This paper proposes to analyze the agent behavior by means of big data extracted from the search engine « Google trends » and Twitter API to visualize the emotions and the manner of thinking about « Bitcoin » in the Islamic context. Two kinds of sentiment measures are constructed. The first is based on the search query of the word « Bitcoin » with religious connotation all over the world from 14/04/2017 to 14/04/2018 in weekly frequency. The second is built on twitter data from 03/04/2018 to 13/04/2018, by using a Bayesian machine learning device exploiting deep natural language processing modules to assign emotions and sentiment orientations. In the next step, the Granger causality analysis is used to investigate the hypothesis that this sentiment causes the volatility and the returns of « Bitcoin ». The results show that, at a first-level that twitter users of the word « Islamic Bitcoin » improve positive sentiment. Secondly, the Twitter sentiment measure has a significant effect on lagged Bitcoin returns and volatility. Furthermore, this sentimental variable Granger causes Bitcoin returns and volatility. This study contributes to the literature by studying the influence of the doctrinal view towards Bitcoin on his prices dynamics. Knowing that Bitcoin is a new financial asset and there is a large debate on his compliance with shariah
In the crypto world, there is a proverbial (and literal) gold rush now occurring. Currently, more than 37 gold‐backed cryptocurrency companies have now emerged. Interestingly, some of them also claim to be Sharīʿah ‐compliant. Introducing precious metal‐backed cryptocurrencies is perceived to be an innovation among global payment systems, hampered in part by lack of supporting empirical evidence. Therefore, this research investigates potential users' tendency to adopt a Sharīʿah ‐compliant precious metal‐backed cryptocurrency. As such, this study adopts an extended adoption model, which consists of eight factors. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS‐SEM) analysis was conducted on data elicited from economic active residents in Klang Valley from questionnaires. Overall, it was found six out of the eight constructs specified to influence the adoption of precious metal‐backed cryptocurrency were statistically significant where 54.5% of the variation in adoption of PMBC can be explained by the structure model provided by this research. It was also found 63.55% of the respondents are willing to adopt precious metal‐backed cryptocurrency in their future transactions.
Mohammad Abdul Matin Chowdhury, Dzuljastri Bin Abdul Razak
Technology advanced has brought rapid changes in all human activities along with financial activities and tools. Digital currency one of the technological innovations which have taken significant focuses from consumers, investors, researchers, entrepreneurs and policy makers around the world. with the trend of changing patterns, Islamic finance is rapidly developing all over the world by serving Muslims and non-Muslims, as a result, it is mandatory for Islamic finance to adapt with modern technology systems in terms of providing innovative products and services to the consumers in line with shariah perspectives. As a result, cryptocurrency (digital currency) has taken the focus on Islamic scholars in regards of its permissibility. There are many arguments over the permissibility issues. Therefore, this study aims to explore those issues and mechanisms of cryptocurrency in order to evaluate with Islamic perspective. This study gathered secondary sources from past literatures, books, news and websites with qualitative approach. The findings inclined that there are still lacking in mechanisms of digital currency to comply with Islamic perspective such as real asset backed and legal authorization. The findings of this study will benefit the Islamic scholars and policy makers along with Muslim consumers and investors in regards of permissibility and developing existing cryptocurrency to widely use in the Islamic finance and banking sector.
Mohd Faiz Mohd Yaakob, Mohd Aliff Mohd Nawi, Raja Rizal Iskandar Raja Hisham
Abstract 
 Today's world is recording the rapid development digital transaction. Bitcoin has become one of the phenomena for online transactions. There are risks that come along with this phenomenon. In addition, this phenomenon has also implicated the transactions conducted by individuals and Muslim communities around the world. In fact, there is a view that permits the use of this transaction to pay zakat with special conditions. The objective of this study is to explore the risk of using Bitcoin; and to explore the zakat institution's readiness to accept the Bitcoin transaction. Methodology of this study using a qualitative study with document’s analysis design. The findings showed that there are five main components in the zakat instituions readiness in Bitocin acceptance such as Education; Investment and Economics; Technology; Safety and Continuous Improvement.
