Gran Colombia's monetary regulations retained the old Spanish colonial system, with both milled and hammered coin circulating.
But coins of below-standard fineness had been minted at Bogotá in 1823–1826, but dated 1821, and most were put into circulation in the Quito department during the Gran Colombia period.
denomination, rim inscribed EL PODER EN LA CONSTITUCION; below the year and GJ (assayer's initials).
Minting of the medio real began September 30, 1832, before its characteristics had been established, which explains why some have the letter "M" (according to the law) while others have "1/2".
In their place, President Vicente Rocafuerte authorized a media onza (4-escudo or doblón de a cuatro).
The National Convention passed a new monetary law in June 1843, changing the coin type (design) in an effort to distinguish good money from bad.
It adopted a new coat of arms for the obverse and placed a bust of Simón Bolívar on the reverse on both gold and silver.
Banco Particular de Guayaquil obtained permission in June 1861 to have 200,000 pesos in coin 666 fine minted on the pre-1856 octal system (Sistema Octavario).
Banco del Ecuador, founded in 1867, began operations at Guayaquil in 1868, issuing overprinted notes of the Luzarraga bank for 1, 4, 5, and 10 pesos.
It was further arranged to have Banco del Ecuador import coin based on the French decimal system.
copper, Birmingham, dated 1872 Ecuador's monetary unit, the peso, was renamed Sucre (decree of March 22, 1884, effective April 1), equal to 22.500 g fine silver.
The 1884 monetary law permitted free circulation of gold coin of France, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, Colombia, Peru, and the United States.
As for silver, the law permitted the import of 5-franc pieces of France, Italy, Belgium, and Switzerland, of the pesos of Chile and Colombia, of the Peruvian sol, and of the United States dollar and its fractions.
The government had silver coin minted abroad through the offices of the private banks, usually taking 25% of the profit.
In order to alleviate the shortage of small change, the President authorized (June 14, 1890) the minting of 30,000 sucres in copper coins of 1/2 and 1 centavo.
The fall in the price of silver had been gradual in 1884–1890, but became very pronounced after 1893, and the government began looking at ways to adopt the gold standard.
A subsequent decree (October 29, 1908) authorized a gold 1/5 cóndor and vellón coins (75% copper, 25% nickel) of 1/2, 1, 2, and 5 centavos.
The economic situation was disastrous, due in part to the fraud of the commercial banks, the most notorious of which was Banco Comercial y Agrícola's issue of notes in excess of the legal limit in the huge amount of 18 million sucres.
The Kemmerer Financial Mission (Comisión de Expertos Financieros) arrived in 1926, and its report was the basis for the monetary reform of March 4, 1927, which created El Banco Central del Ecuador and put the sucre on the gold exchange standard,[1] with devaluation (58.8%) to 300.933 mg Au (equivalent to US$0.20).
Banco Central's statutes were approved June 3, it was formally inaugurated August 10, and it began operations October 1.
Caja Central de Emisión y Amortización overprinted certain private banknotes of 1, 2, 5, and 10 sucres with its own name, domiciled them Quito, and put them into circulation in December 1926.
El Banco Central del Ecuador, Sociedad Anonima released notes for 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100 sucres in 1928.
Foreign exchange controls were finally lifted in September 1937 and the official rate was set at 13.50 per US dollar.
Parity was registered with the International Monetary Fund on December 18, 1946, at 65.827 mg fine gold (13.50 per US$), but a system of multiple exchange rates was adopted in 1947.
On January 9, President Jamil Mahuad announced that the US dollar would be adopted as Ecuador's official currency.
Twelve days later, Mahuad was deposed by a populist, left-wing military coup; largely in reaction to the ongoing economic crisis.
On March 9, 2000, President Gustavo Noboa signed a law adopting the US dollar as legal tender in Ecuador, replacing the sucre.
[8] The Central Bank of Ecuador has issued circular notes informing financial institutions under its jurisdiction that cryptocurrencies are not considered legal tender.
However, it does not ban internet companies from accepting them, as it wants to avoid potential economic sanctions from the US government.
Coins are more durable in tropical climates, and Sacagawea's portrait resembles that of an Ecuadorian Indian woman.