🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Fasset focuses on Shariah-compliant banking

• Fasset is using new funding to grow its stablecoin banking work. In Malaysia, it has approval from Labuan Financial Services Authority, the financial regulator for the offshore Labuan business center, to explore and pilot a stablecoin-based Islamic banking model that the company says could be a world first 1.
• The model includes Shariah-compliant products that bar interest, including zero-interest accounts and asset-backed savings, for customers in Muslim-majority regions 1.
• Fasset is described as Los Angeles-based in one account and as Dubai-based or Dubai- and Jakarta-based in others. Those accounts also say it has regulatory approvals in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Indonesia, the European Union (EU), Turkey, and Pakistan, while it expands in Malaysia under Labuan FSA oversight 2.
• Its transaction volume figures vary across accounts, with one citing US$32 billion and others citing annualized volume above US$6 billion with projections of US$24 billion by the end of 2026 1.

Halal crypto is opening a larger market

• Fasset’s approach fits a broader overlap between digital assets and the US$5 trillion Islamic finance sector, an area many crypto platforms have not served well 2.
• Other exchanges are moving in as well. Binance launched a Sharia-compliant multi-token staking platform, Bybit introduced a certified Islamic trading account, and Crypto.com signed an agreement with Dubai Islamic Bank to offer products such as tokenized sukuks, Islamic bonds, and real-world asset tokenization, which means turning ownership of physical assets into digital tokens 2.
• This shift could make Shariah-compliant remittances and investments between the Middle East and Asia easier. Fasset has also linked its Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) approval to transfers across remittance corridors from Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries to Asia 3.