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Iraqi Dinar Soars Again?


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Iraqi Dinar Soars Again?

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+ Comment now I recently came across this headline in a press release sent out to various Web sites by the Global Newswire via Comtex: “Iraqi Dinar Soars in Global Currency Market.”

As you may have noted from my earlier posts in this blog, the Iraqi dinar is a currency issued by the struggling government of Iraq. It’s not traded on any legitimate foreign exchange, although there are plenty of dealers around the world, which are largely unregulated.

Hence the problem with this headline. If there’s no global currency market that most educated investors would recognize as a regulated exchange, then what does it mean? Does it have any news value? Who says it’s soaring?

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In this case, the press release wasn’t from any well-established news organization, it was issued by the Sterling Currency Group, LLC, a currency dealer launching a new blog on the subject. That was noted near the bottom of the release, which also states it’s “

among the reputable dealers selling and buying Iraqi dinar.”

Actually, the release is somewhat oriented towards investor protection while pitching Sterling’s reputation and services:

“There is more than one aspect to consider before making a purchase, including Iraq’s political, economic, and security situations and the overall volatility of the foreign exchange market. Investors need to assess their own personal tolerance for risk as rates can fluctuate daily. Those who choose to purchase hard currencies, including the dinar, are strongly urged to do their due diligence before entering this non-traditional market.

There are many disreputable dealers of currency on the Internet. To avoid becoming a victim of one of these scams, a potential investor should spend time ensuring that a dealer adheres to the following criteria before making a purchase. Be certain the dealer you choose:

Has an excellent Better Business Bureau (BBB) rating of A or better

Sells authentic currency and provides a money-back guarantee

Offers to buy as well as sell the currency

Has a long, continuous history in the business

Is compliant with industry, state, and federal regulations

Has visible owners – it should be evident who owns and runs this company

Has been successfully audited by the Bank Secrecy Act Compliancy Department of the U.S. Internal Revenue (sic) Department”

While these bullet points are a good start, they are certainly no substitute for the kind of regulation exchanges run by the Chicago Mercantile or New York Stock Exchange have to adhere to when listing and trading securities. As I noted above, the dinar is not a listed security and there isn’t any governmental agency directly supervising its trading. By the way, there is no “Internal Revenue Department.” As anyone looking at a dreaded U.S. tax form can tell you, it’s the “Internal Revenue Service,” one of the more churlish government oxymorons. And I’m not sure how much attention our beloved tax agency pays to dinar dealers. That’s a subject for another day.

Nevertheless, I agree that transparency is essential. The press release continues: “A currency dealer should offer you transparency and integrity when buying and selling. You need to know exactly who you are buying from,” says Ty Rhame, Founder of Sterling Currency Group. “You want to be sure that dealer will still be around if you ever want to exchange your currency in the future.”

Ok, that’s a given. You don’t want a dealer to be fly by night. You also want them to be upfront with the currency’s valuations and what might impact its future pricing. As anyone who reads the international news can tell you, Iraq is still in the throes of social chaos and bombs are still killing people there. It may be years before its currency is traded and listed on global exchanges. Even then, the premise of holding it and hoping it will somehow soar in value is a highly risky proposition. You may be better off holding a painfully low-yielding FDIC-insured certificate of deposit, which protects principal up to $250,000 — if you can’t afford to lose your investment.

Still, I was a bit troubled by the misleading nature of the headline, which some investors may mistake for a news headline. So I contacted Youssef El Hodaigui, the contact listed on the release for Web Marketing 411, which represents Sterling. I asked him to clarify the apparent representation that the dinar was increasing in value, even though there was no global exchange listing it. Here was his emailed response:

“As you wrote in your February 24, 2012, article in Forbes, there is no conclusive evidence one way or the other regarding a possible revaluation of the Iraqi dinar. From my personal experience while working closely on Sterling Currency Group’s marketing, we found that there are many dinar dealers on eBay or sketchy websites that sell currency with no licensing. Those dealers and resellers are usually the ones who promote the dinar as a great investment opportunity in forums and other media channels.

After reviewing the market, we advised Sterling Currency Group to take another route by being transparent and educating customers about the hype and misinformation regarding the dinar. The intention of the recent press release was to introduce their news blog, which provides daily newsworthy information about Iraq, currency and precious metals.

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To clarify, the dinar is not at this time sold through banks or other regulated currency exchanges, yet it is indeed bought and sold through many currency dealers in the U.S. (italics mine). There is clearly a market for the dinar, given the number of dealers and customers. Individual dealers set prices for these currencies, and there is a considerable amount of disparity. That’s yet another reason Sterling was interested in providing potential purchasers with a place to go for information. To the best of my knowledge, they are completely compliant with all government regulations pertaining to their industry and are transparent in their dealings.”

