10 Kopecks Foreign Trade Certificate

Vneshtorgbank's Foreign Trade Certificates — sometimes called "yellow chits" in reference to the distinctive paper stock used in the later series — were introduced in 1961 as a mechanism to keep hard-currency purchasing power segregated from the ruble economy. Soviet citizens and foreigners paid in convertible currency received these certificates in exchange, redeemable only at Beriozka shops where imported and otherwise unobtainable goods were sold. The system effectively created a two-tier consumer economy operating in parallel with official socialist distribution.

By 1976 the certificate series had been running long enough that the Soviet authorities were increasingly aware of a black market in the instruments themselves — possessing them without authorization was a criminal offense, though enforcement was inconsistent.