Brazilian currency
# Brazilian currency

The Brazilian currency has been renamed and redefined several times through its history. Since 1994, the official one is the Brazilian real (plural reais, with symbol R$ and ISO code BRL.

## Historical currencies

Historical currencies of Brazil :

| Introduction | Withdrawal | Duration | Name | Symbol | ISO | Conversion |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| — | — | — | Portuguese Real | Rs | | N/A |
| 12 October 1822 | | 120y 20d | Real (old, pl. réis) | Rs | | = 1 Portuguese real |
| 1 November 1942 | | 24y 3m 12d | Cruzeiro (first) | Cr$ | | = 1,000 réis |
| 13 February 1967 | 30 June 1972 | 3y 3m 2d | Cruzeiro novo | NCr$ | | = 1,000 cruzeiros |
| 15 May 1970 | | 15y 9m 12d | Cruzeiro (second) | Cr$ | BRB | = 1 cruzeiro novo |
| 27 February 1986 | | 2y 10m 19d | Cruzado | Cz$ | BRC | = 1,000 cruzeiros |
| 15 January 1989 | | 1y 2m 1d | Cruzado novo | NCz$ | BRN | = 1,000 cruzados |
| 16 March 1990 | | 3y 4m 15d | Cruzeiro (third) | Cr$ | BRE | = 1 cruzado novo |
| 1 August 1993 | | 11m | Cruzeiro real | CR$ | BRR | = 1,000 cruzeiros |
| 1 July 1994 | (still in use) | 29y 25d | Real (new, pl. reais) | R$ | BRL | = 2,750 cruzeiros reais |

Note that the dates of various currencies overlap. For example, the cruzeiro novo was still legal tender for 2 years after the second cruzeiro was introduced.

Not considering inflation, one modern Brazilian real is equivalent to 2,750,000,000,000,000,000 times the old real, that is, $2.75×10^{18}$ (2.75 quintillion) réis.

Before leaving Brazil in 1821, the Portuguese royal court withdrew all the bullion currency it could from banks in exchange for what would become worthless bond notes;

## Banknotes

The following tables indicate what banknotes were present in each of the currencies of Brazil, except for the provisional issues of banknotes to exchange gold in the colonial period:

Legend :

* 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 had a project to launch a banknote, but it never came into circulation
* $_{Currency}\^{Facevalue}$
* Real (old)​
* Cruzeiro (1st)​
* Cruzeiro novo​
* Cruzeiro (2nd)​
* Cruzado​
* Cruzado novo​
* Cruzeiro (3rd)​
* 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 | 30,000 | 50,000 | 100,000 | 200,000 | 500,000 | 1,000,000 | 5,000,000 |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |

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 provisional 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
* ₢$100 (first cruzeiro)
* NCr$100 (second cruzeiro - second family, issued between 1981 and 1984)
* Cz$100
* NCz$100 (overstamped as Cr$100)
* Cr$100 (third cruzeiro)
* CR$100 (overstamped Cr$100,000 banknote)

## Coins

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

Legend :

* 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
* The currency took advantage of coins of the previous standard was issued coins in such values
* Currency had a project to launch a coin, but it never came into circulation
* $_{Currency}\^{Facevalue}$
* Cruzeiro (1st)​
* Cruzeiro novo​
* Cruzeiro (2nd)​
* Cruzado​
* Cruzado novo​
* Cruzeiro (3rd)​
* 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 because it's a transitory monetary standard between the cruzeiro issued between 1942 and 1967 and the cruzeiro issued after 1970) 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
* ₢$1 (first cruzeiro/aluminium coinage 1957-1961)
* NCr$1 (second cruzeiro/second family 1979-1984)
* Cz$1
* NCz$1
* Cr$1 (third cruzeiro - 1990)
* R$1
