Switzerland introduced the Swiss franc in 1850 as its single national monetary unit.
Before federal monetary reform, Swiss cantons and towns used a confusing mixture of local currencies and foreign coins. The Swiss Constitution of 1848 strengthened federal authority, allowing a national currency system to replace that patchwork.
The new franc was modeled closely on the French franc and was initially divided into 100 centimes. The reform made payments and accounting easier across the newly modernizing Swiss state.
The Swiss franc should not be confused with the French franc, even though the two currencies shared a historical decimal model. Switzerland later joined the Latin Monetary Union, which linked several European currencies through common weight standards for coins.