While currently a small portion of the global market, the Islamic financial sector has been expanding rapidly. OneGram, a cutting-edge financial services firm, hopes to drive Muslim cryptocurrency adoption with a new, Sharia-compliant digital asset exchanged called Huulk. This project aims to help modernize Islamic finance by offering investors the opportunity to trade a variety of unique blockchain-based assets.
OneGram is applying for its operational license in Malta and has plans to team up with several European exchanges over the next few weeks to help make the Huulk project a reality.
While it is unclear which firms OneGram will be partnering with, these firms will likely assist the company with licensing and regulatory compliance in the complex European market. Bianchi Holdings Limited, a Maltese holding company, will be an equity partner in the new exchange platform. And the project isn’t expected to need additional capital to bring it to completion.
Details of the Hulk Exchange
The Huulk exchange plans to list around 20 Islamic fintech firms, many of which are based in Turkey and Malasia. By mid-September, the platform also aims to offer OGM, its native token backed by physical gold.
OGM was OneGram’s first major blockchain-related project. The company teamed up with GoldGuard, a Dubai-based online gold trading platform, to raise an impressive $400 million to create the first digital currency wholly backed by gold. The project was supported by Islamic scholars and declared sharia-compliant by prominent Muslim advisors. The OGM project paved the way for the development of Hulk, and many other blockchain-based projects in the fast-growing world of Islamic finance.
The Growing Role of Islamic Finance
According to Ibrahim Mohammed, the CEO of OneGroup, Islamic Finance is a massive opportunity for cryptocurrency expansion.
He states:
“In recent years, the Middle East has seen incredible growth in fintech innovations including digital tokens and smart contracts. With OneGram we are providing an opportunity for investors who care about Islamic financial markets and the security of commodity-backed investments to benefit from rapid technological advances in the blockchain industry.”
As a whole, the Islamic financial sector is worth approximately 1% of the total market. However, it grows at a rate of 20%. Projects like Hulk aim to profit from that growth as well as modernize the sector by introducing high-tech elements like cryptocurrency and regulated crypto-securities. OneGram is not the only fintech firm making inroads into the industry. Several companies have developed Halal financial products including Wahed Invest which launched a sharia-compliant robotic advisor.
