Dr. Mohd Daud Bakar, the Chairman of Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) Shariah Advisory Council, has praised the “great potential” of cryptocurrency. Just three months after a landmark decision declaring digital assets trading is permissible under Islamic law, and religious scholars in Malaysia, crypto is looking bullish as an investment.
It has been reported that the Chairman said crypto has great potential but adoption in the country faced challenges from a lack of understanding about the asset class.
However, speaking at the SCxSC Fintech Conference 2020 in Kuala Lumpur on October 6, he said that only 2% of Malaysians have any knowledge about cryptocurrencies.
The Malaysian Securities Commission Shariah Advisory Council chairman said cryptocurrency’s potential was “as great as it comes” https://t.co/64Nj4XmM8Y — Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) October 8, 2020
Bakar said that because crypto was not considered legal tender under religious law, it can be treated as a commodity, provided it isn’t backed by “ribawi items” — substances that must be exchanged in equal measures like gold and silver.
He added:
“It is a medium of exchange, and we cannot stop people [from using] commodities as medium of exchange. It is as good as buying an e-ticket or commodities in the market.”
Bakar further said:
“[The acceptance of digital assets] can open up so many interesting areas in Malaysia, in which crypto can be deemed as investment assets where people can buy and hold for trading. The potential of this currency is as great as it comes with a growing digital economy of the world.”
Likewise, the question of whether crypto is allowed according to Islam is still being debated, but in 2018, an advisor to an Indonesian FinTech firm declared that Bitcoin was “generally permissible” under Shariah law.
Prior to that ruling, the firm’s CEO Matthew Martin said that crypto was more likely to be permissible under Islamic law than fiat, due to it being based on Proof-of-Work, rather than debt.
As Shariah Advisory Councils are typically the authority that oversees the implementation of Islamic laws in the operation of Islamic Financial Institutions, in July, Malaysia’s council declared that digital assets trading were permissible according to Shariah Law.
Thus, Bakar concluded:
“This has opened opportunities to take advantage of cryptos as a commodity or as an investment in a company.”
Source: Cointelegraph
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