What Is Face value?

In finance, the face value is the nominal value of a financial instrument such as a bond, stock, or currency. For a bond, the face value is the amount that the bond will be worth when it matures. For a stock, the face value is the original value assigned to the stock when it is issued. For currency, the face value is the value printed on the currency.

For example, Digital Currency Group took over the defaulted Three Arrows Capital loan of $1.1B from its subsidiary, Genesis at its face value even though it is unlikely the money will ever be recovered. The fair value of this loan would have been much less.

See also Fair value.