Teaching examples about cryptocurrency and Bitcoin @YasirQadhi

Sheikh Yasir Qadhi's in-depth analysis of Bitcoin Islamic legitimacy (November 2021) Sheikh Yasir Qadhi systematically responded to the New Zealand audience's questions about "the Islamic Commission of a certain country determines that Bitcoin is illegal (Haram)." during the lecture. He first pointed out that there are two major camps for cryptocurrencies in the Islamic academic community: one faction, represented by scholars in some countries, determines it to be illegal, while the other faction (including the North American Legal Committee and himself) believes that Bitcoin is essentially legal (Halal) because it complies with the principle of "transactions default to legality", and the burden of proof for determining it to be illegal is to opponents. Sheikh stressed that the reasons for "large price fluctuations" and "anarchical endorsement" proposed by opponents are not valid - these characteristics also exist in areas permitted by the teachings such as stocks and foreign exchange. He specifically refuted the statement that "bitcoin has no intrinsic value", pointing out that the essence of monetary value comes from group consensus, and uses Disney tokens as an example to illustrate the subjectivity of value. In response to the question of "anonymity promotes crime", he counter-proof that cash and bank transfers may be abused, and that the neutrality of the tool itself cannot be denied. For the practical level, Sheikh gives cautious suggestions: 1. Distinguish between legality and wisdom: Even if it is determined to be legal, the high risk of the cryptocurrency market requires investors to invest only the amount of affordable losses; 2. Case review principle: mainstream currencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum and tokens clearly used for illegal activities or Ponzi schemes need to be treated differently; 3. Scholar qualification identification: It is recommended that believers choose authoritative teaching institutions that truly understand blockchain technology as consulting objects. Finally, he took the opposite ruling of the Neighboring Pathology Committee as an example, emphasizing the normality of academic differences in new fields, calling for respect for different views, and reiterating the North American Pathology Committee's position: Bitcoin itself is legal, but investment needs to be prudent. The lecture embodies the wisdom of "persistence in principles and flexible application" in Islamic law.