It is subdivided into 100 centavos, but with 10 pesos being worth about 1 US cent in early 2025, smaller denominations are not issued or in normal use.

[6] On 12 December 2023, following the election of president Javier Milei, economy minister Luis Caputo changed the official exchange rate to 800 pesos to the U.S. dollar from the previous 366.5, a devaluation of 54%, to be followed by a monthly devaluation target of 2%[7] (about 27% per year).

Although the Argentine Confederation issued 1-, 2- and 4-centavo coins in 1854, with 100 centavos equal to 1 peso = 8 reales, Argentina did not decimalize until 1881.

Initially, one peso moneda nacional coin was made of silver and known as patacón.

This unit was based on that recommended by the European Congress of Economists in Paris in 1867 and adopted by Japan in 1873 (the Argentine 5 peso fuerte coin was equivalent to the Japanese 5 yen).

Convertibility was maintained off and on, with decreasing value in gold, until it was finally abandoned in 1929, when m$n 2.2727 was equivalent to one peso oro.

However, it rapidly lost its purchasing power, was devalued several times, and was replaced by a new currency called the austral in June 1985.

The last months of President Raul Alfonsín's period in office in 1989 saw prices increase constantly (200% in July alone), reflected in a worsening exchange rate.

The resulting export boom produced a massive inflow of dollars into the Argentine economy, which helped lower their price.

When necessary, the Central Bank issues pesos and buys dollars in the free market (sometimes large amounts, of the order of 10 to US$100 million per day) to keep the dollar price from dropping, and had amassed over US$27 billion in reserves before the US$9.81 billion payment to the International Monetary Fund in January 2006.

The effect of this may be compared to the neighboring Brazilian real, which was roughly on par with the Argentine peso until the beginning of 2003, when both currencies were about three per U.S. dollar.

[11] In December 2015, US dollar exchange restrictions were removed in Argentina following the election of President Mauricio Macri.

[14] On 12 December 2023, following the election of president Javier Milei, economy minister Luis Caputo changed the official exchange rate to 800 pesos to the dollar from the previous 366.5, a devaluation of 54%, to be followed by a monthly devaluation target of 2%.

[16] While they are still legal tender, they are not accepted in stores and bank branches due to their negligible value and inconvenience in storage.

Some other 50-centavo and 1-peso coins commemorate different events, including the 50th anniversary of the creation of UNICEF (1996); the attainment of voting rights by women (1997); the establishment of Mercosur (1998); and the death of José de San Martín (2001).

Several 1 peso coins were issued in 2010 to commemorate the bicentennial of the May Revolution, all featuring the same obverse, different from the main series, and images of different places on the reverse, including Mar del Plata, the Perito Moreno Glacier, Mount Aconcagua, the Pucará de Tilcara, and El Palmar.

Until 2001 banknotes bore the legend "Convertibles de curso legal", meaning that their value was fixed to the same amount in US dollars.

In the issues following the year 2002, the term 'peso convertible de curso legal' was removed from the banknotes as established by Law 25.561.

[45] On April 4, 2016, it was announced that the series of 100-peso banknotes featuring María Eva Duarte de Perón would be extended with the letters AA, and it also includes a new security feature on its sides for people with visual impairments.

In May 2022, the Banco Central de la República Argentina ("Central Bank of the Argentine Republic") announced a new series of 100-, 200-, 500-, and 1,000-peso notes,[53][54][55][56][57] replacing the animal motifs of the 2016 series with pictures of Argentine historical figures and events while maintaining the color scheme, to be released within the following six months; however, no plans to put these designs into circulation have been made as of May 2023.

In March 2023 a $2,000 note was issued, portraying the Instituto Malbrán and pioneering doctors Cecilia Grierson and Ramón Carrillo.

One consequence of these measures was the appearance of multiple exchange rates and a parallel market (colloquially called the "blue dollar"), which was accessed by individuals and companies.

Special official exchange rates are sometimes created and abolished, to support sectors of the economy.

[68] On 4 November 2022 a "foreign tourist dollar" rate close to the black market rate (355 pesos to the dollar instead of the official 195 at the end of February 2023) was introduced, for purchases made with foreign payment cards.