 Abstrak 
 Dunia masa kini mencatatkan perkembangan transaksi digital yang begitu pantas. Bitcoin telah menjadi salah satu fenomena kepada perkembangan urus niaga transaksi dalam talian. Terdapat risiko-risiko yang datang bersama dengan fenomena ini. Selain itu, fenomena ini juga telah memberikan implikasi kepada urus niaga yang dijalankan oleh individu dan masyarakat muslim di serata dunia. Malah, terdapat pandangan yang mengharuskan penggunaan transaksi ini untuk membayar zakat dengan ditetapkan syarat khusus. Objektif kajian ini bertujuan meneroka risiko penggunaan Bitcoin; dan meneroka kesediaan institusi zakat dalam penerimaan transaksi Bitcoin. Metodologi kajian ini menggunakana kajian kualitatif dengan reka bentuk analisis dokumen. Dapatan mendapati terdapat lima komponen utama dalam kesediaan intitusi zakat seperti Pendidikan; Ekonomi dan Pelaburan; Teknologi; Keselamatan dan Penambahbaikan Berterusan.
This paper applies biomimetic engineering to the problem of permissionless Byzantine consensus and achieves results that surpass the prior state of the art by four orders of magnitude. It introduces a biologically inspired asymmetric Sybil-resistance mechanism, Proof-of-Balance, which can replace symmetric Proof-of-Work and Proof-of-Stake weighting schemes.
The biomimetic mechanism is incorporated into a permissionless blockchain protocol, Key Retroactivity Network Consensus (KRNC), which delivers ~40,000 times the security and speed of today's decentralized ledgers. KRNC allows the fiat money that the public already owns to be upgraded with cryptographic inflation protection, eliminating the problems inherent in bootstrapping new currencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum.
The paper includes two independently significant contributions to the literature. First, it replaces the non-structural axioms invoked in prior work with a new formal method for reasoning about trust, liveness, and safety from first principles. Second, it demonstrates how two previously overlooked exploits, book-prize attacks and pseudo-transfer attacks, collectively undermine the security guarantees of all prior permissionless ledgers.
This paper tends to examine cryptocurrency and its permissibility in the structure of Islamic banking finance. It identifies the major types of cryptocurrencies and also revealed its benefits. Despite these benefits and relating it to Islamic finance it was viewed from two angle; cryptocurrency and money in Islam and also cryptocurrency and the principles of Islamic finance. The study revealed it is compatible to structure of Islamic banking and finance when compared side by side to the features of fiat money which is currently in use. More so, the study clears some of the key issues like its legal tender, issuer unknown, money laundering & illicit purpose etc usually raised against cryptocurrency. The study concluded that cryptocurrency as an economic innovation has secured a pass mark to fit into the structure of Islamic banking and finance. The study further recommends that there is need to create standards guiding its operations, further ensure full disclosure on its transactions etc.
The existence of money makes buying and selling activity easier than the barter system. However, the increasing globalization of the world economy demands speed accelaration, ease and security of financial transactions. The discovery of cryptocurrency provides solution for the current payment system which relies highly on the third party in conducting digital transactions. One of those cryptocurrency products is Inacoin which is originated from Indonesia. Because this cryptocurrency is a contemporary problem that cannot be concluded directly from the classical fiqh book, a thorough investigation is needed to obtain the validity of this money from Islamic perspective. This research is a qualitative research that uses multimethod of normative-empirical Islamic law perspective in discussing the aforementioned problem. This study concluded that the existence of Inacoin cannot be accepted as money since there are Islamic requirements or criteria that are not met. In addition, the use of Inacoin is mostly for trading commodity, not as money. The Inacoin trade is legitimate but unlawful, because Inacoin has fulfilled the pillars and requirements of the Al-Ṣarf, yet contradicted some Islamic principal such as maisir, gharar, and possibility of harming its user
Maryam Jameelah Hashim, Mohd Faizal Kamarudin, Nur Afizah Muhamad Arifin, Mohd Rahim Khamis
Cryptocurrency is a digital currency that is powered by blockchain technology. One of it is bitcoin, a system that is digitally created and traded tokens to which value is assigned. The level of adoption of bitcoin has accelerated due to several fiscal crises that leads to financial crashes that have affected the lives of millions of people. This has created a demand for new kinds of niche money. Issues need to be closely discussed before it is fully accepted by customers as a medium of exchange. Even though bitcoin is used as a medium of exchange, there is still no specific guidance and benefits to the users. The issues concernedare whether the customers will get the benefits of privacy, lower transaction costs and freedom in payment. Therefore, the aims of this paper are to identify the relationship between transaction cost, privacy and digital payment as a benefit of bitcoin as a medium of exchange. This research will be conducted in Klang Valley area and the questionnaires will be disseminated directly to respondents. These respondents will be identified