Zamanat said on Sept. 10 that it is sponsoring Zamanat Fund CEIC Limited, a tokenized private credit fund registered in the Dubai International Financial Centre with a target size of up to $100 million. The fund will focus on private credit opportunities across the Gulf Cooperation Council region, where the company said small and medium-sized enterprises face an estimated $250 billion financing gap and only about 11% can access credit. The vehicle is structured as a closed-ended exempt fund regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority, with Truleum Venture Partners serving as manager and Apex Group providing fund administration services. Fund interests will be issued as ZM1 investment tokens on ZIGChain and offered in a regulated, whitelisted environment to eligible professional investors only. Zamanat said the launch is its first live case of bringing GCC private credit into a regulated digital structure. The company also said the fund is not an Islamic fund and is not being marketed as Shariah-compliant, adding that digital Islamic assets sit within its broader business strategy.

PANews’ weekly funding roundup showed a pickup in crypto deal activity from Aug. 3 to Aug. 9, with 12 disclosed blockchain financing events totaling more than $94.9 million. Capital was concentrated in infrastructure, stablecoins, real-world assets and centralized finance, while DePIN, GameFi and rewards platforms also logged fresh deals. The headline M&A transaction came from Mastercard, which said it had completed its acquisition of stablecoin infrastructure company BVNK, a deal previously reported in March as being worth up to $1.8 billion. On the financing side, Yellow Card announced a $40 million strategic round backed by SC Ventures, Sony Innovation Fund, Polychain Capital and Blockchain Capital. Other disclosed transactions included rounds for Blockspace, MAGNE.AI, InvestiFi, JPYC, Dow Protocol, Vangrid and Bundle. PANews also tracked a separate wave of AI and robotics funding, where large checks continued to cluster around infrastructure, cloud capacity, optical networking and enterprise agent platforms, with Sequoia Capital, Index Ventures and the newly launched 224 Ventures also stepping up commitments to the sector.

Laser Digital, the digital assets unit of Nomura, has made a strategic investment in UAE-based Layer1 blockchain project ZIGChain, according to CoinDesk. The two sides plan to work together on bringing private credit in the Gulf region onchain, with a stated focus that also includes Sharia-compliant asset products. The investment amount was not disclosed by either party. Still, market chatter cited in the report said the deal was in the upper single-digit millions of dollars. ZIGChain also said it is already working with Standard Chartered and crypto-friendly fund services provider Apex Group as it builds infrastructure for onchain asset management and private credit.

Tether said on July 27 that its gold-backed digital asset XAUT has received Shariah compliance certification from Amanah Advisors, a move the company says opens a compliant digital gold investment route for Muslim users, Islamic banks, and institutional investors worldwide. According to Tether, the certification confirms that XAUT aligns with core Islamic finance principles and lets users hold physical gold in digital form through blockchain infrastructure. Each XAUT token represents direct ownership of physical gold stored in a Swiss vault, and the structure does not include interest, leverage, or speculative derivatives. Amanah Advisors said issuer TG Commodities, S.A. de C.V. meets Islamic finance requirements, including actual ownership of physical gold, transparent and verifiable reserves, no interest-based mechanism, and no use of leverage or speculative derivatives. Tether added that gold has long held an important role in Islamic finance and said the certification is expected to support XAUT adoption across GCC countries, South Asia, parts of Africa, and global Islamic finance centers.

Jamia Darul Uloom Karachi issued a fatwa rejecting crypto as recognized wealth under Islamic law. PVARA chief Bilal bin Saqib calls for nuanced assessment, while Pakistan advances crypto regulation with new licensing regime.

CryptoComLearn published a 2026 guide for Muslim investors, outlining how halal crypto projects are screened and naming MECCACOIN, Islamic Dinar, HAQQ Network and other candidates.

Taisu Ventures partners with Keio FinTEK Center to host Keio ChainHack 2026, a pitch and hackathon focused on Web3; portfolio companies Helix, Lofty, and Pruv share milestones.

The Islamic world debates whether cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin comply with Sharia law. Three main scholarly stances emerge: total prohibition, conditional permission, and recognition as digital assets. Key objections include speculation, lack of regulation, and extreme volatility.