Cryptocurrencies changed the way people see transactions. In fact, UNICEF was able to raise funds by asking their web visitors to donate part of their computer’s computational power in order to mine cryptos.
This kind of creative strategy to ask for a donation is now becoming a trend. East London’s Shacklewell Lane Mosque announced two months ago that it is accepting cryptocurrency donations. The Dalston, East London-based mosque was able to come up with £13,983 crypto donation. Compared to the amount raised via cash, the mosque only received £3,460 in cash donations. The mosque was able to collect the donations during Ramadan.
The mosque collected as many as 24 crypto donations in their fundraising. One individual was even able to donate £5,200 in cryptocurrencies. The cryptocurrencies that were accepted by the mosque were Bitcoin and Ethereum.
This is exciting news for the Muslim community. The chairman of the mosque Erkin Guney has expressed his excitement despite the fact that there are skeptics to their plan. He said that “when the donations started to flow in, we were blown away. We received four times more in cryptocurrency donations than in cash from our local worshippers during Ramadan, and we are still receiving cryptocurrency Sadaqah (voluntary donations). It is amazing”.
The announcement was made on May 21 a few days before Ramadan started. Could this actually be a trend? Sadaqah is a voluntary donation given by Muslims but Zakat is obligatory for able Muslims. For those that qualify for giving Zakat, they are to give 2.5{4ede17fdd9b4ce8121d01fc4b54913fe84f8215aace504cc657695cefb5329ff} of their wealth annually in order to assist the less fortunate.
The idea actually came from Gurmit Singh who is the founder of blockchain firm Combo Innovations. He suggested that this move would actually benefit the mosque considering that many Muslims are already using cryptocurrencies.
And what makes the move convenient is the fact that those who hold cryptocurrencies wouldn’t even have to go to a cryptocurrency exchange in order to convert their donations into fiat. And in addition to this, the donations could actually come from different parts of the globe.
In April, an Islamic scholar declared that cryptocurrencies are aligned to the Islamic faith. Muslims account for 23{4ede17fdd9b4ce8121d01fc4b54913fe84f8215aace504cc657695cefb5329ff} of the world’s population. That’s around 1.6 billion worldwide. Mufti Muhammad Abu Bakar who is a Sharia adviser and compliance officer at Blossom Finance in Jakarta published a paper that declared Bitcoin as permitted in their faith.
According to the excerpt: “In Germany, Bitcoin is recognized as a legal currency and therefore qualifies as Islamic money in Germany. In countries such as the US, Bitcoin lacks official legal monetary status but is accepted for payment at a variety of merchants, and therefore qualifies as Islamic customary money.”
There is also a local startup in Dubai, One Gram, that is issuing gold-backed cryptocurrency. This is an effort in order to convince Muslims that cryptos do comply with the Islamic teachings.
Is this going to be a trend in Muslim communities to accept donations using cryptocurrencies? Though it is volatile in nature, it is undeniable that it holds great potential in raising funds considering how convenient it is.
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