Monopoly Money

Assets, currency, or equity that lacks real or reliable value; also used to describe fraudulent payment.

Examples:

  • I can pull out of anything I want, especially when people appear to trade in monopoly money.
  • The startup's valuation looked impressive on paper but was essentially monopoly money.

Origin: From the board game Monopoly, which uses fake paper currency as game tokens.

Synonyms: play money, funny money, worthless currency