It’s tempting to imagine a clandestine dragon‑design squad, but usually it’s just cultural iconography being repurposed. Dragons pop up on Chinese banknotes because they’re a long‑standing symbol of power and good luck, and in some European currencies the motif is borrowed from medieval heraldry or local folklore. The yen has a stylized dragon motif on a few commemorative issues, but it’s more about artistic tradition than a secret guild. Still, it’s fun to hunt for those hidden references—maybe you’ll spot a pattern in the way the dragons are stylized that tells a different story.