What’s the deal with Tatooine currency?

In Episode I, Anakin Skywalker wins the Boonta Eve Classic podrace, which we’ve discussed before. Following the race, he and Qui-Gon sell his podracer, go home to mom, and Ani exclaims, “look at all the money we have!” Here’s the thing – the money Anakin hands her appears to be a stack of Republic credits.

On his way out of town (in a deleted scene), he also gives his old friend Jira her own stack of Republic credits:

If “Republic credits are no good out here”, where did Anakin get the fat stacks of them we see him roll home with? According to all the ancillary EU materials, Tatooine’s economy seems to be all hard currencies: peggats, truguts, and wupiupi. See, here’s a handy chart I whipped up to show how they break down:

Don’t get me wrong, it’s AWESOME to see Republic credit chips onscreen, but I wish they had remembered their own earlier scene, or maybe picked a more appropriate place for them to appear (a Coruscant air taxi ride comes to mind). If large amounts of government legal tender is available on-planet, why didn’t Qui-Gon just go to the local bank, exchange his 20,000 dataries into local hard currency, and buy the parts they needed? Was Watto just giving him a hard time???
Are there any other odd things you’ve noticed and realized after rewatching the films? Let me know in a comment below, and I’ll see you next week for the first entry in our new series. MTFBWY!

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