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
Cross of Gold speech caused by the Napoleonic Wars caused United States gold coins to be worth more as bullion than as money, and they vanished from circulation. Governmental response to this shortage was hampered by the fact that officials did not clearly understand what had happened. In 1830, Treasury Secretary Samuel D. Ingham proposed adjusting the ratio between gold and silver in US currency to 15.8:1, which had for some time been the ratio in Europe. It was not until 1834 that Congress acted, changing the gold/silver ratio to 16.002:1. This was close enough to the market value to make it uneconomic to