Currency of Venezuela 1, 2009. In preparation for the conversion, all prices had been expressed in both bolívars and bolívars fuerte since October 1, 2007. Currency of Venezuela This article provides a historical summary of the currency used in Venezuela since the end of the 18th century. For the present currency of Venezuela, see Venezuelan bolívar. Peso = 8 Reales (silver) Escudo = 2 Pesos (gold) History Venezuela shared the common Spanish-American monetary system, based on the silver peso and the gold escudo, current throughout Spanish America. Trade, especially in cacao, brought money to the colony in the late 17th century in the
Portuguese escudo Portuguese escudo The Portuguese escudo is the currency of Portugal prior to the introduction of the euro on 1 January 1999 and its removal from circulation on 28 February 2002. The escudo was subdivided into 100 "centavos". The word "escudo" means "shield". Amounts in escudos were written as "escudos" $ "centavos" with the "cifrão" as the decimal separator (e.g. "25$00" means $25.00, "100$50" means $100.50). Because of the conversion rate of 1000 réis = $1, three decimal places were initially used ($1 = 1$000). Escudo gold coinage was initially introduced in 1722 with denominations including escudo, 2, 4, and 8