using probability simple random sampling. A regression analysis will be conducted comprising 200 observations in Klang Valley, Malaysia. Partial least square-structural equation (PLS-SEM) will be used. In the measurement model, reliability will be assessed by examining the Composite Reliability (CR), while validity will be assessed by convergent validity and discriminant validity. Subsequently, structural model testing with 500 re-samples was applied to test the hypothesized relationships between exogenous variables and endogenous variable. Digital payment and privacy are statistically significant towards the benefit of using bitcoin as a medium of exchange. It was found that the digital payment contributes the highest benefit to the customers followed by privacy. The results provide interesting insight into the determinants for the customers benefit using bitcoin. Although the findings show significant results customers should always decide the good and bad thoroughly before finalizing their decisions on the usage of bitcoin. Therefore, it is hoped that this study will enrich the growing literature on the subject and future research needs to explore on the benefits of using bitcoin among the real users. This study is expected to give guidelines to the policymakers on the implementation of bitcoin as a medium of exchange. It is also expected that the results may provide interesting insight into the determinants of customer benefits using bitcoin. Simultaneously, it will contribute to the elements of industry, innovation and infrastructure.
Focus on a concrete project, share the results, contain the risk. These are some of the precepts of Islamic finance. But they are also the cornerstones of crowdfunding. This is why this form of financing is cutting out its space. With an extra pillar: no interests. The resources are still limited, but the Muslim crowdfunding ecosystem is diversifying: from the most basic reward based on social lending, with an eye to the Fintech. FinTech refers to technofinance or financial technology, that is to say, the supply of services and financial products provided through the most modern technologies made available to ICT. The services provided by FinTech are essentially those of traditional finance: therefore, from simple transactions to payments, to brokering and risk management, typical and exclusive of this sector are the activities linked to electronic currencies such as for example, the Bitcoin.
This research study shows the perspective of Islamic banking on Shariah compliant FinTech (financial technology) model. As startup firms providing and compete in the global market regarding financial services including e.g, online investment, Peer to peer equity crowdfunding, online payments (E-Wallets), philanthropic crowdfunding platforms, RegTech, Distributed ledgers technologies, crypto currency and many other threats of Distributed ledgers and digital currencies technological advancements. By keeping mentioned technological advancement, it is observed throughout the Islamic world by Shariah Experts and technology industry experts regarding Islamic FinTech ecosystem implementation. Primary data was collected through self administrative instrument with some previous research studies. Targeted population for this research contains Islamic and window Islamic banking staff, 150 respondents were approached with in the Karachi city. Testing shows positive results of independent to dependent variable of Shariah compliance relationship regarding FinTechmodel in Islamic banking according to Shariah-principles. Almost in the vicinity of Islamic banking and finance with FinTech implementation researches are under process in many universities or institutions throughout the world. Some researches shows positive results of FinTech aspects on Islamic banking services. Chosen independent variables have strong correlation with the dependent variable. Debated areas of FinTech and Islamic banking services have significant results produced under this research.
M. Abdeen, Salman Jan, Sohail Khan, Toqeer Ali Syed
Takaful – an Islamic alternative to conventional in-surance – is fast becoming one of the most important constituents of modern Islamic financial market. The fundamental difference between the two forms of risk mitigation is entrenched from the type of contract selected. The conventional insurance work on the principle of bilateral contracts between the customer (insured) and insurance provider where the insured pay regular premium in return for payment of compensation, in case of a predefined event occurs. On the other hand, Takaful works on the principle of mutual guarantee, cooperation and indemnity where the participants in the scheme mutually insure each other. The Takaful providers are mainly responsible for managing, administering and investigating the Takaful funds according to Islamic laws. This studies provides a decentralized architecture that securely implements Takaful risk mitigation system accord-ing to its principles. Since all major banking sectors are shifting towards Blockchain technology, as it is currently the only viable solution to offers security, transparency, integrity of resources and ensure trustworthiness among customers. The proposed studies offer state-of-the-art Blockchain technology and focus provide a Takaful system that strictly follows the underlying Islamic laws for this risk mitigation system. Moreover, the proposed platform provides all Takaful transactions over Blockchain that brings confidence and transparency to the community involved in the process.
