10 Kopecks

Transnistria's 2000 coinage series was struck in plastic initially — an almost unprecedented move for a modern territorial currency — before aluminum versions like this were introduced. The breakaway republic along the left bank of the Dniester River has never received international recognition, yet the Transnistrian Republican Bank has issued a functioning currency since the early 1990s, backed largely by the economic weight of the Moldavkabel cable plant and Sheriff Enterprises, the conglomerate that effectively underwrites much of the republic's economy.