“There must be something concrete, tangible, which people could see. There must be some asset backing, so there wouldn't be a balloon economy, just like what happened in the 2008 global financial crisis.”
The Indicator (Planet Money) · Money & Markets · November 2026
Context
An Islamic finance expert who advises financial institutions explains why some Islamic scholars doubt Bitcoin: Islamic finance requires assets with intrinsic value. That debate could slow Pakistan's crypto push.
Transcript
about the trading in assets, which are genuine assets, which has some intrinsic value, intrinsic utility.
And intrinsic value is an important tenet of Islamic rules on finance. And he says some Islamic scholars don't see cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin as having intrinsic value since there's nothing tangible behind them. This is important because Islam prohibits earnings through speculation and interest.
There must be something concrete, tangible, which people could see. There must be some asset backing, so there wouldn't be a balloon economy, just like what happened in the 2008 global financial crisis.
He says digital assets backed by real-world currencies or gold are more promising, but Islamic scholars are still debating what's permissible and what isn't.
So basically, Pakistan's government could put a ton of effort into setting up a system for crypto, and some people still might not accept it because of religious concerns.
Yeah, that's right. But Pakistan's government seems keen to move quickly, even without a consensus from religious scholars. The man who became the face of that effort is Bilal bin Sakib. The