Washington, D.C. The bureaus make up 98% of the
Treasury work force, which totals approximately 125,000 people.
Federal Reserve System
The Federal Reserve System is the central bank of the United States.
It performs five general functions to promote the effective operation of the U.S.
economy and, more generally, the public interest. The Federal Reserve
 conducts the nation's monetary policy to promote maximum
employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates in the
U.S. economy;
 promotes the stability of the financial system and seeks to minimize and
contain systemic risks through active monitoring and engagement in the
U.S. and abroad;
 promotes the safety and soundness of individual financial
institutions and monitors their impact on the financial system as a whole;
 fosters payment and settlement system safety and efficiency through
services to the banking industry and the U.S. government that facilitate
U.S.-dollar transactions and payments; and
 promotes consumer protection and community development through
consumer-focused supervision and examination, research and analysis of
emerging consumer issues and trends, community economic development
activities, and the administration of consumer laws and regulations.