Islamic Finance Markets Gradually Warmer to Cryptocurrency Adoption
Fitch Ratings expects cryptocurrency offerings in Islamic finance to continue developing gradually in some jurisdictions. This growth is supported by regulatory strategies, enabling regulations, and national sharia rulings.
However, adoption outside these markets is likely to remain uneven due to divergent religious interpretations and the lack of guidance from global Islamic finance standard-setting bodies.
The UAE has emerged as a global hub for virtual assets, with transaction volumes across entities regulated by Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority reaching nearly $680 billion in 2025. The Higher Shari'ah Authority of the Central Bank of the UAE deemed dealing in Bitcoin permissible in 2025, and a small number of UAE conventional and Islamic banks have begun offering cryptocurrency brokerage and custody services.
Bahrain is also developing its crypto-asset ecosystem, with nine crypto-asset service providers hosted as of September 2026. The Central Bank of Bahrain licensed the country's first stablecoin issuer in June.