Amongst the neverending chaos surrounding it, one question that stands out is bitcoin’s compliance with the religious ‘Shariah’ law. To answer that, Blossom Finance, a microfinance firm based in Indonesia, published a detailed 22-page paper this week which inferred “bitcoin qualifies as Islamic money, except where it is banned by a local government.”
Is bitcoin ‘Halal’?
Since has gained momentum worldwide, Muslims have wondered if cryptocurrencies are compatible with Shariah-compliant finance. The Islamic religion has a strict set of governing laws, and Islamic banks are very particular about the rules that apply to the sharing of profit, bearing of loss, leasing, safekeeping and more. Stock markets and speculative assets are “frowned” upon in the Islamic traditions.
Thus, bitcoin and cryptocurrencies have been meandering in the battlefield of compliance within the Islamic law for years.
Muslims, who account for close to one-fourth of the world’s population, are left with a lot of confusion even as the interest in cryptocurrencies keeps growing by leaps and bounds.
Recently, a Muslim cleric the debate that bitcoin was, in fact, compatible with Islamic financial laws. Contrastingly, other clerics refrained from agreeing with him, and one Egyptian Islamic cleric went to the extent of a religious edict against bitcoin.
Research Report On bitcoin and Islamic Finance
According to Matthew J. Martin, founder, and head of startup , cryptocurrencies are compliant with Muslim Sharia laws. A , titled “Is bitcoin Halal or Haram: A Shariah Analysis,” was released to prove this claim.
According to Blossom’s Shariah advisor, does qualify as Islamic money, with Martin informing that while people believe the Shariah law is a single set of rules, the religion allows for “differing interpretations and views on various matters.”
Stating the positives, he considers bitcoin’s technology to be very similar to Shariah law’s goal of reducing extreme unpredictability. The news comes as a positive development for bitcoin, as it opens up the cryptocurrency market to a wider audience, especially investors from countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Arab states of the Persian Gulf.
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The online classified website Backpage, which was previously accused of facilitating prostitution, has finally been seized by American law agencies.
Prostitution, not Dating Advertisements
The move came after a grand jury in Arizona indicted seven employees of the company on March 28, 2018. It is that executives of the website took no action despite having direct knowledge of the site being used for prostitution activities. The company raked in more than $500 million in revenue due to this illegal business model.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), in coordination with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona, pulled down the website April 6, 2018 and seized its servers. The action then resulted in an indictment charging the two founders, Michael Lacey and James Larkin, along with five others.
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The allegations explain that the company falsely portrayed advertisements related to prostitution as dating or matching advertisements while continuing to do business. Furthermore, the company’s top executives also admitted in internal company documents that they were complicit in facilitating these illegal activities.
This activity was first brought to the notice of authorities in 2015. It even resulted in MasterCard announcing the removal of its payment method from the website. According to an estimate by IBT, Backpage had sold 1.4 million advertisements, charging anywhere between $5 and $17 for each ad.
As a result, the company generated $100 million worth of revenue in 2015 alone. Since then, this number has increased significantly. The indictment alleges, “Virtually every dollar flowing into Backpage’s coffers represents the proceeds of illegal activity.”
bitcoin as Illicit Means of Payment
Given that MasterCard discontinued support for Backpage soon after the discovery of the platform’s illegal activity, became the primary payment option. This kind of adoption is of the cryptocurrency being used for unlawful activities.
Authorities across the globe have long argued that bitcoin’s characteristic property of pseudo-anonymity has made it a favorite for those involved in illicit dealings.
Even though several women have filed civil lawsuits against Backpage in the past, this is the first time that the FBI has taken any action. The website has also been of soliciting child prostitution.
Defending the Culprit
In the platform’s defense, Backpage lawyers argued that the website and its developers were in no way involved in running a prostitution network through the website and that the advertisements were set up by users.
The defending party also stated that it would be incorrect to blame the company for illegal user actions as it only hosted the ads rather than sponsor them outright.
The indictment said, “In addition to facilitating prostitution through its U.S. website, Backpage also facilitated prostitution through its websites in foreign countries.”
The Washington Post that “Backpage had hired a contractor in the Philippines to solicit ads from prostitutes advertising on other websites, creating ready-made ads for them on Backpage, though Backpage had said it was not involved in creating content.”
The indictment also mentioned the Philippines-based operation, highlighting that internal emails showed that it was part of a five-year business plan and that the primary task was to expand into international markets.
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