Governance coins: are they halal?

What is Governance?

Governance tokens grant holders voting rights over a protocol's parameters, treasury, or future direction, typically without any direct claim on cash flow.

How CryptoUmmah screens Governance coins

Gharar dominates here because governance tokens sit in a genuinely ambiguous middle ground — is the token's value coming from real utility (a meaningful, exercised right to shape a protocol) or is it almost entirely speculative, with governance rights that are rarely used and don't meaningfully affect price? Our governance rights and speculation/utility criteria are doing the heavy lifting for this category. Where a governance token carries real, actively-used voting power over non-compliant activities (like approving interest-bearing treasury strategies), that introduces a secondary riba consideration. Across the 110 Governance coins we've screened, the average Shariah compliance score sits at 55.9/100, with 18% classified Halal, 46% Mashbooh, and 35% Haram.