1 Cruzeiro, P-191Ab. Medallic Liberty Head/Banco Central Building. The Brazilian real (Portuguese: real, pl. reais; sign: R$; code: BRL) is the official currency of Brazil. It is subdivided into 100 centavos. The Central Bank of Brazil is the central bank and the issuing authority. The real replaced the cruzeiro real in 1994. On April 2016, the real was the nineteenth most traded currency in the world by value. As of April 2019, the real lost its position to the Turkish lira, and became the twentieth most traded currency. Item ordered may not be exact piece shown. All original and authentic.