USDT Alone Shows Why “All Crypto Is the Same” Needs Better Explanation
Now consider USDT.
Tether itself says its tokens are pegged one-to-one with the relevant fiat currency and backed 100 percent by its reserves; its public documentation describes reserve assets backing issued tokens and states that assets exceed liabilities.
Does that make USDT halal?
I am not making that ruling.
But it very clearly creates a different technical question from Bitcoin.
Bitcoin has no central issuing company promising dollar redemption. USDT has an issuer, reserve structure and fiat peg. USDC’s issuer, Circle, similarly describes USDC as redeemable one-to-one for US dollars and backed by highly liquid cash and cash-equivalent assets.
A random meme coin launched by an anonymous developer has another structure entirely.
An equity token representing rights to an underlying enterprise may create yet another legal structure.
A tokenised sukuk would create another.
A non-transferable digital right would create another.
The Securities Commission Malaysia’s Shariah Advisory Council did not accidentally distinguish between technology-backed digital currency, currency-backed digital assets and tokens. It did so because classification affects the Shariah rules applied to the instrument.
This is why a blanket statement covering Bitcoin, USDT and every token needs an extraordinary level of technical explanation.
Not because a mufti cannot issue it.
Because the burden upon a mufti is heavier, not lighter.
When a person carries scholarly authority capable of moving the financial behaviour of millions of Muslims, “people came and asked questions” cannot be where technical research ends. The modern mufti dealing with artificial intelligence, synthetic biology, derivatives or blockchain should have better access to subject-matter experts than the average Twitter trader.
I have watched the defence that critics should simply travel to Darul Uloom Karachi and ask for the reasoning.
No.
Publish the reasoning.
Publish the classification tree.
Publish which monetary economists, cryptographers, blockchain engineers, stablecoin specialists and Shariah finance experts were consulted.
A fatwa affecting an emerging financial sector should become stronger under scrutiny, not weaker.