We incorporate skewness and kurtosis into an optimization process for a unique student-managed fund. Unlike the vast majority of such funds, which hold only equity, our fund includes REITs, cryptocurrency, and peer-to-peer loans. Adding these unusual asset classes allows our students to explore portfolio management concepts more generalizable than just picking stocks. While most of our assets cannot be recommended based solely on traditional mean-variance analysis, they nonetheless offer beneficial contributions. Using polynomial goal programming to incorporate higher moments in our optimization, we find that asset classes dominated in mean-variance space can make meaningful contributions to the full risk-return profile of the portfolio. In particular, we find that including cryptocurrency and peer-to-peer loans can increase the skewness and decrease the kurtosis of our portfolio.
أهداف البحث: يهدف البحث إلى التوصل لحكم العملات المشفرة في ضوء المقاصد الشرعية، وهناك أسئلة كثيرة حول العملات المشفرة، وحكم الاشتراك في مجمعات تعدينها، وحكم تداولها في عقود البيع والشراء والصرف؛ فجاء البحث ليجيب عنها في ضوء مقاصد الشريعة الإسلامية. منهج الدراسة: تم استخدام المنهج الوصفي مع الاستعانة بالمنهجين الاستنباطي والتحليلي، كما تم دراسة المسألة وفق الأسس العلمية لبحث فقه النوازل المعاصرة، واستشارة عدد من الخبراء؛ لفهم المسألة فهمًا صحيحًا مطابقًا للواقع. النتائج: تم التوصل إلى أن العملات المشفرة لا تتوافر فيها شروط النقد الشرعي؛ حيث تفتقد القبول العام والرواج بين الناس، ولا تصلح أن تكون مقياسًا للسلع والخدمات بشكل عام، فلا تعتبر مستودعًا للقيمة، ولا معيارًا للمدفوعات الآجلة، ولا يوجد دولة أو سلطة تتبناها وتقدر على ضمانها. أصالة البحث: إن حجم المشاكل الاقتصادية والنقدية التي يمكن أن تنشأ كنتيجة لتداول العملات المشفرة، يوجب أن تكون تلك العملات محل بحث فقهي؛ فجاء هذا البحث ليتناول حكم تلك العملات في ضوء المقاصد المتعلقة بالتصرفات المالية، مع التوصية بعرض المسألة على المجامع الفقهية؛ للتوصل إلى كل ما يتعلق بها من أحكام شرعية.
In recent years, cryptocurrencies, digital assets used as mediums of exchange that use cryptography to secure the creation and exchange of the currency, have gained in popularity. One cryptocurrency in particular, Bitcoin, has received a considerable amount of attention in the media. As the general public’s awareness of Bitcoin increases, one must consider the impact that aligning a nonprofit with such a currency could have. The present research uses three studies to examine the impact that advertising the nonprofits’ alignment with Bitcoin has on perceived effectiveness as well as potential donors’ attitudes toward investing nonprofits’ assets in the currency. Results suggest that while accepting Bitcoin may enhance potential donors' perceptions of the organization, going so far as to actually invest in the cryptocurrency may be considered a poor choice. Implications for how nonprofit managers may want to handle involvement with this novel and potentially lucrative but risky currency are discussed.
The article presents the analysis and evaluation of the essence of bitcoin (and other cryptocurrencies) from the perspective of its (their) adaptability to the Muslim concept of money. From an economic point of view in the so-called Western culture, all the classical functions of money cannot be fully attributed to bitcoin. Although it performs the function of an exchange medium and the means of payment, it does not fulfil the role of a value storing instrument and thus proves to be a defective measure of value. In the Islamic world, the perception of bitcoin as money is a more complex problem because its economic presentation overlaps with religious issues. Such relationship results in a situation when the answer to the question: can bitcoin be approached as money, is formulated on the basis of a subjective interpretation of the Sharia law, which is also ambiguous.
