Thahir Asmal, Radio Islam News – 23-04-2018
The advent of Blockchain and the world of cryptocurrency is something the South African Reserve Bank is taking extremely seriously, although the organization admits that regulating the industry will be key in the near future.
Head of Fintech at the SARB, Ariff Ismail, admits that innovations have entered and left the market over the years, but he acknowledges that “this time it’s different”.
Ismail was speaking at a conference held in Durban on Saturday, which was titled ‘Blockchain, Cryptocurrency and the Islamic Perspective’ where various views on the new worldwide phenomenon were presented.
Ismail said: “We’ve seen things in the past, but we acknowledge that this time it’s different. The question is: is this a bubble? Our perspective is not to question whether there is a bubble, but to look at previous trends. So we neither agree nor disagree.”
“We think there is a paradigm shift. However, we do think there is a risk and it’s our responsibility as the SARB to keep an eye on these risks.
“Our task in the next few months is to come out with appropriate policies. It needs to be regulated and looked at thoroughly. At this moment, if you wish to invest in this, the risk is yours, until we come out with policies.”
From an Islamic perspective, Mufti Umair Patel of the Jamiatul Ulama South Africa said cryptocurrencies can be accepted as an intangible and were therefore permissible.
“We have many other intangibles we deal with today, such as electricity, gas, airtime, to name a few.”
Another scholar, Mufti Faraz Adam, of Amanah Finance in the United Kingdom, was also of a similar view.
“In terms of mu’aamalaat everything is permissible until there is reason to make it impermissible.”
Blockchain is a global network of computers that are jointly used to manage the database that record cryptocurrency transactions, such as Bitcoin.
Blockchain & Cryptocurrency Conference in Durban: Sonya Kuhnel
Blockchain & Cryptocurrency In The Spotlight At The Weekend: Justin Clarke
Edited by: Faizel Patel:
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