A growing body of literature on the monetary history of Africa focuses on the processes of
domestication of colonial currencies. While these studies highlight how African actors manipu
lated colonial currencies and adapted to colonial monetary reforms, they generally exclude Afri
can agency in the design process of colonial monetary systems. Through the case of the Egyptian
exile in Eritrea Ḥasan Mūsā al-ʿAqqād, this article demonstrates how privileged African actors
could participate in the design process of colonial monetary systems. By comparing implemen
ted colonial policies and the contributions of African actors in the design process, it is possible
to highlight some aspects of the sociocultural reality of the colonies that were overlooked and
neglected by colonial administrators. The analysis of Ḥasan Mūsā al-ʿAqqād’s memorandum on
the introduction of a new colonial monetary system reveals that Italian policymakers prioritised
their accounting needs over local accounting systems and numerical scales in their first mone
tary reform in the colony of Eritrea, offering a new potential explanation for its failure.