Key takeaways
- Screening is five questions in a fixed order: property, interest, uncertainty, gambling and lawful purpose. Stop at the first clear failure.
- Use the project's own documents, such as its white paper, token terms and published accounts, not its marketing.
- Screen the coin and the way you hold or trade it separately. Lending, leverage and futures raise tests that an outright purchase does not.
- An unclear answer is not a pass. It is a question for a scholar.
- A label from an app or platform is only as reliable as the named reviewer, method and date behind it.
The short answer
You can screen a coin yourself by working through five tests in order and noting the evidence for each. Published rulings disagree on whether crypto is halal at all, so your result is a set of facts and flags, not a verdict. The method below follows the screening path in the Fasset guide on whether crypto is halal, with more detail on where to look.
Because the rulings differ, screening cannot replace a scholar. It does two useful things: it removes coins that fail on plain facts, and it gives the scholar you consult a clear record to work from.
Before you start: decide whose rulings you follow
The first test, whether a token is property (mal), is where published rulings part. The Shariah Advisory Council of Securities Commission Malaysia resolved in 2020 that digital assets are property, within its own regulated market. A fatwa by Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani, reported on 10 July 2026, holds that crypto is not property. The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) sits between them. Those positions are summarised, with sources, in the main halal guide, and the Fasset guide on whether Bitcoin is halal applies them to one asset.
If you follow an authority that holds crypto is not property, screening is not useful for you, because the remaining tests never arise. If you follow one that accepts tokens as property on conditions, or you are asking a scholar for guidance, the steps below apply. Settle this question first.
The five steps
Work down the list and write each answer next to the document that gave it. The terms are defined where they first appear.
Property (mal): what is it, and what does it give the holder?
Mal is something with value that can be owned, traded and must be made good if damaged. Find out what the token entitles you to, whether it can be transferred freely and whether it has any stated use. A red flag is a token with no stated right or use, whose value rests only on promotion.
Interest (riba): does holding it pay a promised return?
Riba is, at its simplest, any excess a lender stipulates on a loan. Owning a token outright involves no loan. Check whether the project or platform offers a fixed rate for locking, lending or holding it, or builds borrowing into the product. If it does, the interest test is raised for that use.
Uncertainty (gharar): do you know what you are buying?
Gharar is uncertainty about what is being exchanged, and it matters when it is excessive. Ask what the token is, how many exist, who can change the supply or the rules, and whether it can be delivered to your own wallet. Restricted withdrawals or terms that can change without notice are red flags. Whether price volatility is itself gharar is disputed between scholars.
Gambling (maysir): is it a purchase or a wager?
Maysir, also called qimar, is a stake on an uncertain outcome where one side's gain is the other's loss. A purchase that puts the token in your wallet is a sale. A contract that only pays the difference between two prices, or a product built on lottery or prediction mechanics, is treated as a wager.
Lawful purpose: what does the project earn from?
The Malaysian resolution sets two conditions for a token: the money raised must go to Shariah-compliant purposes, and the rights and benefits attached must be compliant. Look at how the project earns its income and what the token funds. Income from interest-based lending, gambling or another prohibited trade is a red flag, whatever the technology.
If all five are clear, the last step is not about the coin at all: check who else has screened it, by what method and when (see reading someone else's label).
Which documents to read
Marketing pages answer none of the five questions reliably. The documents below do, and each can be found without asking the project.
| Test | Document to read | What to look for |
|---|---|---|
| Property | White paper; token terms | The rights the token carries and any stated use |
| Riba | Earn, lending or staking terms; the issuer's terms | Any stated rate, yield or loan feature |
| Gharar | Token contract and supply schedule; the platform's withdrawal rules | Fixed or changeable supply; limits on delivery or withdrawal |
| Maysir | The product type on the order screen; contract specifications | Whether you receive the token or only a price difference |
| Lawful purpose | Project documents; published accounts or revenue disclosures | The sources of income and what the proceeds fund |
| Adapted from the five screening questions in the Fasset guide on whether crypto is halal. A method, not a ruling. | ||
For a stablecoin, read the issuer's terms. Tether's Token Terms of Sale and Service, last updated on 26 February 2026 according to the page, set the redemption price at one US dollar per USDT for its verified customers and contain no clause that pays holders interest or yield. Scholars also ask what an issuer holds in reserve, and that needs the issuer's own reserve report, which this guide has not read.
Screen the contract as well as the coin
The same coin can pass in one form and fail in another. The AAOIFI Shari'ah Standards, which scholars use as the reference for contract rules, do not cover crypto-assets, so scholars reason by analogy. On that reasoning:
- Standard No. 20 does not permit forming or trading futures or options.
- Standard No. 1 requires both sides of a currency exchange to take possession before they part and bars forward and futures deals.
- Standard No. 21 does not permit buying shares with an interest-bearing broker loan, and scholars apply the same reasoning to margin.
Worked example (illustrative figures, not a real token)
Suppose Coin A costs 1 US dollar and you buy 500 units for 500 dollars, delivered to your own wallet. There is no loan and the quantity is known, so tests two to four raise no flag on that purchase. Now suppose the platform offers 540 units back after a year if you lock the 500 with it. That is a stated excess on what works as a loan, so the interest test is raised for the locking product, although it was clear for the outright purchase. The numbers are invented to show the method.
