5 Krooni

Estonia's second post-Soviet currency series, launched after the successful 1992 monetary reform that replaced the Soviet ruble with the kroon at a fixed rate of 8 kroons to 1 Deutsche Mark, needed updated notes to replace the stopgap issues printed during the reintroduction of independence. De La Rue handled the 1994 series, as they had the transitional notes before it — a continuity of supplier that reflected both the tight timeline of re-establishing a central bank and Tallinn's preference for a printer with established credibility among Western financial institutions.

The watermark is the sole listed security feature, modest by later standards, though the kroon's currency board structure — pegged hard to the DEM and later the euro — kept counterfeiting incentives relatively low for a denomination of this size.