Mufti Muhammad Abu-Bakar

"Shariah Analysis of Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency, and Blockchain" by Mufti Muhammad Abu-Bakar was drafted in 2017 and published by Blossom Labs in April 2018. He completed his specialisation in fatwa at Jamia Darul Uloom Karachi, where he wrote more than 400 fatawa through its Darul Ifta. He concludes that Bitcoin is permissible in principle because it qualifies as property (mal) and as money by custom. He cites Ibn Nujaim's definition of mal as "something which is desirable and can be stored for the time of need", and notes that "anything can be recognized as mal, when all or a group of people accept and act as if something is mal." He sets out three kinds of jurisdiction. Where crypto is explicitly banned, dealing in it is not allowed. Where regulators are silent or only warn the public, and where regulators accept it, dealing in Bitcoin and other qualified cryptocurrencies is permissible. He cautions that it is "not advisable to buy cryptocurrency for investment purposes", and on ICOs: "Although it is outside the scope of this paper to consider the permissibility of the ICO, all investors should exercise extreme caution."