ISIS Planning Its Own Currency: Gold And Silver Coins

By Mark Melin
ValueWalk

Photo courtesy of AP

ISIS, the Islamic state terrorist organization that now controls large swaths of Syria and Iraq, is contemplating creating its own currency, according to a report in the UK Mail. And in creating a currency, the organization known for intimidation is eschewing traditional western central bank methods embracing a method of currency creation that gets back to basics. They want to turn back the clock on currency to historic basics dating back to the Caliphate of Uthman in 634 CE.

ISIS Desire to Bring Back Dinar

Militants have expressed a desire to bring back the dinar, an ancient currency used in Islam. A key point of the militant’s plans is to return to gold and silver used in the production of coins, a key point of differentiation with most worldwide currencies, which are mostly backed by the good faith and credit of the issuing nation. Coins backed by actual gold and silver date back to the Caliphate of Uthman in 634 CE. While the original Islamic coins contained 4.3 grams of gold in the dinar and 3 grams of silver in the dirham, such large amounts of precious metal in the coin would make them unpractical to operate as a currency today. Coins with lowered amounts of actual gold and silver are a more likely outcome.

Photo courtesy UK Daily Mail

ISIS has yet to formally confirm the plans, the report noted, but said the currency could be introduced within the next few weeks. The previous coins were inscribed with an Islamic message on one side and the date of minting along with a picture of the country’s ruler on the other side, which might suit the ISIS leader, Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi just fine.  The ruler of the terrorist movement has increasingly made claims that he is the “Mahdi,” or the chosen one to lead the Islamic people. Such claims carry significant religious significance and have been attacked by a variety of more traditional Islamic voices.

ISIS the Richest of All Terrorist Organizations

ISIS is currently the richest of all terrorist organizations, generating $1 million each day from black market oil sales alone. This is on top of kidnapping, bank robbery and extortion. The head of the U.S. Treasury Departments effort to undermine the extremists, David Cohen, said the group has taken in at least $20 million in ransom payments this year from kidnappings.

Courtesy of ValueWalk

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