Where did the "$" come from?

Short Answer: They Don't Know! We do.

Ben Franklin actually could have patented the US dollar. Like Ben would often do though knowing the power of its potential, he gave it away freely, like the Patent Office he modelled after the British one, perhaps after learning someone took his Published 1742 design of what we now know as the Franklin Stove, made inferior modifications simply to make it Patentable, and patented it there. It likely led to Ben sowing the seeds of the US Patent Office with his Shriner buddies. It is The Real US Patent No. 0000001. Don't try looking. They "allegedly" lost the records that far back, thanks to another kind of lightning Ben didn't wan't to know about. Like Lois Lerner, they likely destroyed it to cover up the truth after grabbing it for themselves first. But we know, thanks to this "B"0000001 Colonial Script, there was a means for B0000002, (Another of Ben's  Coulda Beena patent As Amended, "US Gov't comprising Greed, Avarice, Powerlust, Conceit, Liars, Muggers, Thieves, Jokers, All Others, and a Built In Method of its Own Control based on itself"), B3, B4, B13, X000001 for Samuel Hopkins' Soap (The Pencilled-in  X-Files,) 5,488,891, and etc. The Buck Starts Here. lulz

That is really quite a feat because there was no US Patent Office at the time. Ben just invented USPTO.gov, subsequent to inventing Dawt Gov itself! More perplexing, he allegedly never patented any of his subsequent inventions, leaving the documentations of them open source like The Stove, The $, and The @#$%^ Gov't (placed decidedly Under God's present 20) to fight over it. He knew that the $ Lure of Patent Power alone would spark innovation, improvements, and commerce. Computers can't even get it right; my Shift-4 only has one line through it like a Peso in a bit of wry inventor humour. There is no mutual Lure in a system that works on Yes or No only. Ben trusted that God would protect it from even the onslaught of silly-con braned rockhead robots in the Real World Yes-No-I-Dunno Universe. US B0000002 Gov't, now thinking itself smarter than God, immediately set about unknowingly destroying themselves with "$" for $. They wanna destroy $ in the name of their Opponents to show how smart they are before it destroys them. Ben had his Hairy Eyeball on them way before that though.

I imagine .gov are worth One Dollar, later at least 100 due to chuffed thieves' own invention born of US B0000002, Inflation. Sadly, they plonked Ben's face on everything from the Nickel to the $100 Bill to misdirect the Self Evident blame. Others reckon they ain't worth a Plugged Nickle. It is like the people that stole a computer to get at The Engineer's Secret(s). They have one computer. They have no clue what to do with all the contents. Like Hermes, the unfairly branded Greek God of txt, trickery, deceit, etc., The Engineer likely put a poison pill in Da Thing, willingly or by powers beyond his control, to specifically destroy the morons that stole it. ;)

Anyways, a Spot Strike has a BID and an ASK. The Concept is a helluva lot older than 1848, Ben's Granny, The Concept of Hermes, or even The Concept of Hell itself. It is not only older than Hell, it's older than the concept of a Concept. Ben just eloquently described and branded it, type and all. Start there.