From keeping away from the financial uses of blockchain to building an ecosystem of crypto-financial products that aims to disrupt the $3trn Islamic finance economy, it has been a rollercoaster ride for MRHB DeFi’s co-founder and CEO Naquib Mohammed.
Born in the Indian state of Odisha, Mohammed had worked for more than 10 years as a technologist in India and the Middle East before 2017, when he decided to start learning about blockchain technology.
What set him apart was that instead of learning about cryptocurrency trading and trying to make money there, Mohammed dedicated himself to learning the nitty gritties of blockchain technology.
An Islamic DeFi ecosystem
“I knew that side [trading of cryptocurrencies] is quite lucrative and felt that I might lose my focus in understanding and learning the technology. I also had a doubt if the financial use cases are in compliance with the rules of Islamic finance,” Mohammed tells Capital.com.
Such was his pace of learning and expertise that in 2020, he moved to Australia by invitation of the Australian government as a “Distinguished Global Fintech Talent”.
Today, Mohammed is building an ecosystem of crypto-financial solutions by bringing together multiple products, all of which are in compliance with the rules of Islamic finance.
Tackling different interpretations
In a world of multiple scholars and their varied understanding of blockchain and cryptocurrencies, building a suite of Islamic decentralised finance (DeFi) products is easier said than done.
While the Middle East is embracing cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies wholeheartedly, scholars in Indonesia are a little more sceptical.
Mohammed admits that it was not easy for MRHB DeFi to find scholars who have the right understanding of the industry.
Top-down approach for shariah compliance
“Even we being technologists, being an insider of the industry, it’s difficult for us to sometimes catch up to the pace of this fast-evolving system. For scholars, whose primary job is not to continuously have a radar on this movement, it is easier for them to be not aware of how this industry is moving or the intricacies involved about each and every protocol,” says Mohammed.
But after six months, MRHB DeFi brought on board three scholars on a permanent basis as part of its shariah governance board. Where MRHB DeFi sets itself apart from the competition in the DeFi space as well as traditional Islamic finance, is that it takes a “top-down approach” when developing products.
In other words, the shariah governance board first looks into a business idea that MRHB DeFi has and define the framework before the product is actually developed. Traditionally, the product is developed first before going to the scholars for their approval.
Consensus of scholars
The three-member board of MRHB DeFi comprises eminent scholars. “Dr Farrukh Habib, heads our shariah governance…
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