World’s First Sharia Compliant Cryptocurrency to Launch in May, Co-founder Reveals
The world’s first Sharia compliant cryptocurrency, Islamic Coin, will be launched to the public next month, according to one of its co-founders. Islamic Coin, still in private sales mode, operates on the Haqq Blockchain, a network which is compatible with thousands of applications worldwide. Haqq, which means ‘truth’ in Arabic, stringently abides by Islamic principles and traditions on finance, with the Islamic Coin being its native cryptocurrency.
The currency, still in private sales mode, has been gaining support from venture capitalists and financial institutions. According to Islamic Coin co-founder, Mohammed AlKaff AlHashmi, this support will build the community’s trust and confidence in the currency’s traction before its public release. AlHashmi said that the coin will be launched to the public in May, but did not specify a date.
The global Islamic finance market is expected to reach over $3.69 trillion by 2024, fuelled by a growing interest in Sharia-compliant finance. The Halal products market is projected to reach more than $4 trillion.
The global Muslim community has grown to over 1.8 billion people, which represents a huge untapped and “underserved” market in the crypto world, said AlHashmi adding that Islamic finance is being embraced by non-Muslims worldwide. Interestingly, at least 50 per cent of private sales made in Islamic Coin came from non-Muslims.
The Haqq blockchain is eco-friendly and has been built in a way that is compatible with Ethereum, making it easy for people who build their projects there to migrate them somewhere else or integrate them.
Ten per cent of every minted Islamic Coin goes to Evergreen DAO, a non-profit virtual foundation focused on long-term sustainability and community impact, to fund community projects. However, the coin’s co-founders don’t decide on what projects should be funded.
Islamic coin has appointed a Sharia board to decide whether a project is compliant with Islamic principles, which AlHashmi said includes the “top five” experts in the region. The board includes 40 banks, including Standard Chartered, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, and Dubai Islamic Bank, among others.
The Sharia compliant cryptocurrency is also targeting non-crypto native people, meaning that it will be relatively more resistant to the effects of the crypto winter – when the market goes through a tough period of company collapses, major fines or massive drops in token prices.
