Zooming out

Last week, we addressed the topic of Riba and we explained how the current monetary system is unsustainable, and how we are entering a new phase where central banks absorb the banking system, CBDCs replace cash, and digital rails redefine finance.

But if inflation is a silent tax…
And riba is the root of unjust extraction...

Then the next question is unavoidable:
Is there an alternative system that upholds justice?

Riba-Based Inflation: Why the System Is Structurally Broken

Let’s be clear: this is not just a political issue, or a bad year.
It’s a design flaw — rooted in:

• Money creation based on debt

• Interest (riba) paid on that debt

• Continuous money supply expansion to cover interest

• A feedback loop that punishes the saver and rewards the debtor

In Islamic terms:
A riba-based economy will always favor the few at the cost of the many.

So when you wonder why your savings melt, why assets inflate, and why housing is out of reach...
The answer is: you’re operating inside a machine that needs inflation to survive.

Digital Gold. Programmable Finance. Open Monetary Systems.

Here’s where crypto enters — not as a coin to flip, but as an economic redesign.

Start with Bitcoin. It doesn’t promise 10x returns.
It promises something far more powerful: discipline.

• No central issuer

• No interest

• A fixed, transparent monetary supply

• And no room for manipulation

In short: a hard monetary standard that feels closer to dinar & dirham than anything fiat has become.

Ethereum, meanwhile, offers a programmable layer:

• Tokenized waqf structures

• Automated zakat calculation and distribution

• Smart contracts with transparent governance

• Open financial systems that don’t need banks to function

This is where Islamic finance can lead — not follow.

We don’t need to wait for regulators to approve sukuk.
We can build peer-to-peer financial services, rooted in risk-sharing, transparency, and ethics.

The Convergence Is Already Happening

You may not see it on the news, but it’s happening.

• In the UAE, Sharia-compliant sukuk are being issued on blockchain rails.

• In Indonesia, the Ministry of Religious Affairs is exploring tokenized waqf to fund healthcare and education.

• In Saudi Arabia, banks are investing in crypto custody solutions while building CBDC infrastructure.

• In Nigeria, an Islamic microfinance institution is running on stablecoins.

• And here in Switzerland, major financial institutions are quietly watching the crypto space for compliant innovation.

This is not speculation.
This is convergence: between faith, finance, and future infrastructure.

The System Will Change. We Should Have a Say In It.

You cannot sit back and let others design the next financial system without you.
Not when it will define how money is stored, moved, and distributed for generations to come.

Islamic principles offer something unique.
Fairness. Transparency. Risk-sharing.
They are not barriers. They are blueprints.

If we do not innovate into the digital financial future, someone else will decide the rules, and we will only react.

This is the decade Islamic finance becomes visible again.

Let’s not just react to change.
Let’s define it.

Download the Guide

We partnered with Mufti Faraz to share this guide with our community.

Download “Making Sense of Riba” here:

Sincerely,

Saâd

from Swiss Islamic Finance