Ali Shaker-Doha
A segment of Arab investors in general and Gulf investors in particular has followed the impact of the global wave of buying on encrypted digital currencies where they have found an investment haven that will enable them to take quick profits.
The rise of the digital currency in recent years has helped drag the rug out of the traditional money markets that Arabs and Gulf Arabs have known and tarnished with the tide of their stocks.
The relative stagnation in the Gulf financial markets has led to the migration of a group of savings owners to invest in the digital currency market, ignoring the absence of regulatory and regulatory bodies, ignoring the warnings of local and international financial institutions. Virtual Market.
The default age
In an era where everything is subject to the virtual world, many have had the opportunity to deal with these digital currencies once they have acquired a bank credit card along with a smartphone or computer directed through any of the orders to buy and sell any of those currencies that are known to form and to a lesser extent both " Etherium, "" rebal "and others.
Since the formation of the "currency was the most traded and attractive to the traders, these investors followed all the small and large related to them, accompanied the journey to the level of $ 20 thousand by the end of 2017, before witnessing the rapid decline to less than $ 3,500, before the curtain On the fiscal year 2018.
The high risk and rapid swing in the price of the famous currency contributed to opening the door again to questions of an organizational nature, financial and jurisprudential on the legitimacy of dealing with a virtual commodity can not be acquired and touch in the real world.
The question was not raised during a trip to the collapse of the price of composition during the current year, but it was raised much earlier, especially as it was suspicious of the impossibility of any investment to achieve more than doubled in a short period, how if the return more than that!
The currency jumped in 2017 by about 20 times from the level of only $ 1000.
Organizational aspect
On the regulatory side, the US Securities and Exchange Commission issued its first warning in 2014 that it cautioned against dealing with other virtual currencies before the regulatory body and others on both sides of the Atlantic began to put in place some of the organizational touches through which they had created a mechanism that could be exchanged As Sweden and Switzerland did.
The regulatory effort is focused on the use of a digital currency based on Blocchin technology, and the latter is a technology for storing, licensing and validating digital transactions based on a mechanism that distributes encrypted databases to customers in a way that is difficult to penetrate.
CyberSriss, the US e-security firm, estimated the number of hacked piracy piracy at $ 927 million in the first nine months of 2018, an increase of 50 percent over the same period last year.
In the year 2017, the figure jumped to about 20 times from just $ 1,000 (Reuters) |
Fiqh opinion
While the world finds an end to the spread of these currencies or the establishment of restrictions and rules to regulate circulation, renewed jurisprudence in the prohibition of dealing with it.
Dr. Shawki Allam, the Mufti of Egypt, stressed that it is not permissible to deal with prostitutes and their sisters, since they are virtual units that are not covered by tangible assets, and may lead to the birth of high risks that may affect individuals and countries.
A position agreed by a member of the Council of Senior Scholars in Saudi Arabia, Dr. Mohammed Mutlaq, saying that those who trade these currencies, "such as those who play gambling and facilitator, but the Muslim does not enter the gharar, and Gharar much lighter than this, the trickery that the Prophet forbade was easy things, so how? "He said.
The secretary-general of the World Federation of Muslim Scholars, an expert on international jurisprudence, Ali al-Qara Daghi, said that the Betcuwain is not a taboo for itself because it is a legitimate electronic scientific process, but it is haraam because of its speculation, loss of funds and loss of the original or guarantor. Media sources in Qatar.
Qara Daghi added that the prohibition of means is different from the prohibition of purposes and assets, and the confiscation of assets does not solve in any case except for necessity, but the prohibition of means, if it increased corruption.
Organizational dimension
On the organizational level, some Arab central banks do not find it harmful to deal in the future with virtual currencies provided they are subject to regulatory measures that regulate the pace of trading.
"We view the digital currency as one of the important future currencies that are being traded internationally to facilitate electronic transactions," said Sheikh Abdullah bin Saud Al-Thani, Governor of Qatar Central Bank at a conference in Doha recently.
"We have no objection to the existence of a digital currency through the systems and legislation that regulate the circulation of legal."
But the governor warned against dealing with these currencies in the same way that is currently taking place in the absence of regulatory and regulatory bodies that should serve as an umbrella for their activities.
Despite its support for financial initiatives and innovations using the latest global technology, including Blockchain technology, the Central Bank of Jordan renewed its warning against dealing in digital currencies by circulating a publication on its website.
This was also adopted by the Palestinian Monetary Authority, which announced at the end of last year the prohibition of trading in digital currencies for its risks. The Authority pointed out that all parties and local parties dealing with those currencies are not licensed and are not subject to its supervision.
| The size of the "Btkwin" market capitalization is estimated at about $ 14.2 trillion, which exceeds China's GDP (Getty Images) |
Investment side
"Investment in these currencies is not safe because of the wide price range in which they move, which makes them vulnerable to the widespread volatility that threatens the interests and savings of individuals," said Mohamed Al Yafei, general manager of Qatar-based Investment House Experts.
He added that Al Jazeera Net that this virtual market also suffers from the other risk is the difficulty of the ability to control, which may make it a platform for prohibited operations such as drug trafficking, weapons and money laundering activity.
"It is not logical that the size of the market for example, the budget of the economy of 73 countries around the world," he said.
The market capitalization of the 10-year-old formation is estimated at about $ 14.2 trillion, more than China's second largest economy after the United States.
Al-Yafei repeated a well-known statement by renowned global investor Warren Buffett, who warned against continuing to allow virtual currency trading, because of the difficulty of acquiring and possessing it naturally, on the one hand, and not adding value or output to the economy of the countries.
Fears
Concerns among digital currency traders have risen in the last two months, with rapid declines that have led to the evaporation of money from many Arabs in general and Gulf investors in particular, prompting a return to traditional money markets where investors have real holdings of listed companies.
The performance of the Arab stock exchanges this year was mixed. While Qatar's index rose by 24%, the Egyptian market hit its lowest level in 18 months.
The debate over these virtual currencies, which have enriched many and impoverished others, is expected to continue, but that controversy will not end unless financial and regulatory authorities agree on controls for this emerging market.