Fiqh Council of North America

The Fiqh Council of North America adopted its ruling on 2 September 2019 in Houston, prepared by Dr. Yasir Qadhi and Dr. Abdulbari Mashal. "The base ruling in Islam is that all matters pertaining to human relations (muʿāmalāt) are permissible unless proven otherwise." The objections raised against Bitcoin "are not strong enough to warrant a verdict of impermissibility", and the Council agrees with those who say Bitcoins are "essentially ḥalāl." Bitcoin takes the rulings of fiat currency: "All the rulings of ribā will apply to Bitcoins", exchanges "must be done as a spot-trade at the current rate of exchange", zakat is due, and mining is permissible. The ruling covers Bitcoin only.