As the Islamic financial world continues to contemplate on how to treat cryptocurrencies, one Southeast Asian fintech firm has won official recognition by Shariah scholars for its asset-backed digital currency.
Kuala Lumpur-based HelloGold, the first tech start-up to have gained Shariah compliance for its gold-trading platform in 2016, has added another feather in its cap: a Shariah compliant gold-backed cryptocurrency. Endorsed by Amanie Advisors, GOLDX is now a Shariah compliant fully operational Ethereum ERC20 token backed by 99.99% investment-grade gold, the first anywhere in the world to own that distinction. GOLDX tokens are only issued according to the amount of gold physically held, and that this information is publicly accessible and verified independently by its vaulting partner.
“Having earned the world’s first Shariah-compliance certification for our GOLDX token, HelloGold has opened the door to over a billion Muslims to access a new financial product.” said Robin Lee, CEO and co-founder of HelloGold.
Preparing to expand in other markets including Thailand, the firm is also readying to list GOLDX onto exchanges to facilitate trading: the virtual token can currently be purchased directly from HelloGold with Bitcoin and Ethereum. As previously reported in IFN Fintech, the firm is also exploring other asset-backed digital currencies including silver.