Brazilian currency

The official Brazilian currency since 1994 is the Brazilian real (plural reais, sign R$, code BRL).

Historical currencies

Through its history, Brazil had a number of other currencies:

Historical currencies of Brazil
Introduction	Withdrawal	Duration	Name	Symbol	Conversion
—	—	—	Portuguese real	Rs$	—
12 October 1822^[a]	1 November 1942	120y 20d	Real (old, pl. réis)	Rs$	—
1 November 1942	13 February 1967	24y 3m 12d	Cruzeiro (first iteration)	₢, Cr$	1 cruzeiro = 1,000 réis
13 February 1967	30 June 1972	3y 3m 2d	Cruzeiro novo	NCr$	1 cruzeiro novo = 1,000 cruzeiros
15 May 1970	27 February 1986	15y 9m 12d	Cruzeiro (second iteration)	Cr$	1 cruzeiro = 1 cruzeiro novo
27 February 1986	15 January 1989	2y 10m 19d	Cruzado	Cz$	1 cruzado = 1,000 cruzeiros
15 January 1989	16 March 1990	1y 2m 1d	Cruzado novo	NCz$	1 cruzado novo = 1,000 cruzados
16 March 1990	31 July 1993	3y 4m 15d	Cruzeiro (third iteration)	Cr$	1 cruzeiro = 1 cruzado novo
1 August 1993	30 June 1994	10m 29d	Cruzeiro real	CR$	1 cruzeiro real = 1,000 cruzeiros
1 July 1994	(still in use)	29y 11m	Real (new, pl. reais)	R$	1 real = 2,750 cruzeiros reais

Thus, disconsidering inflation, one modern Brazilian real is equivalent to 2,750,000,000,000,000,000 times the old real, that is, 2.75×10¹⁸ réis.

Banknotes

Every historical Brazilian banknote with a face value of 100

The following tables indicate what banknotes were present in each of the currencies of Brazil:

Legend
Symbol	Meaning
	Currency had a banknote with this face value
	Currency did not have a banknote with this face value
	Currency had legal tender with this face value in the form of an overstamped banknote from the previous currency

_Currency\^{Face value}
Real (old)
Cruzeiro (1^st)
Cruzeiro novo
Cruzeiro (2^nd)
Cruzado
Cruzado novo
Cruzeiro (3^rd)
Cruzeiro real
Real (new)

0.01	0.05	0.10	0.50	1	2	5	10	20	50	100	200	500	1,000	2,000	5,000	10,000	20,000	50,000	100,000	200,000	500,000	1,000,000







																^[b]

No single face value has been present in all historical Brazilian banknotes. For example, a face value of 100 is missing from the old real (as its lowest denomination of banknote is 500 Rs) and from the cruzeiro novo (as its only banknotes were overstamps of the first cruzeiro, and the highest denomination was NCr$10). It is, however, present in all the other currencies:

Historical Brazilian banknotes with face value of 100
Cr$100 (first cruzeiro)
Cr$100 (second cruzeiro)
Cz$100
NCz$100 (overstamped as Cr$100)
Cr$100 (third cruzeiro)
CR$100 (overstamped Cr$100,000 banknote)
R$100
R$100

Coins

The following tables indicate what coins were present in each of the currencies of Brazil, with the exception of réis:^[c]

Legend
Symbol	Meaning
	Currency had a circulating coin with this face value
	Currency did not have any coin with this face value
	Currency had legal tender with this face value in the form of a non-circulating commemorative coin

_Currency\^{Face value}
Cruzeiro (1^st)
Cruzeiro novo
Cruzeiro (2^nd)
Cruzado
Cruzado novo
Cruzeiro (3^rd)
Cruzeiro real
Real (new)

0.01	0.02	0.05	0.10	0.20	0.25	0.50	1	2	3	4	5	10	20	50	100	200	300	500	1,000	2,000	5,000

No single face value has been present in all historical Brazilian coins. For example, a face value of 1 is missing from the cruzeiro novo (as its highest denomination of coin is NCr$0.50) and from the old real and the cruzeiro real (as their lowest denomination of coin is 5 Rs and CR$5, respectively). It is, however, present in all the other currencies:

Historical Brazilian coins with face value of 1
Cr$1 (first cruzeiro)
Cr$1 (second cruzeiro)
Cz$1
NCz$1
Cr$1 (third cruzeiro)
R$1

Notes

References

Bibliography

WRT Cruzeiro novo and cruzeiro (2^nd iteration) – "Resolução Nº 144" (PDF) (in Brazilian Portuguese). Central Bank of Brazil. 31 March 1970. Retrieved 6 July 2021.

[a]

[b]

[c]

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