10 Pesos

The Chaco provincial bond notes of 2001 were among the most visible symptoms of Argentina's fiscal disintegration in the months before the December collapse. With the national government enforcing convertibility and restricting provincial access to federal funds, Chaco — one of the poorest provinces — resorted to issuing its own quasi-currency to meet payroll obligations. These circulated alongside similar instruments from a dozen other provinces, collectively flooding the economy with billions in unbacked paper that ordinary residents had little choice but to accept.

Casa de Moneda's involvement gave the series a degree of physical credibility that some provincial issues lacked. The paper held up; the fiscal arrangement behind it did not.