To put this statement into context, to sell securities or to provide investment advice, you need to be registered through state and federal regulators. If you want to sell insurance products, you need a state license. You even need a license to be a barber or beautician. What questions should you ask of currency dealers?

How do the firms selling dinars register to protect you from unscrupulous transactions? Ask them what their commissions are and compare them to a stock or options purchase. Will they buy back the currency? What kind of haircut will you take if they do? Do they make a market for the currency? How big is the market? How much of the currency is in circulation relative to another country of its size? Do banks hold or trade the currency? Which ones? Are they top-tier banks?Do they make a market for the currency? I wouldn’t hand over a single dollar for a basket of dinars until these questions were answered to your satisfaction.

When there’s exclusively a private market for any security or vehicle, valuations can be highly speculative. If there’s no open system with transparent pricing and clearing systems, the investor safeguards are minimal.

Iraqi dinar (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnwasik/2012/06/19/iraqi-dinar-soars-again/

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FYI,

This was on Forbes online today. I know that it is something that we have all heard before but I think that it needs to be repeated.

http://www.forbes.co...feed=rss_search

I recently came across this headline in a press release sent out to various Web sites by the Global Newswire via Comtex: “Iraqi Dinar Soars in Global Currency Market.

As you may have noted from my earlier posts in this blog, the Iraqi dinar is a currency issued by the struggling government of Iraq. It’s not traded on any legitimate foreign exchange, although there are plenty of dealers around the world, which are largely unregulated.

Hence the problem with this headline. If there’s no global currency market that most educated investors would recognize as a regulated exchange, then what does it mean? Does it have any news value? Who says it’s soaring?

In this case, the press release wasn’t from any well-established news organization, it was issued by the Sterling Currency Group, LLC, a currency dealer launching a new blog on the subject. That was noted near the bottom of the release, which also states it’s “

among the reputable dealers selling and buying Iraqi dinar.”

Actually, the release is somewhat oriented towards investor protection while pitching Sterling’s reputation and services:

“There is more than one aspect to consider before making a purchase, including Iraq’s political, economic, and security situations and the overall volatility of the foreign exchange market. Investors need to assess their own personal tolerance for risk as rates can fluctuate daily. Those who choose to purchase hard currencies, including the dinar, are strongly urged to do their due diligence before entering this non-traditional market.

There are many disreputable dealers of currency on the Internet. To avoid becoming a victim of one of these scams, a potential investor should spend time ensuring that a dealer adheres to the following criteria before making a purchase. Be certain the dealer you choose:

  • Has an excellent Better Business Bureau (BBB) rating of A or better
  • Sells authentic currency and provides a money-back guarantee
  • Offers to buy as well as sell the currency
  • Has a long, continuous history in the business
  • Is compliant with industry, state, and federal regulations
  • Has visible owners – it should be evident who owns and runs this company
  • Has been successfully audited by the Bank Secrecy Act Compliancy Department of the U.S. Internal Revenue (sic) Department”

While these bullet points are a good start, they are certainly no substitute for the kind of regulation exchanges run by the Chicago Mercantile or New York Stock Exchange have to adhere to when listing and trading securities. As I noted above, the dinar is not a listed security and there isn’t any governmental agency directly supervising its trading. By the way, there is no “Internal Revenue Department.” As anyone looking at a dreaded U.S. tax form can tell you, it’s the “Internal Revenue Service,” one of the more churlish government oxymorons. And I’m not sure how much attention our beloved tax agency pays to dinar dealers. That’s a subject for another day.

Nevertheless, I agree that transparency is essential. The press release continues: “A currency dealer should offer you transparency and integrity when buying and selling. You need to know exactly who you are buying from,” says Ty Rhame, Founder of Sterling Currency Group. “You want to be sure that dealer will still be around if you ever want to exchange your currency in the future.”

Ok, that’s a given. You don’t want a dealer to be fly by night. You also want them to be upfront with the currency’s valuations and what might impact its future pricing. As anyone who reads the international news can tell you, Iraq is still in the throes of social chaos and bombs are still killing people there. It may be years before its currency is traded and listed on global exchanges. Even then, the premise of holding it and hoping it will somehow soar in value is a highly risky proposition. You may be better off holding a painfully low-yielding FDIC-insured certificate of deposit, which protects principal up to $250,000 — if you can’t afford to lose your investment.

