50 Cents Bond Coin

Zimbabwe's bond coins were introduced in 2014 as a stop-gap after the country abandoned its own dollar in 2009 following one of the most extreme hyperinflationary collapses in recorded history — peak estimates exceed 89.7 sextillion percent monthly inflation in November 2008. With no domestic currency, the economy had been running on a basket of foreign currencies, primarily the US dollar, but chronic shortages of small-denomination coins created practical problems at the retail level. The bond coins were nominally pegged one-to-one with the US dollar and struck in denominations to fill that gap.

Widespread public skepticism greeted the issue from the start, with many Zimbabweans refusing to accept them at face value.