Almost a decade on from the launch of Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies continue to generate headlines and intense debate. What started as an underground experiment by a rag tag group of programmers armed with a Libertarian manifesto has now resulted in a thriving $230 billion ecosystem, with constant on-going innovation. Scholars and researchers alike are realizing that cryptocurrencies are far more than mere technical innovation; they represent a distinct and revolutionary new economic paradigm tending towards decentralization. Unfortunately, this bold new universe is little explored from the perspective of Islamic economics and finance. Our work aims to address these deficiencies. Our paper makes the following distinct contributions We significantly expand the discussion on whether cryptocurrencies qualify as "money" from an Islamic perspective and we argue that this debate necessitates rethinking certain fundamental definitions. We conclude that the cryptocurrency phenomenon, with its radical new capabilities, may hold considerable opportunity which merits deeper investigation.
Para kavramı ihtiyaçlara ve teknolojideki gelişmelere bağlı olarak tarih boyunca değişim göstermiştir. Elektronik para kavramından sonra şimdi de kripto para kavramı küçük tasarruf sahiplerinden büyük devletlere varıncaya kadar hepimizin gündemine girmiş durumda. Kripto para kavram ve sistemi, bilişim ve ekonominin yanı sıra din ve hukuk tarafından da irdelenmeye muhtaçtır. Kripto para sistemine peşinen taraftar veya karşı olmak yerine, borsa, bankacılık, kredi gibi kavram ve sistemlerin geçirdiği dönüşümü dikkate alarak konuya dair çok boyutlu değerlendirmeler yapılması zaruret arz etmektedir. Bu çalışmada farklı yaklaşımlar arasında karşılaştırmalarda bulunarak İslam hukuku cephesinden konuya temas etmeye gayret göstereceğiz.
Money is one of the powerful institutions that humankind created and developed and nowadays it affects all of aspects of social human life. Money essentially is production of human socialization and we should think of it as a social reality that although has a special and independent role for each individual, but it has overall acceptance in the society. Bitcoin is a decentralized electronic fiat currency implemented using cryptography and peer-to-peer technology. Because of increasing development of bitcoin and also other similar currencies, our monetary policy-makers should take proper position about it. In this study we make an analysis about value of bitcoin in context of Etebariat theory developed by Allameh Tabataba’i and argue that value of bitcoin is consistent with this context. Our study about monetary and banking schools like metalism, chartalism, money in circle and banking shows that because of peer-to-peer system of Bitcoin, although Bitcoin is inconsistent with all of the abovementioned theories, but it is consist with Etebariat theory because of no need to third party. So Bitcoin is a counter-example to classical theory of money and it verify Etebariat theory.
Yusuf Sani Abubakar, Ahmad Faosiy Ogunbado, Mpawenimana Abdallah Saidi
Bitcoin is a type of cryptocurrency and the most successful in blockchain management. It has become famous in recent years. The critical aspects of cryptocurrency are its legitimacy, source of money laundering, tax evasion, lack of regulation etc. The aim of this study is to explore the view of Muslim scholars on the legality of bitcoin with respect to Shariah. The study adopts doctrinal approach which utilizes descriptive approach of qualitative research methodology which relies on secondary data in form of text books, journals, newspapers, related websites etc. The study found that Muslim scholars are divided on the issue. A part of them completely rejected bitcoin and considered it against Shariah principles. On the other hand, some Muslim scholars believe bitcoin does not contradict Islamic principles and therefore may be used, however with certain conditions. The researchers tend to support the proponents’ view as most of the opponents’ grounds for the rejection are temporary in nature which may be covered through policy regulations.
Aishath Muneeza, Nur Aishah Arshad, Asma’ Tajul Arifin
The emergence of innovative digital financial technologies, namely blockchain and crowdfunding, indicates new ways to reach the poor and economically vulnerable groups. This paper contributes to the emerging literature on financial technology by presenting the case of crowdfunding in financial inclusion. The rationale behind this inquiry is to demonstrate the relevance of crowdfunding to financial inclusion, and how might blockchain technology fuel the development of crowdfunding. This paper also constitutes one of the first attempts to analyse crowdfunding in Malaysia and Shariah-compliant crowdfunding. In this paper, a desk research is conducted where journal articles, books, magazines, newspapers, industry reports published on the subject matter are reviewed critically. To analyse the development of crowdfunding in Malaysia, 6 crowdfunding platforms are examined. The outcome of this research suggests that crowdfunding is a viable means to promote financial inclusion, and blockchain technology could help mitigate the current issues faced by platform operators.