Swiss Crypto Firm Gets Islamic Finance Certification for Sharia-Compliant Stablecoin
November 12 2018 - 4:51AM
ADVFN Crypto NewsWire
Switzerland-based
fintech firm X8 AG has received a certification
from the Shariyah Review Bureau (SRB) for its
Ethereum-based
stablecoin, Reuters U.K.
reports Nov. 12.
SRB is a leading Sharia consultancy and audit firm licensed by
the central bank of Bahrain. It reportedly has a presence in twelve
countries, and holds the market share of over 13 percent of Saudi
Investment Companies licensed by the country’s Capital Markets
Authority (CMA), and over 21 percent of the Cooperative Insurance
Firms Listed on the Saudi stock-exchange market.
The debate over whether or not
cryptocurrencies are Sharia-compliant has centered on their
compatibility with the Islamic prohibition on sheer monetary
speculation. Reuters notes that some Islamic scholars have deemed
crypto trading to be analogous with the “transfer of rights,” which
is legitimate under Sharia law.
According to X8 director and co-founder, Francesca Greco, X8’s
ETH-based crypto asset is a “stablecoin,” whose backing by a basket
of seven fiat currencies and gold is considered to assuage Islamic advisors’
concerns over excessive volatility and speculation.
As part of its plans to expand its business to the Middle East,
X8 reportedly plans to launch a crypto exchange that would include
a Sharia-compliant trading platform. To this end, Greco told
Reuters that the company has met with local exchanges in Abu Dhabi,
Dubai, and Bahrain. “The Gulf region is a really good
place for financial technology companies, because they all want to
become hubs for fintech,” she added.
As reported this July, altcoin Stellar (XLM) received a Sharia compliance
certification in the money transfer and asset tokenization field,
claiming to be the first blockchain protocol to have done so. Other
crypto companies claiming “firsts” in the sector include crypto
utility token NOORCOIN, which was certified with a Sharia
Certificate from the World Sharia Advisory Committee in March.
Bitcoin (BTC) was was recognized as “generally
permissible” under Sharia law this April by an internal Sharia
advisor to fintech startup Blossom Finance. Sharia advisor Muhammad
Abu Bakar included a warning that while he considers digital
currencies to be halal (permissible), in most cases traders should
not purchase them for investment purposes.
Blossom Finance CEO and Founder Matthew J. Martin told Cointelegraph this February
that as a payment network, Bitcoin may be even more halal than fiat
currencies due to it being based on Proof-of-Work (PoW), rather than on debt.
Source:
CoinTelegraph
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