Islamic State Announces Plans to Establish its Own Currency

Since June, the terrorist organization known as the Islamic State, ISIS, ISIL, IS or whatever else they are going by these days has been waging not only a physical war in the Middle East, but also a social media and online PR war in an effort to promote their message of hate worldwide.

Well according to media outlets, the Islamic State has announced its latest stunt – to mint its own currency.

From the Forbes newswire:

“Isil which is thought to be the wealthiest terror group in the world – announced on Thursday (11/13) its plans to reinstate an ancient Islamic dinar currency using gold and silver coins in a move ‘purely dedicated to God'”

The highest denomination, a 5 dinar coin, is set to contain 21.25 grams of 21 carat gold, worth about $694. The proposed currency would also have three silver and two copper denominations.

However, as Financial Times points out, reinstating the ancient currency may not go as smoothly as the terrorist group may think.

“The purchasing power of the money they’re emitting will be wholly dependent on what the purchasing power of gold, silver and copper are,” said Steven H. Hanke, professor of applied economics at Johns Hopkins University. “The important thing is: where are they going to get the gold and copper?”