With adoption increasing worldwide, cryptocurrency is making its way into the mainstream. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is the latest country to join the movement, as Adab Solutions launches the first-ever Sharia-compliant cryptocurrency exchange.

Growing Popularity of Crypto in Islam

UAE-based startup Adab Solutions is set to launch the First Islamic Crypto Exchange (FICE) compliant with Sharia law, reports Trade Arabia.

To maintain compliance with Sharia law during operation, Adab Solutions will consult with an in-house Sharia Advisory Board (SAB) comprised of internationally-renowned Sharia experts.

Given its finite supply and frictionless transferability, cryptocurrency is seemingly a fitting asset class in compliance with the tenets of Islamic law, which denounces financial systems that depend on usury.

In a press release, Timu Turzhan, CEO and founder of Adab Solutions, said:

“Ideas that correspond to the norms of the Shariah are based on the understandable material value, have a clear business strategy, and this allows us to confidently assert that halal projects are incomparably safer more successful than the beautiful signs of many cryptocurrency initiatives… Our team is dedicated to its business and will do its best to achieve all the goals set.”

The company will launch its initial coin offering (ICO) for Adab tokens in Septemeber.

Adab tokens will function as utility keys that unlock the trading platform and act as the default payment method for commissions paid on the exchange.

Through the FICE launch, over 1.8 billion Muslims will potentially have access to Sharia-compliant cryptocurrency trading services that weren’t available before.

Recently, CryptoSlate reported that Saudi Arabia, a neighboring Islamic country, is prohibiting cryptocurrency trading for domestic residents.

Sharia Compliance Extends to Stellar

Adab Solutions is not the only cryptocurrency to enter the Middle East. On July 17, the Stellar network revealed that it is now permitted to service financial institutions that require compliance with Islamic financing principles.

After reviewing their application, the Shariyah Review Bureau approved Stellar’s financial applications and awarded the company an official Sharia certification.

Through the Sharia certification, Stellar became the first distributed ledger technology (DLT) protocol to enter the money transfer and asset tokenization sectors in countries of the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

According to the official press release:

“Islamic financial institutions in the Gulf Cooperation Council (i.e. Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE) and parts of Southeast Asia (e.g. Indonesia and Malaysia) will now be able to integrate Stellar technology in their Sharia-compliant product and service offerings. This is a big advancement for the Stellar network given that these regions are endpoints of popular foreign worker remittance corridors.”

The Sharia certification extends to applications and use-cases for Lumens (XLM), Stellar’s native cryptocurrency. By using lumens, users in the Middle East and Southeast Asia will have access to more affordable payment remittance channels when sending money across borders.