Is USDA (USDA) Halal or Haram?
SUMMARY
USDA is rated as non-compliant ('No') because the project is a confirmed fraud. It explicitly makes false and legally impossible claims of FDIC insurance to deceive investors, which is a severe Shariah violation. Additionally, the token is an issuer redemption claim where the issuer retains discretionary freeze authority over individual balances.
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How you can hold and use USDA
Buy & Hold
The project is a confirmed fraud due to deceptive claims of FDIC insurance, making holding the token impermissible.
What the screen checked
Shariah Analysis
Infrastructure — where it runs
PassedThe token operates on the BNB Smart Chain, which is a neutral, general-purpose network.
Application — what it does
FailedThe project is a confirmed fraud, explicitly making false and legally impossible claims of FDIC insurance to deceive investors.
Asset — what you own
PassedThe token is intended to be used as a stable medium of exchange and for digital payments, with no yield mechanisms present.
Property Status (Māl)
CautionThe token has genuine lawful use as a medium of exchange, but adoption is negligible and the issuer retains discretionary freeze/blacklist authority over individual balances. The holder owns a redemption claim against the named issuer rather than a native protocol position, and its value depends on that issuer's ability and willingness to honour it. Furthermore, the supply minting authority could not be confirmed by the research.
Revenue Purity
CautionIt is unknown what revenue the protocol generates and whether any of it reaches token holders.
Legitimacy & Security
project audits
CautionNo completed audit by a named independent auditor is evidenced; only automated risk scanner results are available.
whitepaper
PassedDocumentation and tokenomics were found, though the whitepaper lacks transparency regarding reserve backing.
social presence
CautionNot covered by research.
Team & Ecosystem
team background
CautionNot covered by research.
Detailed Shariah Report
USDA is a stablecoin operating on the BNB Smart Chain, designed to maintain a 1:1 peg with the US Dollar for digital payments and asset settlement. Rather than being a native protocol asset, the token represents a redemption claim against the issuer, meaning its value relies entirely on that issuer's ability and willingness to honor the peg.
The verdict on simply buying and holding USDA is Haram (impermissible). We evaluate crypto assets across three distinct layers: the underlying infrastructure, the core business activity, and the asset's qualification as property. USDA passes the infrastructure layer, as it operates on the neutral, general-purpose BNB Smart Chain, and hosting applications does not taint the native network. However, it critically fails the business activity layer. The project is a confirmed fraud, explicitly making false and legally impossible claims of FDIC insurance to deceive investors, which is a severe Shariah violation. At the asset qualification layer, a digital token is recognized as valid property (Mal) when it represents an exclusive, ascertainable right of control with lawful use and is treated as wealth by a body of people. While USDA has a theoretical lawful use as a medium of exchange, its adoption is negligible. Furthermore, the holder merely owns a redemption claim against the named issuer rather than a native protocol position. Because the issuer retains discretionary freeze and blacklist authority over individual balances, true ownership is compromised. A failure at the business activity layer due to severe deception renders the entire asset non-compliant.
- The token operates on a neutral, general-purpose blockchain (BNB Smart Chain).
- The intended utility is to serve as a stable medium of exchange without inherent yield or gambling (maisir) mechanisms.
- !The project is a confirmed fraud, making deceptive and legally impossible claims regarding FDIC insurance to lure investors.
- !The token is an issuer redemption claim rather than a native asset, meaning its value depends entirely on an opaque issuer's ability and willingness to honor it.
- !Smart contract risk scanners identify a blacklist function and an admin key (ownership is not renounced), granting the issuer discretionary authority to freeze individual balances, modify taxes, and alter contract parameters.
- !The composition of the USD reserves is entirely undisclosed, making it impossible to verify if the backing involves interest-bearing (riba) instruments.
- !There is no completed security audit by a named independent auditor, and the project's team background and supply minting authority remain unconfirmed.
