The CFA franc, used by fourteen countries yet economically bound to France, is the last colonial currency on the African continent. French and international media had long taken its existence as something of a dirty secret, even though it is used by some 187 million people. Yet it has now broken into the headlines again, thanks to five years of sustained mobilizations by pan-Africanist movements and intellectuals.

The controversy surrounding the CFA franc came into particular focus in late December, following statements by French president Emmanuel Macron and his Ivory Coast counterpart Alassane Ouattara. Their promise for “reform” of the currency — which is now to be renamed the “eco” — was lapped up by mainstream media outlets. They have been quick to declare the currency’s death, bidding “Farewell to the CFA Franc,” as one Wall Street Journal columnist put it.

Yet a closer look at this affair suggests that such triumphant responses were overly hasty — or rather, outright misleading. If little-known outside the French-speaking world, the history of the CFA franc instead points to quite a different reality — and the persistence of what has for decades served as a tool of French neocolonialism.