Still, I was a bit troubled by the misleading nature of the headline, which some investors may mistake for a news headline. So I contacted Youssef El Hodaigui, the contact listed on the release for Web Marketing 411, which represents Sterling. I asked him to clarify the apparent representation that the dinar was increasing in value, even though there was no global exchange listing it. Here was his emailed response:

“As you wrote in your February 24, 2012, article in Forbes, there is no conclusive evidence one way or the other regarding a possible revaluation of the Iraqi dinar. From my personal experience while working closely on Sterling Currency Group’s marketing, we found that there are many dinar dealers on eBay or sketchy websites that sell currency with no licensing. Those dealers and resellers are usually the ones who promote the dinar as a great investment opportunity in forums and other media channels.

After reviewing the market, we advised Sterling Currency Group to take another route by being transparent and educating customers about the hype and misinformation regarding the dinar. The intention of the recent press release was to introduce their news blog, which provides daily newsworthy information about Iraq, currency and precious metals.

To clarify, the dinar is not at this time sold through banks or other regulated currency exchanges, yet it is indeed bought and sold through many currency dealers in the U.S. (italics mine). There is clearly a market for the dinar, given the number of dealers and customers. Individual dealers set prices for these currencies, and there is a considerable amount of disparity. That’s yet another reason Sterling was interested in providing potential purchasers with a place to go for information. To the best of my knowledge, they are completely compliant with all government regulations pertaining to their industry and are transparent in their dealings.”

To put this statement into context, to sell securities or to provide investment advice, you need to be registered through state and federal regulators. If you want to sell insurance products, you need a state license. You even need a license to be a barber or beautician. What questions should you ask of currency dealers?

How do the firms selling dinars register to protect you from unscrupulous transactions? Ask them what their commissions are and compare them to a stock or options purchase. Will they buy back the currency? What kind of haircut will you take if they do? Do they make a market for the currency? How big is the market? How much of the currency is in circulation relative to another country of its size? Do banks hold or trade the currency? Which ones? Are they top-tier banks?Do they make a market for the currency? I wouldn’t hand over a single dollar for a basket of dinars until these questions were answered to your satisfaction.

When there’s exclusively a private market for any security or vehicle, valuations can be highly speculative. If there’s no open system with transparent pricing and clearing systems, the investor safeguards are minimal.

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It's funny we see these reporters do their little fluff pieces on the IQD and 99% of the time they seem completely uninformed as to Iraq's political and economic situation. They don't appear to put much effort into their research which is fraught with ambiguity and they rarely present a reasonable theorem that supports their doubt. Maybe these reports are released for the sole purpose of quelling the amount hype and attention this investment has received. Just like the banks have been hounded with questions, I'm sure they have also. Either way it appears we are light years ahead of them when it comes to Iraq's economic future. The ones who know it has potential or are privy that information are certainly not about to publish something that would galvanize the masses to their nearest dinar dealer. I've always said real intel never makes it into a public forum for obvious reasons. It's imperative to the process they remain as furtive as possible. The people who do know aren't talking and at this point a decision may not have even been reached yet. We do know Iraq is a very wealthy country who is on the rise (if they can ever solve this political crisis) along with their exchange rate. It's just a matter time.

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I think they need to get there heads out of you no where, Not sold at banks? Dam i must have been dreaming when i bought mine. It all came from US high standard banks lol.Think they need a lot more research before making public comments. :o

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It's funny we see these reporters do their little fluff pieces on the IQD and 99% of the time they seem completely uninformed as to Iraq's political and economic situation. They don't appear to put much effort into their research which is fraught with ambiguity and they rarely present a reasonable theorem that supports their doubt. Maybe these reports are released for the sole purpose of quelling the amount hype and attention this investment has received. Just like the banks have been hounded with questions, I'm sure they have also. Either way it appears we are light years ahead of them when it comes to Iraq's economic future. The ones who know it has potential or are privy that information are certainly not about to publish something that would galvanize the masses to their nearest dinar dealer. I've always said real intel never makes it into a public forum for obvious reasons. It's imperative to the process they remain as furtive as possible. The people who do know aren't talking and at this point a decision may not have even been reached yet. We do know Iraq is a very wealthy country who is on the rise (if they can ever solve this political crisis) along with their exchange rate. It's just a matter time.

I agree 100%,Excellent post!

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Dame1:

Did you buy from TD Bank (Canada) or

TD (Tampa Dinar). Based in Delaware. Not the same.

Dont know how a real bank would guarantee a buy back???

I can still buy and I can still exchange my IQD at my credit union..Of course it is on a army base and that would only be expected with our boys and girls stationed all around the world..yep in Iraq, Kuwait, etc.

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  • 2 weeks later...

What a small world !!

Rico1, I met you on a flight when we were trying to get from BAF to Shindand . I am the MA1 that was escorting the tiny, little, civilian Customs agent of Hawaiian/Asian descent.

LOL...what a world.

I remember. It is a small world. I will send you my contact info. Hope all is well.

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