KARACHI: Pakistan’s pioneering blockchain entrepreneur, Abdul Rafay Gadit, has launched what his team says is the world’s first Shariah-compliant Layer 1 blockchain, aiming to capitalize on a record surge in tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) and meet rising demand for Islamic-compliant digital finance tools.
ZIGChain, which launched its mainnet beta on Tuesday, is built as a base-level blockchain called a “Layer 1” that lets developers create apps to trade and manage real-world assets like property, commodities or traditional securities on a blockchain.
Putting RWAs on blockchains, known as tokenization, has become one of the fastest-growing areas in crypto and traditional finance. The market is estimated to have surged 260 percent to $50 billion this year as more institutions use blockchain to make trading these assets easier and more transparent. Analysts say the trend reflects how financial institutions are moving real-world assets onto blockchains to improve liquidity and transparency.
ZIGChain says it stands out as the first chain purpose-built to meet Islamic finance principles, a set of rules that, among other things, prohibit interest (riba) and excessive uncertainty (gharar), by offering native compliance tools and audit mechanisms for developers and institutions.
