A halal crypto project will vote in its DAO in a few day a proposal for rebranding of the project. This rebranding include an addition of a product on the ecosystem of the project that is not halal (the product potentially added is lending). If the main products of this ecosystem are halal, the addition of this product will make the entire project haram to invest in? If so, should i avoid investing in it only when the new potential product is clearly added or should i avoid investing in it right now?
Question from user.
Without knowing the specifics I will try to provide a general guide which may help. Any new activity that a crypto currency may introduce as part of its roadmap/ development etc should always look at its impact on the value of either the currency itself or its revenue. In this case if the lending generates income which goes back into the ecosystem for further product development then it could be argued that some profits are from haram activities.
However, its important to note that within Islamic finance (shariah screening of stocks) there is always an allowance of a small percentage of non halal activities. This can range from 10-30% debt to income ratio or even other non shariah compliant activity. Depending on your shariah risk profile, you may choose to accept this and allow a small degree of haram activity, but personally, I think cryptocurrency is already questionable (with disagreement from scholars) so adding more uncertainty with a small amount of haram activity is probably better avoided.
What happens if the haram component takes off and contributes more and more towards the project? At which point will you say, OK this is too haram for me?
I can understand for sophisticated multi-billion dollar corporations this non-shariah compliant % allowance can be valid, but for crypto projects effectively at the idea stage without real-world impact, it makes me a little nervous so proceed with caution or just walk away now.
