The ongoing crypto winter has resulted in a 60% fall in the combined market capitalization of cryptocurrencies since the peak of the bull market in November 2021.
Yet, while the bear market is not ideal for most investors, it is the perfect calm for project teams creating new solutions. They can make significant progress on disrupting the financial industry and solving global problems, such as the exclusion and inequality caused by traditional finance inefficiencies.
Among these is Islamic Coin ($ISLM), a project that, despite a multi-quarter downtrend in crypto fundraising, has succeeded, securing $200 million Q3 2023. The project was recently listed on KuCoin, marking its official entry into the market.
📢 #ISLM Token is now available for trading on @kucoincom!
Explore rewarding events and trade #ISLM now: https://t.co/2I8PMcQJlv
More exchanges to come. pic.twitter.com/mEnR06kapi
— Islamic Coin (@Islamic_Coin) October 10, 2023
ISLMs listing represents an important milestone for the project’s mission to onboarding the over 1.8 billion Muslims worldwide into digital finance while aligning with the values of those communities. According to the team, KuCoin is only the first of the many exchanges $ISLM will join.
What Is Islamic Coin, and What Use Cases Does it Have?
Islamic Coin serves as the native currency of the HAQQ blockchain, and powers the project’s Sharia-compliant financial ecosystem. It promotes ethical finance, and philanthropy, aiming to give the global Muslim population a financial tool for the digital age. Of each $ISLM issuance, 10% is automatically deposited into the Evergreen DAO to empower the community through Muslim charity donations and investments in Islam-related ventures.
Holders can use $ISLM to settle payments, participate in community governance, cover transaction fees on HAQQ, and generate passive income via staking. $ISLM is also Sharia-compliant, meaning that it aligns with the values of Islam and the teachings of the Quran. While it prohibits Riba, Islamic Coin’s ecosystem will include decentralized versions of Sukuk, the Islamic equivalent of bonds, as well as other traditional Islamic finance instruments.
Islamic Coin meets all the criteria of a halal asset, and gained a Fatwa in June 2022 from a committee of leading Muslim authorities and scholars with extensive experience in Islamic Finance.
“Sharia principles revolve around the community, so Sharia finance is a community-first system,” said Islamic Coin Co-Founder Mohammed Al Kaff Al Hashmi. “In Sharia finance, the charging of interest is eliminated, and this is designed to protect the community. It simply does not make sense to burden individuals who are already in a financially vulnerable position and seeking assistance with interest charges.”
Islamic Coin’s backers include Alpha Blue Ocean’s ABO Digital, DF101, Futurecraft Ventures, Optic Capital, A195 Capital, and cross-industry HNWIs.
HAQQ: The Blockchain Network Powering $ISLM
The Layer 1 HAQQ blockchain represents the backbone of Islamic Coin’s Sharia-compliant financial ecosystem. It is based on a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism, and is compatible with Cosmos-based networks or Ethereum. According to Islamic Coin’s team, users have created over 2.5 million mainnet accounts interacting with the HAQQ.
Meanwhile, HAQQ Wallet is a flagship non-custodial digital wallet that offers users a convenient way to manage their $ISLM holdings and interact with HAQQ projects. With over 500,000 downloads, HAQQ Wallet has an average rating of 4.6 out of 5 on Google Play. It is also available via the App Store, and for mobile and desktop devices.
To ensure user security and compliance with Islamic values, an on-chain registry of halal certificates called the Shariah Oracle interacts only with smart contracts and dApps through the HAQQ Wallet that has been certified as halal. There is a two-stage process for authentication. While the community votes on the first level to whitelist applications, full Sharia compliance is achieved through evaluation via their Sharia Board.
According to Islamic Coin’s roadmap, the team plans to expand the ecosystem with new solutions, including a HAQQ marketplace, an $ISLM-backed Mastercard, crypto-fiat processing services, and a gold-pegged stablecoin developed in collaboration with UAE banks. The project also seeks to establish HAQQPad and HAQQLabs to foster the growth of ethical projects and support developers with a $40 million grant program.
Islamic Coin has struck important deals with Holiday Swap, the world’s largest home exchange platform, DDCAP Group, which has a coalition of over 300 global banks, and an additional 25 partners within the ecosystem.
Heading Towards Ethical Finance
Defying the crypto winter and a market currently dominated by bearish trends, Islamic Coin is focusing its efforts on building a financial landscape that promotes ethics, and philanthropy.
With more than $400 million of funding and $ISLM’s recent launch on KuCoin, the project has great potential to achieve this goal. We can’t wait to see what Islamic Coin will come up with as the team progresses on the roadmap.
