10 Cents - Elizabeth II 3rd portrait

The Cayman Islands adopted its own currency in 1972, breaking from the Jamaican dollar under the newly established Cayman Islands Currency Board. The decision reflected the territory's growing financial sector ambitions rather than any practical necessity — the islands were already functioning on imported currency. Small-denomination circulation coinage like this issue saw genuine everyday use during a period when the territory's offshore banking industry was expanding rapidly enough to attract scrutiny from the United States Treasury.

The third portrait of Elizabeth II, by Raphael Maklouf, entered circulation across Commonwealth territories from 1985 onward.