3 Pesos Convertibles

Cuba has operated a dual-currency system since the mid-1990s, when the Peso Convertible (CUC) was introduced as a hard-currency substitute pegged to the US dollar — partly to capture remittances and tourism spending in state-run institutions while keeping the ordinary peso separate. The 3 CUC denomination is unusual globally; very few currencies issue a three-unit note, and its existence here reflects deliberate denomination planning for the convertible series rather than any practical gap-filling.

Impresos de Seguridad, the Cuban state security printer established in the 1970s, produced the entire CUC series domestically — a deliberate policy choice given the US embargo's restrictions on foreign printing contracts. The CUC itself was abolished in January 2021 as part of a monetary unification that had been announced and delayed repeatedly for years.