Vietnamese đồng

In 1946, the Viet Minh government (later to become the government of North Vietnam) introduced its own currency, the đồng, to replace the French Indochinese piastre at par. Two revaluations followed, in 1951 and 1959; the first was at a rate of 100:1, the second at a rate of 1,000:1.

Notes dually denominated in piastres and đồng were issued in 1953 for the State of Vietnam, which evolved into South Vietnam in 1954. On September 22, 1975, after the fall of Saigon, the currency in South Vietnam was changed to a "liberation đồng'' worth 500 old Southern đồng.

After Vietnam was reunified, the đồng was also unified, on May 3, 1978. One new đồng equalled one Northern đồng or 0.8 Southern "liberation" đồng.

On September 14, 1985, the đồng was revalued, with the new đồng worth 10 old đồng. This started a cycle of chronic inflation that continued through much of the early 1990s.[2]

In 1978, aluminium coins (dated 1976), were introduced in denominations of 1, 2, and 5 hào and 1 đồng. The coins were minted by the Berlin mint in the German Democratic Republic and bear the state crest on the obverse and denomination on the reverse. Due to chronic inflation, these coins lost all their relevant value and no coins circulated for many years after this series.

Commemorative coins in copper, brass, copper-nickel, silver, and gold have been issued since 1986, but none of these have ever been used in circulation.

The State Bank of Vietnam resumed issuing coins on December 17, 2003.[3] The new coins, minted by the Mint of Finland, were in denominations of 200, 500, 1,000, 2,000, and 5,000 đồng in either nickel-clad steel or brass-clad steel. Prior to its reintroduction, Vietnamese consumers had to exchange banknotes for tokens with a clerk before purchasing goods from vending machines. This was also to help the state ease the cost of producing large quantities of small denomination banknotes which tended to wear hard after every transaction. Many residents expressed excitement at seeing coins reappear after many years, as well as concern for the limited usefulness of the 200 đồng coins due to ongoing inflationary pressures.[4]

Since the launch of the 2003 coin series, the State Bank has had some difficulties with making the acceptance of coins universal despite the partial discontinuation of smaller notes, to the point of some banks refusing coin cash deposits or the cashing in of large numbers of coins. This has prompted laws requiring private and municipal banks to transact and offer services for coins and the full discontinuation of small denomination and cotton based notes.

2003 Series[3]
Image	Value	Technical parameters				Description			Date of
		Diameter	Thickness	Mass	Composition	Edge	Obverse	Reverse	first minting	issue
[5][6]	200₫	20 mm	1.45 mm	3.2 g	Nickel-plated steel	Plain	Coat of arms	Denomination	2003	December 17, 2003
	500₫	22 mm	1.75 mm	4.5 g	Nickel-plated steel	Segmented (3 groups)				April 1, 2004
[7][8]	1,000₫	19 mm	1.95 mm	3.8 g	Brass-plated steel	Reeded	Coat of arms	Water Temple, Đô Temple	2003	December 17, 2003
[9][10]	2,000₫	23.5 mm	1.8 mm	5.1 g	Brass-plated steel	Segmented (6 groups)		Highland Stilt house in Tay Nguyen		April 1, 2004
	5,000₫	25.5 mm	2.2 mm	7.7 g	Brass (Cu92Al6Ni2)	Micro-scalloped		Một Cột Pagoda (One Pillar Pagoda)		December 17, 2003
These images are to scale at 2.5 pixels per millimetre. For table standards, see the coin specification table.

In 1978, the State Bank of Vietnam (Ngân hàng Nhà nước Việt Nam) introduced notes in denominations of 5 hào, 1, 5, 10, 20, and 50 đồng dated 1976. In 1980, 2 and 10 đồng notes were added, followed by 30 and 100 đồng notes in 1981. These notes were discontinued in 1985 as they gradually lost value due to inflation and economic instability.

In 1985, notes were introduced in denominations of 5 hào, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 30, 50, 100, and 500 đồng. As inflation became endemic, these first banknotes were followed by 200, 1,000, 2,000, and 5,000 đồng notes in 1987, by 10,000 and 50,000 đồng notes in 1990, by a 20,000 đồng note in 1991, a 100,000 đồng note in 1994, a 500,000 đồng note in 2003, and a 200,000 đồng note in 2006. Banknotes with denominations of 5,000 đồng and under have been discontinued from production, but as of 2015 are still in wide circulation.[11]

Five banknote series have appeared. Except for the current series, dated 2003, all were confusing to the user, lacking unified themes and coordination in their designs. The first table below shows the latest banknotes, of 100 đồng or higher, prior to the current series. On June 7, 2007, the government ordered cessation of the issuance of the cotton 50,000 and 100,000₫ notes. They were taken out of circulation by September 1, 2007. State Bank of Vietnam 10,000 and 20,000₫ cotton notes are no longer in circulation as of January 1, 2013.[12]

In 2003 Vietnam began replacing its cotton banknotes with plastic polymer banknotes, claiming that this would reduce the cost of printing.[13] Many newspapers in the country criticized these changes, citing mistakes in printing and alleging that the son of the governor of the State Bank of Vietnam benefited from printing contracts.[13] The government clamped down on these criticisms by banning two newspapers from publishing for a month and considering other sanctions against other newspapers. Even though the 2003 series banknotes listed in the table below have now completely replaced the old notes of the same denominations, as of 2019 the cotton fiber banknotes of 200, 500, 1000, 2000 and 5,000 đồng still remain in wide circulation and are universally accepted.

A commemorative polymer 50-đồng banknote dedicated to the fiftieth anniversary of the State Bank of Vietnam was issued in 2001, but its face value is so tiny that it clearly was meant only for collectors. The note is available in three forms, by itself, in a presentation folder or in a presentation folder in an envelope. In 2016, a 100-đồng banknote was issued on cotton-based paper to commemorate the 65th anniversary of central banking.