So record two results: one for the coin, and one for each way you plan to hold or trade it.
Reading someone else's label
Many apps tag coins as compliant or not compliant. Treat a tag as a claim and ask three things: who reviewed it, by what method, and on what date. A label that names no reviewer, method or date cannot be checked, and scholars may disagree with it in any case.
Apply the same standard to Fasset. Its Shariah reports list, when read for the halal guide, showed 240 assets, 188 marked compliant and 52 not, with no reviewer, method or date shown. Fasset's About page says every account, service and investment is delivered without interest, which speaks to the riba test only. Read what the About page says on Shariah governance, and use Fasset's list as a starting point for your own screening, not as a ruling. The Fasset FAQ covers other questions about the service.
Keep a record
Screening is true on the day you do it. Write down the date, the version of each document and your answer to each test. Re-screen when a project changes its terms, supply, issuer or product range, and before you add a new way of using the coin. A short record also lets a scholar see exactly what you checked.
Check the platform too. Fees and conversion costs are part of what a contract costs you, and Fasset publishes its charges on its fees page. Impersonators copy brand and licence details, so before you act on any message, read how to protect your account against impersonation.
What screening cannot do
Screening cannot decide the property question, resolve a disagreement between scholars or certify a coin. It also says nothing about price risk or legality. Whether you may buy through a given firm is a regulatory question: in Dubai, outside the DIFC, that regulator is VARA, and the guide on whether crypto is legal in the UAE shows how to check a licence. Fasset FZE holds a VARA VASP Licence for Broker-Dealer Services, reference VL/23/07/002, issued on 30 November 2023. That licence covers activity carried on in or from Dubai and is supervision of the firm. It is not a Shariah ruling and does not protect the value of what you buy.
Fasset is not a bank. Balances are not bank deposits and are not covered by a deposit guarantee scheme. Fasset's USD account is a separate product; the guide on how a USD account works explains it. For this guide's topic, the Learn hub lists the related guides.
Frequently asked questions
Can I screen a coin without being a scholar?
You can run the checks, but you cannot issue a ruling. The five questions in this guide help you gather facts from a project's own documents and spot red flags. Whether a token is property, or whether a particular uncertainty is excessive, is a point on which scholars differ, so take the result to a scholar you trust.
Is a coin halal if a screening app says so?
Not by itself. A label is only as reliable as the named reviewer, the method and the date behind it. If an app or platform publishes none of the three, treat its result as a starting point for your own screening, not as a ruling.
What is the first red flag to look for?
A promised or fixed return. If holding, locking or lending a token pays a stated rate, the interest test is raised, because riba is any excess stipulated on a loan. Check the product's terms, not the name it is given, such as earn, yield or reward.
Does screening a coin cover how I trade it?
No. A coin and a contract are screened separately. A token bought outright and delivered to your own wallet is a different transaction from a futures, margin or leveraged position in the same token, which raise the interest, deferred-exchange and gambling tests.
How often should I re-screen a coin?
Whenever its terms, supply, issuer, reserves or use change, and before any new purchase. A result is true on the day you checked, so write down the date and the documents you read, as you would for a licence check.
Does a regulatory licence mean a coin is halal?
No. A licence such as Fasset FZE's from VARA is supervision of a firm. It says nothing about whether a token passes the Shariah tests. The two questions are separate; see the guide on whether crypto is legal in the UAE.
Sources
The sources below were opened and read for the Fasset guide on whether crypto is halal, on 12 October 2026. They were not re-opened for this article, which restates the method and the points cited from them. Statements about Fasset come from fasset.com, read on 6 and 12 October 2026 for that guide, and the VARA register.
- Securities Commission Malaysia, Resolutions of the Shariah Advisory Council: Digital Assets from Shariah Perspective, 233rd and 234th meetings (29 June and 20 July 2020), sc.com.my/development/icm/shariah/resolutions-of-the-shariah-advisory-council-of-the-sc, accessed 12 October 2026.
- Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI), Keputusan Fatwa Hukum Uang Kripto atau Cryptocurrency, 12 November 2021, in Indonesian, mui.or.id/baca/berita/keputusan-fatwa-hukum-uang-kripto-atau-cryptocurrency, accessed 12 October 2026.
- The News International (Pakistan), Cryptocurrency transactions impermissible under Shariah: Mufti Taqi Usmani, 10 July 2026, thenews.pk/print/1425134-cryptocurrency-transactions-impermissible-under-shariah-mufti-taqi-usmani, accessed 12 October 2026. A press report; the fatwa's own text was not read.
- AAOIFI, Shari'ah Standards, English volume (Nos. 1, 20 and 21 are cited here), aaoifi.com/shariaa-standards/?lang=en, accessed 12 October 2026.
- Tether, Token Terms of Sale and Service, last updated 26 February 2026, tether.to/en/legal/, accessed 12 October 2026. Tether's reserve reports were not read.
- Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority, public register entry for Fasset FZE, vara.ae/en/licenses-and-register/public-register/fasset-fze/, accessed 12 October 2026.
Not a ruling and not investment advice
For information only. Not investment, legal, tax or religious advice. This guide describes a screening method and is not a fatwa. Crypto-assets are volatile, and you may lose the amounts you put in.