One of the major UAE’s financial institutions, Al Hilal Bank, located in Abu Dhabi, announced successful completion of the world’s first “sukuk transaction,” based on blockchain. Sukuk is a banking term describing an instrument of “sharia-compliant” bonds. Its main purpose is to allow investors to generate returns without violation of the Islamic law.
According to Reuters report, the bank used the distributed ledger technology (DLT) in order to sell and settle a small portion of the five-year sukuk worth of $500 million. The amount of the deal equaled $1 million, and it was sold to a private investor, the bank states.
Notably, more and more companies working on the blockchain platform have been certified by the Shariyah Review Bureau (SRB) only this year alone. Just earlier this month, a Swiss startup X8 AG has received an Islamic financial certification from the Bureau, relating to the use of the company’s stablecoin, based on Ethereum. Additionally, this summer the SRB also released a set of guidelines for Stellar, an open-source solution for distributed payments on blockchain.
Blockchain Insights
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