There is this new “hot” cryptocurrency called Safemoon (whitepaper here). On face value, nothing about it seems haram, but upon some discussion about certain aspects of it, my friends and I wanted to get some clarity. Here is the contention:
As outlined in the whitepaper, for every transaction that takes place, a 10% fee is charged, 5% of which gets distributed to existing holders. Is there are problems in this from a shariah perspective? It certainly does not seem like riba as no loans are involved. Can we think of it as a “reward system” for encouraging people to hold for the long-term hence supporting the currency’s value? Noting the differences, it seems to resemble dividends a little (at least in terms of offering reward to holding/faith in the product). Is it problematic that we get more of the coin by virtue of holding that coin?
Your insight would be much appreciated! Baraka Allah feekum.
JazakaAllah khair for this. Mufti Faraz already said staking is halal i believe. But I’m not sure if the safemoon redistribution system is considered “staking”, as i feel like its more of a reward system where rewarded come from taxing transactions.
Asalamualikum, please can Mufti Faraz or someone with knowledge shed some light as to whether safemoon being Shariah compliant or not Jazakallah khair.
From my very brief analysis of Safemoon, it is not entirely clear to me how it works. This is often not a good sign.
The way I understand it, it is a DeFi cryptocurrency that is designed for staking (i.e. holding for a long period of time and getting a steady yield from it). The transaction fees generated on trades are redistributed to holders.
So fundamentally these are the obvious thoughts that come to mind:
There is not much useful going on here - a bit of a waste of money and effort imo.
It feels very much like a ponzi scheme - though I don’t think it is as it is rule-based and there are mechanisms to stop the floor dropping out from underneath you once people start selling. Still, I just think it’s a bit useless.
Having said all that, apart from the sheer uselessness of it, I can’t make a clear case for it being impermissible. A similar analysis to that of staking generally would apply in my humble view (not a fatwa) - which is that it would be permissible.
As I said, I am learning about this crypto - please educate me if I am missing something.