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Structure

Sharia compliance

Escrow as wakālah bi-l-ujrah, agency for a disclosed fee, with funds held as amānah, a trust. Here is how the structure works and what we deliberately do not claim.

The structure

We act as an agent for both parties, for a fee agreed in advance, and hold the funds in trust while we do it. That is the whole arrangement.

  • Wakālah bi-l-ujrah: agency for a fee

    You appoint us to perform a defined service, and pay a disclosed amount for it. The fee is for the work, not a share of your money.

  • Amānah: a trust

    Funds held in escrow are not ours. They are not pooled with company funds, not lent out, and generate nothing for us while held.

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Six commitments
  • A fixed fee, disclosed before you commit
  • No interest charged, and none earned on funds held
  • No share of the transaction value
  • No lending or re-use of escrowed funds
  • No leverage, and no financing offered
  • No promised, projected or implied returns

What we do not claim

We do not describe this service as “Sharia-certified”. Certification means a recognised scholar or board has reviewed this specific structure and issued an opinion. We have not obtained that yet, and saying otherwise would be the kind of claim this page exists to avoid.

We do not list an advisory board we have not appointed. An unverifiable board is a larger liability than no board at all.

We intend to commission a structuring review once the operating entity is settled, and to publish the opinion in full, including anything it criticises, rather than a badge.

The structure is settled. The asset is contested.

Those are two different questions and they are often run together.

The contract we use is well established. Agency for a disclosed fee, with property held in trust, is described in AAOIFI's standards and is not controversial.

Whether a given digital asset is permissible is genuinely disputed. The OIC International Islamic Fiqh Academy considered the question in 2019 and declined to issue a ruling. AAOIFI has not issued a standard on digital assets. Scholars of standing disagree, and some hold that trading them, including stablecoins, is not permissible at all. We are not going to pretend that argument is over, and we are not the right party to settle it. Ask your own scholar about the asset. What we can describe is our own structure.

Tell us about the deal

Asset, amount, both parties, delivery terms. We will confirm whether we can act and exactly what it costs before you commit to anything.

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