Question 68 : Assalamualaikum Shaikh. May I know what is the ruling of using cryptocurrency such as bitcoin and ethereum? Are they considered as money/cash? Do we have to pay zakah on them as they are intangible?

Answer :  Exciting as Bitcoin is, I still haven’t found good through information about Bitcoins – how does a new user get their first bitcoins? And I am waiting to find more info on how are bitcoins valued? There seems to be a lot of political and powerful people’s interests depending on bitcoins and finding an accurate description, instead of sensationalized info, has been making it difficult. If anyone knows a good source of info that informs truthfully and accurately the above two aspects of bitcoins, let me know?

Ismail Comment: Here’s a good intro reference and brief history

http://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/software/bitcoin-the-cryptoanarchists-answer-to-cash