The Family Tree of Money
Image awaiting selection · Public-domain or CC0 images only.

Cuban peso

A national currency that has repeatedly shared the island with another kind of money.123

Years
1914–today
Where
Cuba
Family
Spanish real / peso
Status
In use

Cuba gave itself a national peso in 1914, but it did not send the dollar away. The new gold peso matched the American dollar’s gold standard, and United States money remained legal tender. The reform gradually replaced the island’s older Spanish-gold accounting.14

Even the new Cuban coins came from abroad: they were minted in Philadelphia. The early supply included gold, silver and nickel coins, circulating alongside American money. A national currency did not yet mean an exclusively national purse.1

Decades later, another pairing made everyday money more complicated. Following the Soviet Union’s collapse, Cuba developed a system with a peso and a convertible peso. Before unification, the public exchanged 24 pesos for one convertible peso, while state businesses used a one-to-one rate.2

The reform that began on 1 January 2021 retained the Cuban peso and started withdrawing the convertible peso. It ended that two-peso arrangement, but not the dollar’s role in Cuban life: Reuters reported renewed dollar shopping alongside the local peso in 2025.523

Timeline

Currency code: CUP

  1. Timeline under research.

The convertible peso

The parallel currency was withdrawn through the reform that began in 2021. See the story’s source notes.

Coins and notes

Images are under research. Each image will carry its caption, collection credit and public-domain or CC0 license.

How do we know?

Cuban peso oro español → Cuban peso

Documented currency replacement · 1914–1916

Cuba’s national peso replaced local Spanish-gold peso accounting through the 1914–1916 monetary reform. Only this local transition is asserted; other inputs and earlier stages may remain untraced.4

“By June 1, 1916, all conversions of accounts had been practically made to the new system.”

Willis Fletcher Johnson, The History of Cuba, volume V, p. 364.

Full connection evidence →

Complete evidence record →
Legal history and sources

Decree-Law 17 sets monetary unification from 1 January 2021 and initially provides 180 days for withdrawing the convertible peso; this does not establish the final deadline after later amendments.5

The national peso was established by the 1914 law, and practical conversion of accounts to the new system was reported complete by June 1916.6

Decree-Law 17 sets monetary unification from January 1, 2021 and initially provides 180 days for withdrawing the convertible peso; this does not establish the final deadline after later amendments.5

The national peso was established by the 1914 law, and practical conversion of accounts to the new system was reported complete by June 1916.6

Source notes

  1. Willis Fletcher Johnson · The History of Cuba, volume V, chapter XXXIII · 1920
  2. Marc Frank · Reuters · How Cuba’s monetary reform will take place and impact the economy · 2020
  3. Reuters · As Cuba-US relations sour, the island needs dollars more than ever · 2025
  4. Commercial and Financial Chronicle, digitized by Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis · Commercial and Financial Chronicle, 13 November 1915; Willis Fletcher Johnson · The History of Cuba, volume V, chapter XXXIII: Money and Banking (1920)

    Printed pp.1593–1594, paragraph continuing shipment of Spanish and French gold; p 1594 left column first paragraph; Chapter XXXIII, paragraphs defining peso oro Español and stating peseta never became local unit; printed pp.363–364, account conversion completed practically by June 1, 1916

  5. Republic of Cuba; original Gazette hosted by ILO NATLEX · Decreto-Ley 17/2020, Gaceta Oficial No.68 Extraordinaria

    PDF pp.4–5 / printed pp.512–513, articles 2–7 and final provision four

  6. Commercial and Financial Chronicle, digitized by Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis · Commercial and Financial Chronicle, 13 November 1915; Willis Fletcher Johnson · The History of Cuba, volume V, chapter XXXIII: Money and Banking (1920)

    Printed pp.1593–1594, paragraph continuing shipment of Spanish and French gold; p 1594 left column first paragraph; Chapter XXXIII, paragraphs defining peso oro Español and stating peseta never became local unit; printed pp.363–364, account conversion completed practically by June 1, 1916

Full claim history and source register →

Cite this currency

“Cuban peso.” The Family Tree of Money. Field Technologies, Inc. Data v49; accessed 14 October 2026.

Find a currency