FX fact: One world currency and Armageddon

Forex traders are famously averse to the concept of one world currency, which was last discussed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in November 2000.

Canadian Nobel-prize-winning economist Robert Mundell has repeatedly called for a global unit of account. He last proposed a fixed exchange rate between the G3 currencies -- the US dollar, the euro and the yen -- to provide a platform for the subsequent development of a universal currency, in November 2000. Most market participants reject that proposal as ‘unworkable’.

A year earlier, a speech outlining the prospect, delivered at FX Week’s awards ceremony in November 1999 met with angry resistance from the 130 forex dealers and brokers present. Will Hutton, former editor of UK newspaper The Observer was accused of provoking market participants by choosing to discuss such a move.

But FX market participants are not the only ones terrified by the prospect of a single world currency. While they see the possibility as a direct threat to their jobs, some have far graver fears.

According to some evangelists, largely in the US, a single global unit of currency was foretold in the bible -- and is prophesied as one of the indicators of coming Armageddon.

While that prospect is chilling for most of us, European Central Bank president Wim Duisenberg may be pleased to learn that at least one group has faith in the euro, as they believe it must emerge as the dominant global unit.

In perhaps the only example of currency forecasting based on bible prophesy, some evangelists believe the eurozone represents the ‘revived Roman empire’, which they claim the Antichrist will rule, according to the bible’s book of Revelations.