UZS - Uzbekistani Som

The Central Bank of the Republic of Uzbekistan (CBU), headquartered in Tashkent, serves as the country's monetary authority. Established alongside Uzbekistan's independence in 1991, the CBU issues banknotes, mints coins, and sets monetary policy aimed at controlling inflation. Following the 2017 currency liberalization, the Som operates under a managed float regime where market forces determine the exchange rate with occasional central bank intervention. When sending money to Uzbekistan, transfers convert at market-determined rates — a significant improvement from the pre-2017 era when black-market rates diverged sharply from official figures.

Uzbekistan introduced the Som on July 1, 1994, replacing the Soviet-era ruble at a rate of 1 Som per 1,000 rubles. Before this, a transitional currency called the sum-kupon circulated briefly from 1992 to 1993 alongside Soviet rubles. The first Som series featured deliberately simple designs since it was intended as a temporary measure — but the currency persisted. Decades of inflation pushed denominations ever higher, from 1 Som notes in 1994 to the 200,000 Som note introduced in recent years. In December 2022, the CBU issued its first bimetallic 1,000 Som coin, marking the first such coin since the Som's introduction.

Uzbekistan's banknote series has shifted from Cyrillic to Latin script, reflecting the country's broader alphabet transition. Notes issued before 2013 use Uzbek Cyrillic, while the 5,000 Som (2013), 10,000 Som (2017), 50,000 Som (2017), and 100,000 Som (2019) denominations feature Latin-based Uzbek inscriptions. The designs celebrate Uzbek heritage — the 5,000 Som displays the Sher-Dor Madrasah in Samarkand, while the 10,000 Som shows the Kukeldash Madrasah in Tashkent. In May 2018, the CBU withdrew all 50, 100, 200, and 500 Som banknotes and replaced them with coins to reduce printing costs.

The Som uses som or UZS as its standard identifier, with no dedicated currency symbol recognized internationally. The name som means pure in Turkic languages, signifying pure value — the same name that appeared on Soviet ruble notes written in Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tajik, and Uzbek. The tiyin subunit (meaning squirrel in historical usage, referencing squirrel pelts once used as currency) exists legally but has fallen entirely out of circulation; no tiyin coins are produced. Mobile payment platforms like PayMe, Click, Apelsin, and HUMO have transformed how Uzbeks transact, with over 80% of urban payments in Tashkent now cashless.