59. Bitcoin: The Most Islamic Form of Money? with Harris Irfan

In today’s episode Saifedean talks to former investment banker and author of Heaven’s Bankers, Harris Irfan. They discuss Harris’ decades of experiences in Islamic finance and what sparked his interest in bitcoin as a Muslim. Harris explains why bitcoin might be the most sharia-compatible money, why the decentralized nature of bitcoin should be appealing to Muslims, and what Islamic scholars get wrong about bitcoin. We then discuss whether a hard free market money like bitcoin would make finance more equity-based than debt-based. 

Links:

• Harris’ book Heaven’s Bankers: https://amzn.to/3wtxRVz
• Harris’ personal blog: https://islamicmarkets.com/pages/heavens-bankers 
• Harris’ 2019 article, Cryptocurrency and the Future of the Islamic Economy: https://islamicmarkets.com/articles/cryptocurrency-and-the-future-of-the-islamic-economy-1 

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