Muslim Coins (MUSC) seeks to offer a compliant DeFi solution according to Islamic Finance - much like the role of "Islamic Banks" in the established finance industry. In this post I will analyse the MUSC project, and rate it in terms of the 'Vision' criteria in the SVET framework. This rating is conducted from an unsponsored, unbiased perspective and serves merely an informative purpose- not as financial advice (!)
Recap of Framework
The framework is designed for technology analysts to be able to assign as close to an objective rating as possible on the merits of a project.
Within the review of a project's 'Vision', the following criteria is assessed:
SVET Vision Rating:
- Singularity: you have to check out project’s Competitors.
- Volume: you have to gauge project’s targeted Market’s Size and number of platform’s Users.
- Empathy: you have to weigh up project’s Community.
- Timing / TimeLine: you have to analyse project’s future Development Plans.
The rating is assigned from a scale of a, b and c, with the +/- variant indicating a strong/ weak performer respectively in that category.
Vision Review
Singularity
The ‘Singularity’ of the ‘Muslim Coins’ (MUSC) is derived from it’s unique implications in Islamic Finance, matched by that of only one competitor: ‘Caizcoin’. They tailor to the observation of “cryptocurrencies sit[ting] uneasily within Islam”, most notably because “they are products of financial engineering and objects of speculation” (Reuters, 2018). Offering solutions equivalent to the concept of Islamic Banking, interest-free and religiously compliant in other mechanisms (Muslim Coins, 2021), MUSC would be operating relatively uncontested in the young Crypto industry (especially within the Islamic World) – that is, apart from Caizcoin. As they are both projects within their infancy, each with their own perks, it is hard to differentiate between the neck-and-neck competition.
MUSC, with its ‘SpaceSeed.finance’ launch and audit rivals the capital-intensive Caizcoin launch, backed by ‘Caiz Holding AG’ (Caizcoin, 2021). A case for the ‘Singularity’ of MUSC however, is the ‘Zakat’ feature integrated into transactions as this is pivotal to Muslims, given that Cryptocurrencies will be granted wider adoption in Islamic spheres, where its classification as a currency and not a speculative asset “is important for Islamic tax payments called Zakat” (Reuters, 2018). Caizcoin seeks to achieve this same end through “partnerships with NGOs… using cryptocurrency for Zakat” (Caizcoin, 2021) and though there is no obvious winner between the two, MUSC thus seems further prepared with its plan. Yet, Caizcoin maintains an all-important “Fatwa Certification” (Islamic Certification), which there is a distinct lack of in the MUSC project. However, as noted by the chair of the ‘UK Islamic Fintech Panel’, Harris Irfan, a “problem is that many Islamic law scholars have trouble understanding the complexities of digital currencies” and thus “[cautions] against accepting any fatwas from community scholars on the subject of fiqh al-mu’amalat, the jurisprudence of transactions, which is a highly complex area of sharia (Islamic Law)” (Irfan, 2018).
With nothing directly separating the two, and yet each unique its own regard and thus allowing expected room for improvement and growth in the untapped realm of Islamic Cryptocurrency, the rating b+ is fitting; especially, considering that MUSC has already taken a different approach to the market.
Volume
The potential market for this project alone is massive, but one must remain sceptical of the readiness of the Islamic World to adopt Cryptocurrency as well as the consideration that “only around 20 to 30 percent of banking in the Gulf and Southeast Asia follows Islamic principles; many Muslims use conventional finance if it offers higher returns or more convenience” (Reuters, 2018). This also hints at the proponents of Islamic communities who would rather invest and transact in established Crypto projects as they believe their personal financial decisions will not impede on their belief set (suppose, when they do not stake to earn interest APY). That noted, a 20-30% approximated share of such a large market (the majority of the Muslim-world) is still a comfortable space to operate within, but not enough to justify claims of reaching “1.8 billion Muslims” (Muslim Coins, 2021). The latter must be taken more superficially, as a marketing claim.
