20 000 Cordobas

Nicaragua's monetary system collapsed into hyperinflation during the late 1980s under the combined pressure of the Contra war, U.S. trade embargo, and chronic fiscal deficits. By 1989, the córdoba had lost so much purchasing power that denominations unthinkable a decade earlier were routine. This 20,000-córdoba note was part of that scramble to keep functional currency in circulation — not a planned denomination but an inflationary necessity.

The following year, the Sandinista government replaced the entire currency with the gold córdoba at a conversion rate of 1,000,000 to 1, making the 1989 series effectively worthless within months of issue.