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If you have spent some time in the cryptosphere, you have probably heard about
- which stands for centralized nance. DeFi has been the most unregulated and wildest part of the crypto space. For some that sounds enticing - for others it sounds like chaos combined with a decay of morals and ethics. And indeed, DeFi attracts lots of anonymous scammers whose only goal in life seems to be to steal funds from unsuspecting investors.
As someone who recently lost a lot of money in DeFi - because I was completely duped by a scammer - I know exactly how it feels to have your trust betrayed - and I have to admit that I considered turning my back to crypto for good.
After days of pondering whether I should really quit DeFi - or even crypto altogether - I decided to give DeFi another try - but this time I would be extremely careful and I would distrust every crypto project by default.
Don't trust, verify!
That's one of the sayings you keep hearing when it comes to DeFi. But who really has the skills to read and understand the code - and who can actually make sure that the code in the repository matches the deployed code?
I am capable of writing some small programs in Pascal, Python or even C++, but honestly, I can't make any sense of Solidity code - and ultimately, I need to trust a third party that checks the code and the project for me.
And that is exactly where a new DeFi platform comes in: A DeFi platform that checks and audits the projects which you can invest in. However, this new platform does not only check the projects for legitimacy, it goes even further.
Let me explain:
As you may know, Islam has strict rules as to which financial assets a Muslim can and cannot engage in. And a significant part of the world's population is Muslim nowadays. The percentage of Muslims in the world is likely to increase in the future due to demographic changes. There is certainly an already big and continuously growing part of the population that has been underserved when it comes to crypto in general and DeFi in particular.
The reason is that Muslim investors may have religious or ethical concerns that they might accidentally support a project that may engage in activities that they condone. That means that a Muslim investor has to check every asset in detail before investing. A time-consuming and strenuous process.
On the other hand, you should avoid to put too many eggs into the same basket - which means diversification of financial assets is a key strategy in investing. However, who has the time to personally check every DeFi project in detail?
Therefore, we have identified two major questions:
- Is a DeFi project legitimate (not scam)?
- Is a DeFi project ethical (halal)?
Welcome to DeFi!
The good news is that there is a new platform that solves both issues: It checks DeFi projects for you and it pays particular attention to whether an Islamic investor can invest in a project or not.
Now that you have read that last sentence, you may think that the new Marhaba DeFi platform is only for Muslims, but you would be wrong. Just like halal food can be eaten by non-Muslims, the Marhaba platform can be used by non-Muslim investors, too. Of course.
Marhaba is built to include Muslims into the world of DeFi. It is not built to exclude people of other faiths. It is a "Muslim also" platform, not a "Muslim only" platform. And that principle is already contained in its name: "Marhaba" means "welcome" in Arabic. Marhaba welcomes you to the world of worry-free DeFi by giving you access to the safe and ethical part of DeFi. It does not only protect your wallet from scams, it also protects your mind from worrying that you may accidentally invest in an unethical project.
How do we know that we can trust Marhaba?
As I mentioned before, most scammers in DeFi remain anonymous. That doesn't mean, of course, that everyone who remains anonymous is a scammer. But it does mean that if someone chooses to reveal their name and their face, the likelihood that this person tries to scam you, is significantly reduced.
And in the case of Marhaba, it is not just one person who reveals their identity. It is an entire team of people who would all lose their reputation if the platform wouldn't have good intentions.
That's why I'm personally convinced that Marhaba is a legitimate and trustworthy project.
Let's take a look at some of the products that Marhaba offers
Sahal Wallet
The Sahal wallet is a multi-chain non-custodial wallet with an integrated token swap feature. "Multi-chain" means that you can use the same wallet for interacting with assets on multiple blockchains. And "non-custodial" means that the wallet puts you in control of your own assets without any middlemen.
The special touch of the Sahal wallet is that it filters the list of assets and exclusively shows you those which are ethical and shariah-compliant. When you use the Sahal wallet, you don't need to worry about whether you can invest into an asset. If the asset is included in the wallet, it has been deemed legitimate, ethical and in compliance with shariah. That makes investing a lot easier - and a lot safer.
Cross-Chain DEX Aggregator
The second product that caught my attention is the cross-chain DEX aggregator which helps users to find the cheapest way to swap one token to another. No more manual comparison between different DEXs on the same - or even multiple chains. And the best: fees are only deducted from the savings that can be achieved. And the fees can be reduced by holding MRHB - the native token of the Marhaba platform.
Of course, the cross-chain DEX aggregator is implemented into the Sahal wallet for maximum ease of use.
Liquidity Harvester
What would DeFi be without liquidity providers? - Nothing!
Every DEX (ecentralized change) works by entities providing liquidity - which allows users to swap one crypto for another. And for providing the liquidity, the providers are usually rewarded. This is called liquidity pool farming.
However, the question arises for Muslims whether this practice is compatible with their religion or not.
Marhaba offers with their Liquidity Harvester a solution to that problem. The liquidity harvester is a cross-chain liquidity harvesting protocol which is designed to generate halal returns in the range between 5 and 25% APR (ercentage ate). These numbers are significantly higher than the 1% APR that Islamic banks currently offer.
To understand why Marhaba considers their liquidity harvester their most important feature, I would like to remind you of the total addressable market of Islamic investors which have not been served at all until now that Marhaba enters the market.
By the way Marhaba is currently having a presale of their native governance token MRHB.
Souq NFT marketplace
If you have been active in the DeFi space, I'm sure you have heard about okens - or NFTs. These are crypto assets that are unique - or non-fungible - which prove to the world that you own a certain asset. That asset could be the ownership certificate for a house or a car, an entry ticket or a certificate of participation - or just a picture (which seems to be the most common use case nowadays).
The Souq NFT marketplace offers several essential features like a uniqueness checker, a Sahal wallet integration, lazy NFT minting and low fee transactions. What I like especially is that the NFT contents are stored on IPFS instead of a regular webhosting service. That prevents any content that was saved for the NFT to disappear in the future.
Interest free crypto lending and borrowing
What sounds very interesting to me is the interest free crypto lending and borrowing. In case you own some crypto assets and would like to borrow another one, Marhaba will offer a low fee collateralised lending and borrowing feature in the future. It will allow Islamic investors to earn by lending out their crypto assets - and it will offer a cost-effective way for DeFi users to borrow crypto assets.
When this feature will be introduced in Q4 2022, I will definitely make sure to have a closer look.
The Roadmap
Speaking of future development, here is a look at the Marhaba roadmap.
Whom would I recommend to use Marhaba?
Apart from the obvious case of a Muslim investor, I would recommend Marhaba to anyone who is new to crypto or to DeFi - and also to anyone who would like to safely explore the DeFi world.
Marhaba offers you a safety net that - honestly - most people should never leave. Yes, there are assets that you won't be able to invest in with Marhaba - but it will most likely prevent you from losing a significant portion of your portfolio. As this is something that has just happened very recently to me, I definitely wish I had heard about Marhaba earlier and that it was already operational. To be frank: I should have recommended using Marhaba to myself.
Improvement Suggestion
As I have explained, Marhaba is a great platform. However, I would like to make one small suggestion for how it could be made even better:
Marhaba lists a plethora of relevant blockchains, but a very recent addition is missing: SmartBCH - the EVM compatible sidechain of Bitcoin Cash. I would highly recommend to add SmartBCH support to Marhaba - as the low fees and fast and secure transactions fit perfectly into the concept of the Marhaba platform.
Marhaba website
Marhaba litepaper
Marhaba whitepaper
