Forget the printing press. In readying for the rollout of Islamic State's new money, goldsmiths and silver smelters have been toiling away.
The jihadi group on Saturday touted "the return of the gold dinar" in an hourlong video issued by its media wing, al Hayat. Islamic State's policymaking Shura Council last year tasked its Beit al Mal, or treasury, with minting the coins, which come in several denominations made of gold, silver and copper.
The currency is meant to break the shackles of "the capitalist financial system of enslavement, underpinned by a piece of paper called the Federal Reserve dollar note," the group said in the video. It did not explain where the coins were being minted, nor how they will be distributed or replace currencies circulating in the territory the group occupies in parts of Iraq and Syria.