10 Bani

Moldova's bani coinage was introduced in 1993 following the country's transition away from the Soviet ruble, with the leu and its subdivisions established as the national currency after independence in 1991. The aluminium composition was chosen partly out of economic necessity — a newly sovereign state with limited hard currency reserves had little appetite for costlier alloy alternatives. The series ran largely unchanged for three decades, which itself reflects the monetary stability Moldova sought to project even through periods of significant political turbulence, including the unresolved Transnistria conflict that has split the country's economic geography since 1992.