Another issue with volume at present is that after it’s first presale, the team gathered a mere 26 BNBs (16% of it’s objective), as revealed by Sharif, the CEO (Sharif, 2021). He remained confident enough to reveal this transparently and reasserted that this presale was not a ‘failure’ rather a way to “measure a certain number of variables that [they] had no other way to measure, such as true community engagement… and how ready our technical infrastructure was” (Sharif, 2021). This is problematic in its competition with the capital-backed Caizcoin, but in no way implicates that Caizcoin is more successful in ‘Volume’ alone.
Thus, though the potential market is necessarily impressive in the long-run, the first presale only raises questions into short-term adoption and survivability if the project does not gain more ‘Volume’ leaving MUSC with a rating of c+ in this deep.
Empathy
Analysing this deep from the perspective of within its competition, and from equally new projects leaves a mixed but worsening rating of b-. Looking at the two most popular channels for new Crypto projects, Twitter and Telegram, MUSC and rival Caizcoin have an equal number of followers in the former, but MUSC is dwarfed in the latter. Both maintain roughly 20,000 followers on Twitter, but MUSC has been around for less than half the time having joined the platform in June 2021. Yet on Telegram, Caizcoin has almost 20 times the members, at 120,000. This figure can be taken in the perspective of Caizcoin’s sponsorship of the DFL-Supercup, higher marketing spend, and the fact that MUSC still pars compared to new projects that are not direct rivals, but of the same age. At the same time, MUSC maintains communities on other platforms like Youtube, Reddit and Instagram, much like it’s rival, and it seems that it’s users are the more enthusiastic as football-hype may not translate into direct quality of investors for it’s rival.
Ultimately thus, though it seems to be performing averagely in terms of broad-industry community channels, it’s condition in this rating ‘Empathy’ is worsening due to it’s competitors obvious advantages (b-).
Timing
Apart from the early-mover advantage in the realm of Islamic Cryptocurrency, the MUSC project has proven more lethargic than it’s CEO’s anticipation achieving a mere 16% of its presale target. The chaotically arranged second pre-sale should help further towards the target but pushes the project behind schedule. Especially concerning is the technical difficulties (Sharif, 2021) encountered undermining the launchpad partner ‘SpaceSeed.finance’ as well in the process. The promised price of presale also fluctuated depending on the capital requirements which is testament to the rather disorganized nature. In comparison, its competitor has a complete functional back-office, raised capital and numerous partnerships. Regardless, it is hard to ignore that the timing in the market remains excellent, with crypto poised for broad adoption in general undoubtedly leading to more interest from the Muslim world.
With this clear deficit in organisation and it’s competitors advantage in all three aforementioned departments, but time to improve and an early-mover advantage, MUSC scores a c+ in the ‘Timing’ deep.
Verdict
Singularity (b+), Volume (b+), Empathy (c-), Timeline (b+).
References
Caizcoin, 2021. Homepage. [Online] Available at: https://caizcoin.com/[Accessed 28 August 2021].
Irfan, H., 2018. Islam and cryptocurrency, halal or not halal? [Interview] (8 April 2018).
Muslim Coins, 2021. Homepage. [Online] Available at: https://muslimcoins-ico.com/[Accessed 28 August 2021].
Muslim Coins, 2021. Whitepaper. [Online] Available at: https://muslimcoins-ico.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/WHITEPAPER-EN-10082021.pdf[Accessed 28 August 2021].
Reuters, 2018. Islam and cryptocurrency, halal or not halal?. [Online] Available at: https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2018/4/8/islam-and-cryptocurrency-halal-or-not-halal[Accessed 28 August 2021].
Sharif, 2021. The First Presale [Interview] (28 August 2021).
If you enjoyed this post, please follow to stay up to date with more wonderful investment stuff!
Crypto is OUR community and WE get to decide the future of the financial system.Spread positivity, knowledge and advice, and good karma will be on it's way.
Here's other passive income which you can help yourself to (and helps me too <33)15 XCUR on signup/ first spend to Curate: https://curatestyle.page.link/3dbVGWGxutZ5WBFe8
Free BTC: http://cointiply.com/r/28Rx2
Game I'm hooked on where you earn crypto: https://splinterlands.com?ref=wackymaster
(UK Only) Free Share worth up to $200: https://magic.freetrade.io/join/ahmad-daud/00e93a48
