An Emirati enterprise has sought the assistance of blockchain developer HashCash to bring a Shariah compliant crypto exchange to the UAE market.
“Building a crypto-trading platform for an enterprise operating in [the] UAE comes with a unique set of challenges with respect to the regulations imposed on the trade including the Shariah compliance on the operation. The HashCash design team intends on being updated with their research on the regulations imposed on cryptocurrency trade in the region,” HashCash noted.
HashCash runs US-based digital asset exchange PayBito and provides white label products to the crypto and banking sector. The name of the UAE entity is not revealed.
“Over the years in operation, HashCash has delivered several of such products as a crypto exchange. However, each time the challenges that have struck us have been unique as the concept of cryptocurrency, in itself, is evolving,” says Raj Chowdhury, CEO of HashCash Consultants.
It is understood that the security operations and development teams of the company will be collaborating on this project to boost the application’s security front, a priority given the frequent attacks on digital asset exchanges.
Crypto-trading platforms that comply with Shariah principles are a growing feature of the crypto community, particularly in the Middle East. Bahrain was the pioneer in this respect, licensing the region’s first Islamic crypto exchange, RAIN, in 2019 and regulating another, CoinMENA, early this year. There are also similar efforts in the UAE: Sustain Exchange came to market in 2019, and ADAB Solutions in 2018 vocalized intentions to develop a Shariah crypto-trading platform.