Not applicable, as holding this asset is deemed impermissible.
USDA is rated as non-compliant (Haram) primarily because the project has been identified as a confirmed fraud that uses false claims of FDIC insurance to deceive investors. Additionally, the token operates as a centralized redemption claim where the issuer retains the power to freeze user funds, and its reserve backing is completely opaque. Scrupulous investors must avoid this asset entirely, though final religious authority always rests with a qualified scholar.
How this verdict was reached
This is not an opinion issued by ShariaQuant. It is the output of a documented screening methodology applied to researched facts about USDA (USDA), and every row above states the specific evidence that drove it — so the reasoning can be examined rather than taken on trust.
The framework screens three layers — the infrastructure an asset runs on, the application it serves, and the asset itself — and separately tests whether the token qualifies as recognised property (māl): that it presently exists, has an ascertainable supply, can be held and transferred, and carries a genuine lawful use. A failure at any single layer fails the asset.
Revenue-purity thresholds follow the AAOIFI screening standard: non-compliant income below 5% of revenue is tolerated and purified, while 5% or above fails the screen.
The framework follows published scholarship rather than in-house opinion. Treating a digital asset as a right (ḥaqq) that becomes recognised property (māl) only on stated conditions follows “Is Crypto Halal? The Definitive Shariah Guide to Crypto and Digital Assets” by Mufti Faraz Adam (Amanah Advisors, 2026), which reproduces the conditions identified by Mufti Taqi Usmani. Financial thresholds follow the AAOIFI screening standard. The rulings we track are collected in the fatwa library.
AAOIFI has not reviewed, approved or endorsed this report or ShariaQuant, and no scholar named in our methodology has reviewed this individual verdict. This is analysis, not a fatwa — final religious authority rests with a qualified scholar.
This is an AI research platform and the screening engine is under active development. We keep improving how facts are gathered and checked, and a report is re-issued in full when an asset is screened again rather than amended in place.
Check this yourself
Each finding below is quoted word for word from the document it came from, and every quote was checked against that document before this verdict was issued. Open the link and read the sentence in place — you do not have to take ours for it.
0 of 4 decisive claims verified against their source, 1 withdrawn.
- What the holder legally ownsCheck by hand
“Anchored at a 1:1 ratio with the US Dollar (USD), USDA combines the stability of fiat currency with the efficiency and transparency of blockchain technology, while also incorporating crucial protections and innovative features not typically found in other stablecoins.”
coinbase.com - Who can freeze a holder's balanceCheck by hand
“Has Blacklist.”
dappbay.bnbchain.org - Genuine lawful useCheck by hand
“USDA, issued by the AP Web3 ecosystem, is a fully compliant stablecoin meticulously designed to provide a secure, trusted, and usable digital payment and asset settlement infrastructure for global users.”
coinbase.com - Share of non-compliant revenueUnknown
1 further finding was withdrawn before this verdict, because the quoted wording could not be confirmed in the document it was attributed to. Those points were treated as unknown rather than relied on.
Is USDA a serious project?
Permissible is not the same as good. This is the research behind that second question — what USDA is actually for, who is paying for it, what is already built, and what would have to go wrong.
Research on the project, not advice on the trade. A high fundamental score is not a recommendation to buy, and it says nothing about whether the asset is permissible — that is the Shariah verdict, and it is free.
How USDA ranks against its peers
The Shariah verdict tells you whether you may own USDA. This tells you what you would be holding — measured from market data, with no AI judgment in it, and compared only against assets of the same kind.
A ranking of how solid an asset is against its peers, not a forecast of what it will do next and not investment advice. A permissible asset can rank badly, and a badly ranked asset can still rise.
Asked alongside this
Short answers from the ShariaQuant team.
So what do you hold instead?
A haram verdict is a starting point, not an ending. The harder questions are how to exit something you already hold and how to find what does pass. The free module starts there.
Both are free. The module includes the community — no card required.