The Status of Cryptocurrencies in Islamic Jurisprudence and Iranian Law

Abstract

The emergence of cryptocurrencies represents one of the most significant transformations in contemporary monetary and financial systems, challenging traditional concepts of money, property, ownership, contract, and regulation. This article adopts a descriptive-analytical approach to examine the status of cryptocurrencies in Islamic jurisprudence and Iranian law, seeking to determine whether cryptocurrencies may be classified as property, money, digital assets, or valid objects of legal transactions. From the perspective of Islamic jurisprudence, the core issues include whether cryptocurrencies possess recognized property value, rational benefit, lawful utility, transferability, and compatibility with fundamental rules such as the prohibition of gharar, the rule of no harm, the prohibition of riba, the prohibition of unlawful acquisition of property, and the requirement to preserve public economic order. The findings indicate that cryptocurrencies cannot be judged through an absolute ruling of permissibility or prohibition; rather, a distinction must be made between holding, mining, exchange, use as a payment instrument, speculative trading, and criminal applications. From the perspective of Iranian law, cryptocurrencies may be regarded as intangible digital assets when they possess economic value and transferability, but such recognition does not make them official money or legal tender. Contracts involving cryptocurrencies may be valid where the general conditions of contractual validity, certainty of subject matter, informed consent of the parties, and lawful purpose are satisfied. At the same time, risks such as money laundering, tax evasion, fraud, lack of user protection, difficulty of seizure, and uncertainty in inheritance demonstrate the need for comprehensive regulation. The article concludes that the most coherent legal and jurisprudential position is to recognize cryptocurrencies as conditionally valid digital assets, subject to careful, gradual, and function-based regulation.