Crypto has been making waves all over the world, especially since its backing up by big names like Elon Musk. For Muslims willing to invest in crypto, the matter is even more intense and confusing. The global surge of interest in cryptocurrencies extends into all the main centres of Islamic finance. But because they are products of financial engineering and objects of speculation, cryptocurrencies sit uneasily with Islam.
One of Pakistan’s leading universities, Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) has introduced for the first time, an academic program on Cryptocurrency. LUMS will use five million STX tokens (currently equivalent to about PKR 670 million or US $4.1 million) granted by Hiro to develop and build educational programmes that will enable faculty and students to research blockchain, cryptocurrencies, distributed-ledger technology and more.
The world is abuzz with news of cryptocurrency, and Pakistanis are still struggling to understand how investing works in the blockchain. Cryptocurrency recently came under the spotlight when crypto-enthusiast Waqar Zaka brought the Bitcoin network to limelight. While many mocked him earlier, it seems like he was right after all, when Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan’s crypto investment made rounds on news.
Cryptocurrency ether broke past $3,000 on Monday to set a new record high in a dazzling rally that has outshone the bigger bitcoin, as investors bet that ether will be of even greater use in a decentralised future financial system. Ether , the token transacted on the ethereum blockchain, rose 3% on the Bitstamp exchange to $3,051.99 by lunchtime in Asia.
Dozens of financial, non-profit companies have joined hands with Facebook to put forward a new cryptocurrency, Libra that will allow billions of users to make financial transactions globally. With Libra, Facebook aims to free its users of traditional banking methods. The technology will allow users to send money as well as make payments for goods and services. Source: TheGuardian Samman