Is crypto a ‘haram’ for two billion people worldwide?

Indonesian Religious Council, a core Muslim religious regulation body, has released a sensational decree.

Indonesian Ulema Council: Crypto is banned for Muslims

Yesterday, on Nov.11, 2021, Bloomberg media outlet shared that Indonesian Religious Council declared all crypto-related business prohibited for Muslims.

According to the statement by Dr. Asrorun Niam Sholeh, head of religious decrees, the cryptocurrency segment has elements of uncertainty, wagering and harm. As such, it is ‘absolutely prohibited’ for Muslim population to somehow participate in digital assets operations.

However, if this or that crypto shows ‘clear’ benefits, it can be traded, as stressed by Dr. Sholeh. Indonesia has the largest Muslim population worldwide. Major lawmakers and watchdogs are always working with the Indonesian Ulema Council when it comes to crucial regulatory changes regarding economy and finances.

Previously, Indonesia organized a research of the opportunities of national digital currency, but, highly likely, the project will be frozen after a new decree by Sharia authorities.

Now you can bid in Ethers on Sotheby’s auctions

Starting from November 18, 2021, Sotheby's, one of the world’s most reputable auction houses, will accept second cryptocurrency Ether (ETH) as payment methods.

Trolley Hunters and Love Is In The Air by Banksy, an iconic pseudonymous street artist will be the first paintings for sale with ETH-denominated prices. Despite being priced in Ethers, the participants of the auction can pay for offered masterpieces with either Ether, Bitcoin and second-largest USD-pegged stablecoin USDC.

Previously, Banksy’s Laugh Now Panel A was sold by competing auction house Philips using Bitcoins and Ethers. The largest ETH-settled auction was organized by Christie's last May.

Anonymous NFT enthusiast purchased The First 5000 Days by digital art pioneer Beeple for over $69,000,000.

Crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun, founder of Tron and CEO of BitTorrent, also made headlines in Q2, 2021, by establishing a $30 mln fund focused on selling artworks as NFTs.

Solana co-founder does not want to kill Ethereum, here’s why

Solana Labs co-founder, seasoned developer Raj Gokal, has taken to Twitter to slam cryptocurrency tribalism. When investor and analyst Chris Burniskeof Placeholder VC noticed that ‘despite pretty words, L1 knives are fully out’, Mr. Gokal disagreed.

He publicly stated that he doesn’t want his platform Solana to be referred to as ‘Ethereum killer’. According to him, no Layer-One blockchain is powerful enough to ‘kill Ethereum’ that has already evolved into ‘a beautiful force’.

‘Ethereum killer’ is a cliché used by journalists to describe all second-generation smart contracts platforms like Cardano (ADA), Solana (SOL), Zilliqa (ZIL), Near Protocol (NEAR), and so on.