Cryptocurrencies and the Causes of Prohibition from Shari’ah Perspective

النقود الافتراضية المشفرة وآثارها المفضية للقول بالتحريم علي مهدي الكثيري باحث في الاقتصاد الإسلامي - المملكة العربية السعودية الملخص يستعرض هذا البحث توضيحا لمفهوم النقود، وتطورها عبر التاريخ، وعلاقتها بالصورة الحديثة من العملات الرقمية، ومن ثم التعريف بالنقود الافتراضية المشفرة أو ما يسمى بالعملات الرقمية، إلى أن يصل بالقارئ إلى هدف هذا البحث وهو جمع شتات الأقوال الفقهية التي ترى عدم جواز التعامل بمثل هذا النوع من النقود، وأسباب التحريم، مع تصنيفها إلى ثلاثة أقسام رئيسة بحسب الآثار الناجمة عنها، وهي: انتشار الجريمة المنظمة، والاعتداء على صلاحية الدولة، والاعتداء على المال الخاص. ثم أوصت الدراسة بأهمية أن يولي الباحثون في العلوم الشرعية اهتماما أوسع في تحرير هذه النازلة، وأن تتولى الحكومات إصدار نقود رقمية معتمدة تنافس النقود الرقمية الحالية، وتستفيد من التسهيلات الموجودة فيها، حفظا لأموال مواطنيها وحماية لأمنها المالي والاقتصادي. الكلمات المفتاحية: الاقتصاد الإسلامي، العملات الافتراضية، النقود المشفرة. RESEARCH ARTICLE Cryptocurrencies and the Causes of Prohibition from Shari’ah Perspective Ali Mahdi Al-Kathiri Researcher in Islamic economics, Kingdom Saudi Arabia. Abstract This research reviews the concept of cash and currencies, its development throughout history, its relationship to the modern image of digital currencies, and the definition of encrypted virtual currencies or the so-called cryptocurrencies. The aim of this research is to collect the various jurisprudence sayings that consider the impermissibility of dealing with such type of money, the reasons for prohibition, and its classification into three main sections according to the effects resulting from it: the spread of organized crime, violating the authority of the state, and encroachment on private money. The study then recommended the importance that researchers in Islamic law and jurisprudence sciences pay greater attention to study this calamity, and that governments should issue certified digital currencies that competes with current digital currencies, and benefit from its facilitates in order to preserve the currencies of their citizens and protect their financial and economic security. Keywords: economics, virtual currencies, cryptocurrencies

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Chremacracy

This chapter studies how Indian politics is becoming a chremacracy—a system in which big money rules supreme. In 2018, the already shady party finances system took a quantum leap towards absolute chremacracy when the Modi government introduced electoral bonds, an instrument that allows individuals, corporations, and other legal entities such as trusts and associations anonymously to channel unlimited amounts of money to political parties. Under this new measure, anyone is allowed to buy tax-free bearer bonds for specified amounts via the state-owned State Bank of India (SBI) and then deposit them into the registered bank accounts of political parties. Like political violence, the organized secrecy over money irreversibly distorts the spirit and institutions of electoral democracy. The misallocation of resources that results from poorly regulated campaign spending ensures that elections and governments are captured by special interests. Ultimately, the grip of private money on electoral politics is detrimental to the quality of representation as it skews the field of available choices, and a system of free choice is gamed into one of prompted selection.

