50 Centésimos Banco Nacional de Panamá

Panama's coinage has always occupied an odd constitutional position: the republic has no central bank with currency-issuing authority in the conventional sense, and the U.S. dollar circulates as legal tender alongside Panamanian-struck coins, which are pegged at parity. The Banco Nacional de Panamá is a state commercial bank, not a central bank, making it an unusual issuing authority by any standard.

KM#139 continues a series format established decades earlier, largely unchanged in specification — a deliberate decision to maintain interchangeability with the U.S. half dollar, which it matches closely in size and weight.