I've heard about it off and on over the last couple years, but lately I've heard quite a few speculative investors talking about how it might not be a bad idea to buy up some Dinar (Iraqi currency) while it is at an all time low right now. You can currently buy a million new Dinar for about $800US, although the new bills have technically not been valued yet by international banks so they are essentially worth whatever the next guy is willing to pay you for them. But if the country stabilizes in the near future, this currency could potentially earn a huge return on investment. Even if it is only valued at a penny per Dinar, you're looking at $10,000 for every $800 invested. I'm thinking about buying a million just for kicks, and if I ever get tired of sitting on it, I could just put it up on Ebay and cash out. But if the country happens to stabilize within the next few years, at least I'll have a chance to cash in a little bit on it.

[Edited on October 1, 2006 at 5:03 PM. Reason : /]

10/1/2006 5:01:47 PM

great idea

10/1/2006 5:27:23 PM

ya but they will have civil war and it will bottom out again then they will end up with a new currency and you will be pwnt

[Edited on October 1, 2006 at 5:29 PM. Reason : according to gwb ull earn $texas! so who do u trust?]

10/1/2006 5:28:37 PM

^i would probably sell it as soon as it is valued

[Edited on October 1, 2006 at 5:33 PM. Reason : /]

10/1/2006 5:30:32 PM

IDIOT.

10/1/2006 5:48:44 PM

wont be worth shit after they get taken over by iran

10/1/2006 5:49:27 PM

This is a shitty idea

10/1/2006 5:49:46 PM

COME ON conservatives....put your dinar where your mouth is

10/1/2006 5:56:30 PM

I'm going to sell my confederate currency one of these days

10/1/2006 5:57:21 PM

[Edited on October 1, 2006 at 6:03 PM. Reason : hotlinking]

10/1/2006 6:01:15 PM

http://betoniraq.com/

Since April of 2004, BetOnIraq.com has been faithfully, and efficiently, shipping billions of Iraqi dinars to thousands of satisfied customers around the globe.


http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,64565,00.html

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/e8da54b0-bf05-11da-9de7-0000779e2340,dwp_uuid=c1a5b968-e1ed-11d7-81c6-0820abe49a01.html

[Edited on October 1, 2006 at 6:05 PM. Reason : ]

10/1/2006 6:01:24 PM

i don't see how this could be a terrible idea. i mean if it isn't ever valued, or i want to get my money out of it, i can just sell it on ebay for what i payed for it. if by some crazy chance it is valued at even a penny per dollar, i make a nice little pile of cash.

10/1/2006 6:55:32 PM

YEAH YOU CANT LOSE

unless it is valueless of valued at less than you paid

10/1/2006 6:59:06 PM

Didn't I talk about this in the Soap Box three years ago?

They're charging an ass and a leg for the purchase, so you're really getting a shitty exchange rate on your investment anyway. There's also a good chance the value will become infintessimal when they dump that as a currency altogether.

It might be fun to pin some up in your office (some of my colleagues do) but it is probably going to be worth toilet paper when you're done.

10/1/2006 7:54:51 PM

what would be a better currency to invest in right now?

10/1/2006 7:55:56 PM

The Yuan.

10/1/2006 8:07:59 PM

commemorative plates from the franklin mint

* as with any investment, some risk is involved

10/1/2006 8:10:10 PM

Quote :

"The Yuan. "

I don't think other people caught the hilarity here.

10/1/2006 8:12:21 PM

^^^ "The Dollar"?

'yuan' is just a measure word in chinese similar to dollar. It's not the name of their currency, the Renminbi (RMB).

[Edited on October 1, 2006 at 8:16 PM. Reason : .]

10/1/2006 8:16:12 PM

is there a http://www.betmuslimswillbeterrurists.com site?

10/2/2006 1:09:59 AM

This might be a good idea in another 5-10 years, because I garauntee the Dinar hasnt even come close to bottoming out. That will happen after we leave and the country has a true civil war break out, and Iraq splits into three nations and the Dinar no longer exists.

I'm personally waiting to invest in the Kurdar

10/2/2006 1:18:19 AM

maybe the Sunnar and the Shiiar too

10/2/2006 8:50:12 AM

Quote :

"This might be a good idea in another 5-10 years, because I garauntee the Dinar hasnt even come close to bottoming out."

How many billion Dinars do you bet on this?

10/2/2006 9:00:01 AM

Ima gonna go get a wagon full right now!!!!

10/2/2006 9:01:05 AM

From: http://www.xe.com/iqd.htm

Quote :

