Stater

Kyzikos dominated electrum coinage in the Aegean for roughly two centuries, and these staters functioned as a de facto international trading currency across the Greek world — accepted far beyond Mysia in contexts where Athens used silver and Persia used gold. The city's near-monopoly on this role stemmed partly from its position controlling access to Black Sea trade routes through the Propontis.

The electrum itself was likely sourced from riverbeds in the Lydian hinterland, alloyed to a consistent natural composition that merchants learned to trust by weight rather than assay.