Which region in the ancient societies used cocoa beans as currency?

Cacao originally pronounced “kakawa,” was a term used by the ancient Olmec as early as 1000 BCE. Based on linguistic evidence, the Olmec might have been the first to domesticate the cacao tree, "Theobroma cacao L.," and to discover the process of making chocolate.

Chocolate was in general used among the pre-Columbian Aztec and Maya as both a drink and as currency. The first European encounter with cacao took place in 1502 on the fourth voyage of Christopher Columbus at Guanaja, a bay island in the Caribbean off the coast of present-day Honduras, where a Maya trading canoe included cacao beans among its cargo. The upscale modern chocolate product Valrhona Guanaja takes its names from this island.

Mayans traded cacao to the Aztecs, who in turn introduced cacao to Spaniards. Much of the transatlantic export of cacao from Mesoamerica to Spain started in the heart of the Aztec Empire, in what is today Mexico City. After being introduced to Spain, chocolate spread across the nations of Europe – England, France, Belgium, and of course, Switzerland.

Cocoa beans are the basis of chocolate, and Mesoamerican foods including "tejate", an indigenous Mexican drink that also includes maize, and "pinolillo", a similar Nicaraguan drink made from a cornmeal & cocoa powder. The cocoa bean was a common currency throughout Mesoamerica before the Spanish conquest.