"Overview A number of people have begun touting so-called "investment" opportunities in the Iraq Dinar as a "sure way" to make a lot of money with little or no risk. Many of our clients have asked our opinion on the legitimacy of this. Is "investing" in the Iraq Dinar a sure way to profit? We don't think so. In our opinion, buying the Iraq Dinar is a high risk investment with a poor outlook. A Little History The official rate of the old Iraq Dinar, $3.22 USD (U.S. Dollars), was set in 1982 by Saddam Hussein. The old Iraq Dinar could not be freely traded, so this rate was never tested or upheld on the world market. The current Iraq Dinar (IQD) was introduced between October 2003 and January 2004 by the Coalition Provisional Authority in close consultation with financial experts from Iraq and the international community. The IQD is currently valued at a little less than seven hundredths of a US cent. (1 USD = 1460 IQD). The old "Saddam" Dinar has no current value and is worth only what a collector is willing to pay for it. What's Happening Now? The IQD is not freely traded, and is not being used in any significant international transactions. We are unaware of any official bank or foreign exchange office outside of the middle east that will exchange the IQD. The IQD trades on a very small, tightly controlled exchange. The total volume of IQD traded by the Central Bank of Iraq is in the thousands of dollars, compared to the $1,900 billion dollars traded on the Foreign exchange market every day. This small number of trades makes the IQD's value effectively immaterial. The Central Bank of Iraq's stated objective is not to promote the free trade of IQD, as is the case in a true free market economy, but rather to keep the value of the IQD stable. The only way the Bank can ensure the semblance of stability is by tightly controlling the exchange of IQD on the market, and by ensuring that the currency cannot freely trade on the open market. They evidently fear that open trading of the IQD would lead to a rout in which the value of the IQD would sink to practically nothing. Consider the situation. Why tightly control the trading of the IQD if it is likely to appreciate in value? If the value of the IQD were to surge, this could be held out as evidence of a surge of confidence in Iraq's economy. So why not open the IQD to free trading? Why would this be done unless the Iraqi Central Bank itself feels that the IQD would decline in value in a free market? A Snapshot of Iraq Today The current situation in Iraq is pretty grim: o Over a decade of international economic sanctions and a devastating war has left the infrastructure in tatters o $125 billion of external debt o Millions of dollars in post-war debt o No stable government o Insurgency steadily on the rise o Oil facilities and pipelines are sabotaged regularly o Many predict out-and-out civil war, such as the former Prime Minister of Iraq and the outgoing UK abmassador in Baghdad These aren't the kind of conditions typically conducive to the creation of booming economies. More to the point -- a 450,000% increase in the value of the IQD (as predicted by some of its promoters) seems ridiculous in the face of these challenges. But Surely There's Oil Under Those Dunes? A lot of the hype over the IQD centers around Iraq's vast oil reserves and their supposed economic value. The oil market is extremely unpredictable. An economy based on oil alone (oil makes up 95% of Iraq's foreign exchange earnings), will mirror that unpredictability. Let's look at a real-world example: Venezuela. Oil accounts for 80% of Venezuela's national exports and 50% of its government revenues. The country is one of the world's top five oil producers. In the last four years, Venezuela has experienced intense political instability, including an oil strike and an attempted coup d'état. The resulting economic chaos has led to the extreme devaluation of the Venezuelan Bolivar -- today, it is worth only about a third of its US Dollar value from January 2000, and only about a quarter of its Euro value from January 2000. Investing in a country's currency is tantamount to investing in that country's economy as a whole, not in any single commodity. Investing in the Iraq Dinar is not the same as investing in Iraq's oil. But What About Kuwait? Promoters of the IQD like to compare Iraq now to post-Gulf War Kuwait -- but this is comparing apples to oranges. Before the Gulf War, Kuwait had a stable government and its foreign investments generated more income for its economy than its oil did. After the war, despite losing a third of its pre-war investment portfolio (over $100 billion USD), Kuwait still had a solvent economy, a stable government, and an intact infrastructure. It is not difficult to see why a currency's value might increase in these circumstances. In comparison, Iraq entered the war with a $125 billion USD debt, has almost no infrastructure, no stable government, and no other foreign income except its oil -- the vulnerability and unpredictability of which we have already pointed out. The outlook for its economy and the IQD is grim for the foreseeable future. In late 2004, the US was successful in convincing some foreign creditors to "forgive" some of Iraq's debt. However, debt forgiveness is seldom a blessing, and generally comes at a very heavy price. Other countries whose foreign debts have been "forgiven" have found it nearly impossible to generate any foreign investment afterwards. Think about it: how would you feel about investing in Iraq again if you lost your entire investment (i.e. you "forgave" it) last time? If it Sounds Too Good to be True... Ask yourself one question: if the Iraq Dinar is such a hot commodity, why would anyone in the know be willing to sell it to you? If you thought that the IQD was going to multiply in worth by hundreds of thousands of percent, would you sell it? Of course not -- you'd be too busy buying as much of it as you could. But if you thought that the IQD was going to go down in value over time, well, then you might start trying to convince people that it was a "great deal" so that you could get rid of all of yours as soon as possible. Remember the old saying: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Be careful!"

10/2/2006 11:21:01 AM

Quote :

"How many billion Dinars do you bet on this? "

As many as you are buying, because they are going to be worthless when Iraq collapses

10/2/2006 11:28:27 AM

So if someone were to invest in foreign currency...Venezuela might be a good place because they're low right now?

Also, Argentina...still hasn't recovered from their collapse several years back but they're getting better.

India is looking up, maybe buy some rupees?

10/2/2006 11:29:52 AM

How does one buy foreign currency? Where do you go to do that and how much does it cost (I mean in terms of fees)?

[Edited on October 2, 2006 at 11:43 AM. Reason : fees]

10/2/2006 11:43:41 AM

nevermind this, i heard you can make a lot of money by buying marijuana in large amounts and breaking it up into smaller amounts and selling it, maybe i'll give that a try.

10/2/2006 3:19:22 PM

^ more real potential for profit doing that

10/2/2006 3:24:29 PM

get rich quick

10/2/2006 3:43:24 PM

10/2/2006 4:27:40 PM

get real, cocaine is where it's at

10/2/2006 5:23:25 PM

come on you guys, you have to go along with him at least until he squanders his money on it

10/2/2006 7:11:54 PM

But I have 52 million shares! What's 52 million times zero? And don't tell me it's zero!

10/2/2006 8:41:12 PM

I used $15.00 Dollars to buy $30,000.00 Dinar a while back ago when there was all this hype about it. Probably the most expensive toilet paper I've ever bought. And it's not soft like Charmin'!

10/3/2006 9:19:53 AM