Back in the old days of the Soviet Union many Eastern bloc countries set up special shops which could only be shopped at with foreign currency. In Poland they were called Pewex shops. The problem is owning foreign currency in places like Poland was illegal at that time. So the Polish (puppet) government mandated that all foreign currency received in any way be immediately converted into these special certificates called Bon Towarowy PeKaO. This note is the equivalent of $0.01 but these certificates/notes went up to $100 in face value. These notes were NOT legal tender outside of the special shops mentioned above which catered primarily to the upper class & foreigners by selling things like imported liquor & cigarettes and luxury brand name items. Most Poles could not afford to shop at them and shopping at the Pewex shops became a status symbol. The scheme was used as a way for the government to get its hands on foreign currency. Apparently it was very popular with tourists who could buy American Marlboro cigarettes for cheaper at a Polish Pewex shop than an American store. That’s how desperate the Soviet bloc was for foreign currency (hard currency) to pay for imports.
They are known as Foreign Exchange Certificates here is an example from 1969 https://en.numista.com/catalogue/note215225.html
Yup they are a type of Foreign Exchange Certificate. North Korea still forces tourists to convert foreign currency into Foreign Exchange Certificates because they don’t want us using their real money. But the real money can’t be used to buy the luxury stuff so apparently it’s even better. I remember seeing a video where a NesCafe coffee cost $13 in a North Korean shop that used them. Absolutely bonkers!
-yes & Burma (now Myanmar), Cuba & other shady nations that have run their economies down into the ground by dictators. All these "usual suspects" employ foreign exchange certificates in order to suck up much needed hard foreign currency. Often once you buy them, you can only use them to purchase things (as they won't let you exchange them back for your original currency).
