SUCRE

SUCRE (Spanish: Sistema Único de Compensación Regional, English: Unified System for Regional Compensation) is a proposed regional currency to be used in commercial exchanges between members of the regional trade bloc Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA), which was created as an alternative to the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA). The SUCRE is intended to replace the U.S. dollar as a medium of exchange, in order to decrease U.S. control of Latin American economies and to increase stability of regional markets. The SUCRE was first used as a virtual currency in 2010, in at least two transactions between Ecuador and Venezuela. Eventually, the plan is for the SUCRE to become a hard currency.