A fatwa issued by Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani, President of Wifaq-ul-Madaris Al-Arabia Pakistan and Darul Uloom Karachi, says that buying goods with cryptocurrency is not allowed under Islamic law (Shariah), according to The News.

The fatwa says that, based on the opinions of experts consulted so far, cryptocurrency is not considered maal (property or wealth) in Shariah. Instead, it is viewed as only a digital record of numbers in an account.

Mufti Usmani said that using cryptocurrency to buy goods is not permissible, whether the payment is made with USDT (Tether) or any other cryptocurrency.

His son, Hassan Usmani, confirmed that the fatwa being shared on social media is genuine and was issued by Mufti Usmani.

The fatwa was issued in response to a person who asked whether purchases made with cryptocurrency were valid under Islamic law. The person said he had bought two books—one using a cryptocurrency token and the other with USDT and wanted to know if the transactions were acceptable under Shariah and what he should do if they were not.

The same person also asked about buying an online educational course from someone who did not have permission to sell it. The original owner of the course had clearly said that buyers could not copy, keep, or resell the course. However, the seller kept a copy and started selling it to others. The buyer paid for the course using cryptocurrency and asked whether this purchase was allowed.

According to the question, the seller created a group for customers, added them after receiving payment, and shared the course materials through the group.

The fatwa advised the buyer to return the books because buying them with cryptocurrency was not considered permissible.

It also said that buying the educational course was not allowed because the seller had no right to sell it and doing so also violated the law. The fatwa instructed the buyer not to use the course and to permanently delete all digital copies.