"A total of 1000 coins strung together were referred to as a chuàn (串) or diào (吊) and were accepted by traders and merchants per string because counting the individual coins would cost too much time. Because the strings were often accepted without being checked for damaged coins and coins of inferior quality and copper alloys, these strings would eventually be accepted based on their nominal value rather than their weight; this system is comparable to that of a fiat currency."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_of_cash_coins_(currency...

In fact, it was here on HN just about a month ago:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39606093

(Edit: There's a post farther down-thread that linked this well before I did. Please give that post an upvote instead of this one as I neglected to check first.)

Official exchange rates and actual exchange rates can diverge a lot[0]. Here's the UN's estimates of exchange rates (for, I think, internal accounting purposes- not something to particularly rely on), which puts the rate at 24,300 shillings to the dollar.

https://treasury.un.org/operationalrates/OperationalRates.ph...

[0] often this means that you can easily legally sell dollars for the currency at the official rate (ie, at a huge markup), but good luck buying dollars with the currency at the official rate. Maybe you can in very small amounts, or if you are politically connected.

A slug about 2 inches in diameter, 1/4 inch thick, is worth about 1 USD at today's copper price (weight = 1/4 pound).

So it might almost, but not quite, work as coinage. Maybe in a very poor country populated by body-builders.

They use dollars for large purchases.

> For some time now Somalia has been partially dollarized economy. U.S. dollar banknotes are the most popular paper currency, with old shillings being used in small payments and in the countryside. Mobile payments are extremely popular, but they are usually denominated in U.S. dollars, not shillings, and tend to be prevalent in cities where network coverage is best.