Monetary surrogate as a legal category: general theoretical characteristics

The emergence of monetary surrogates is a consequence of the inability to comprehensively meet the public needs for servicing the turnover of various objects (property, rights, etc.) solely with the help of money. Bringing a short-term positive economic effect, monetary surrogates compete with state money, disrupting money circulation. An important role in limiting monetary surrogates is played by legal remedies, the effective use of which is possible only if the content of the legal category «monetary surrogate» is determined. At the same time, the norms of law do not disclose its content, and in the scientific community there is a discussion on this issue, while its vector is shifted towards understanding the monetary surrogate only as a means of payment, unnecessarily narrowing it. The reliability and validity of the results are achieved through the integrated application of the comparative legal method (when comparing the concepts of money and monetary surrogate, as well as other single-order legal categories), logical-theoretical methods, and other research methods. As a result of the study, the authors tried to determine the content of the legal category «monetary surrogate» from the standpoint of his main economic functions of money, which allows not only to distinguish this category from related concepts, but effectively apply various legal restrictions, which the use of monetary surrogates. Theoretical bases of research of private monetary systems are developed, in particular, their classification on the following signs is carried out: appointment, the status of the issuer, sphere of distribution. It is determined that the main reasons for the emergence of private money are the insufficiency or unsuitability of public currencies to service economic relations. The place of electronic money in the modern globalized economy is highlighted. It was found that the emergence of cryptocurrencies initiated a new stage in the development of the monetary system, which is characterized by the lack of a single issuer and the inability of the state to regulate them.

INFORMAL FINANCE IN SETTINGS OF POVERTY: ESTABLISHING AN AGENDA FOR FUTURE ENTREPRENEURSHIP RESEARCH

Entrepreneurship is viewed as a major tool in the effort to address poverty in emerging economies. Yet financing for such entrepreneurial ventures remains a major challenge. To date, most research on financing of entrepreneurial ventures among those in poverty in emerging economies has focused on formal financial tools such as microfinancing. However, a far larger financing tool employed in practice is informal financing. Such financing takes the shape of loans by family/friends/neighbors, private money lenders, or rotating savings groups. Very little is known about how these finance tools affect entrepreneurship. This article reviews the existing literature on informal finance in emerging economies and then develops a rich research agenda for scholars on informal finance in emerging economies and its role in entrepreneurship.

A Digital Ruble of the Central Bank as a Civil Rights Object

In recent years digitalization is one of the main drivers of changing the financial field in the world as a whole and in Russia. At first, the phenomenon called "cryptocurrency" (in essence, it is what the economists call "private money") developed beyond state control and was subjected to a very critical attitude on the part of official regulators. However, state and central banks later joined digital experiments. Thus, the phenomenon of the “digital currency of the Central Bank” — Central Bank digital currencies (CBDC) — appeared. The Central Bank saw new opportunities, primarily in terms of abandoning paper (cash) circulation and control, in the new instrument. Many central banks in the world are currently conducting research, and some have reached the level of testing relevant solutions. The Central Bank of the Russian Federation does not stand aside as well: in 2019, the first report was prepared — a study on the prospects of digital currencies of central banks; in 2020 the report “Digital Ruble” was published for public consultation. The introduction of such a financial instrument entails significant changes in the legal field. The paper analyzes such changes as well as the main shortcomings of the Report.

DIGITAL CURRENCY - PRIVATE MONEY?

Цель работы - рассмотреть, является ли цифровая валюта частными деньгами в контексте австрийской школы, и показать современное направление развития цифровых платформ. Автором рассмотрены основные положения теории частных денег Хайека и проведен историко-сравнительный анализ цифровых валют. Сделан вывод о том, что криптовалюта еще не является частными деньгами по определению австрийской школы. Автором проанализировано, как современные платежные платформы, которые по сути являются «экосистемами», используют цифровые платежные инструменты. Рассмотрены особенности цифровых валют, выпускаемых на основе платформ. Показано, что в «экосистемах» токены также не являются частными деньгами в соответствии с положениями австрийской школы. The purpose of this work is to analyze whether digital currency is private money in the context of the Austrian school and to show the modern direction of development of digital models. The author considers the main provisions of the private money theory and carries out a historical and comparative analysis of digital currencies in this context. It is concluded that cryptocurrency is not yet private money as defined by the Austrian school. The author analyzes how modern payment platforms, which are essentially «ecosystems», use digital payment instruments The features of digital currencies issued on the platform basis are considered. It is shown that in «ecosystems» tokens are also not private money in accordance with the provisions of the Austrian school.