The Castro government then introduced the socialist planned economy and pegged the peso to the Soviet ruble.

From 1994 to 2020 the Cuban peso co-circulated with the Cuban convertible peso (ISO 4217 code "CUC"; colloquially pronounced "kook" in contrast to the CUP, often pronounced "koop"), which was convertible to and fixed against the U.S. dollar, and which was generally available to the public at a rate of US$1 = CUC 1 = CUP 25.

From 1 January 2021, Cuba implemented the so-called "Day Zero" of monetary unification, which abolished the Cuban convertible peso as well as the 1 CUP/USD rate for state enterprises.

In 1960, the peso lost value after the United States imposed an embargo against Cuba and the suspended sugar quota.

Foreign exchange was a government monopoly under the socialist planned economy and could not be bought by the general public using Cuban pesos.

The Soviet Union's collapse in 1991 resulted in a difficult Special Period of economic adjustments which required the acquisition of foreign exchange in order to pay for petroleum and other imported goods which used to be easily procured from Cuba's former benefactor.

In 1993, the U.S. dollar was made legal tender[4]: xii  to encourage much-needed hard currency to enter the economy, and the Cuban peso lost much of its value with its free market exchange rate plunging to as low as 125 CUP/USD.

Partial revival of economic confidence then stabilized the Cuban peso to 23-25 CUPs to the CUC or USD, leading to the eventual fixing of exchange rates to US$1 = CUC 1 = CUP 25, which was available to the public from 2004-2005 and then from 2011-2020 through Cadecas (Casas de Cambio, or Bureau de Change; an exchange rate of 1.08 USD/CUC applied from 2005-2011).

[4]: xiii  From 2004 to 2020 a 10% penalty or tax was applied when changing U.S. dollars to CUCs, which can be avoided by exchanging other currencies in Cadecas.

The revival of economic stability after the Special Period from 2000, however, also made possible the revival of features of the socialist planned economy, which involved the distribution of subsidized goods to the public, supported by a system of artificially pegged exchange rates; for instance: Among the effects of this complicated system of exchange rates and subsidies were as follows: This complicated system of multi-track exchange rates and markets, and the inequalities and rent-seeking it spawned, had long been a source of frustration alike to government bureaucrats and to a disgruntled public.

In October 2013, the government announced its intention to abolish this multiple exchange rate system and to phase out the CUC.

Fears over its financial fallout on state companies, however, delayed the "Day Zero" implementation of monetary unification by several years, until the drying up of foreign exchange reserves in 2020 due to the absence of tourists during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns made the further sale of subsidized dollars and goods unaffordable to the state.

In 2017, the Banco Central de Cuba introduced bi-metallic 5 pesos coin (the difference is the denomination and composition (with a cupronickel ring and a brass center plug).

Between 1988 and 1989, the National Institute of Tourism (Instituto Nacional de Turismo, "INTUR") issued "Visitors' Coinage" for use by tourists.

Under the Spanish Administration, the Banco Español de la Habana introduced Cuba's first issue of banknotes in 1857 in denominations of 50, 100, 300, 500 and 1,000 dollars.

[16] During the Ten Years' War, notes were issued dated 1869 in the name of the Republic of Cuba in denominations of 50 centavos, 1, 5, 10, 50, 500 and 1000 pesos.

During the latter half of 1933, Cuba passed a series of laws to enact the production of Silver certificates (Certificado De Plata).

In 1985, the Banco Nacional de Cuba issued foreign exchange certificates in denominations of 1, 3, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 pesos (not equivalent to the CUP).