The Kourou, introduced during the Beta Age, served as the official currency of the Free State of Settlers. It was issued as paper money and copper coins by the Free State's Coin Press and Money Printing House, located in New Kourou, the capital of the Confederation.

The Kourou was named after Kourou, a town in North Africa where the ESA spaceport launched the Last Frontier spaceship in 2421. This spacecraft carried humanity's last hope, the ExoHumans, to a new home. The name symbolized humanity’s connection to Earth and its extraordinary leap into space.

Each banknote honored a scientific figure whose contributions were instrumental to humanity's journey into space. These figures were chosen as a tribute to human ingenuity and as a reminder of Earth's rich intellectual heritage. The practice of referring to the bills by the scientists' names became a part of everyday language, deepening the cultural resonance of the currency.

• 1,000-Kourou Bill: Featured Albert Einstein, symbolizing the breakthroughs in theoretical physics that laid the foundation for space travel. Referred to colloquially as “Einstein.”
• 100-Kourou Bill: Featured J. Robert Oppenheimer, commemorating his role in advancing nuclear technology, which was pivotal in powering early space exploration. Colloquially called “Oppenheimer.”
• 50-Kourou Bill: Featured Isaac Newton, whose laws of motion and gravity formed the basis for modern astrophysics. Colloquially called “Newton.”
• 20-Kourou Bill: Featured Katherine Johnson, the mathematician whose trajectory calculations were critical to early space missions. Colloquially called “Katherine.”
• 10-Kourou Bill: Featured Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, a pioneer of astronautics and rocketry. Colloquially called “Tsiolkovsky.”

• 5 Kourou Coin: Known as “Fiver”
• 1 Kourou Coin: Known as “Uno”
• 0.25 Kourou Coin: Known as a “Quarter.”
• 0.10 Kourou Coin: Called a “Mini.”
• 0.01 Kourou Coin: Known as a “Mini Mini.”

With the transition to Communardism during the Gamma Age, the economic system of the Federal Confederation no longer required a currency. Resources are distributed centrally by the GAIA system, and trade between ExoHumans and other nations is nonexistent. The Kourou was officially phased out but persisted as an illegal black-market currency, used in clandestine transactions and under-the-table dealings.

The black-market use of the Kourou highlights the system's flaws, as some citizens search ways to bypass the rigid controls of Communardism. In this context, the Kourou is a symbol of resistance and the complexities of human nature, as old habits of trade and commerce reemerged despite official bans.