1000 Sucres

Ecuador's sucre had been the national currency since 1884, but by the mid-1990s chronic inflation had so eroded its purchasing power that a 1000-sucre coin — unthinkable a generation earlier — became a practical necessity for everyday transactions. The country was running through denominations faster than it could redesign them.

Four years after this coin entered circulation, Ecuador abandoned the sucre entirely, dollarizing the economy in 2000 following a catastrophic banking crisis that wiped out roughly 70% of the currency's value in a single year.