Bitcoin Forum

I remember a guy here asking if gambling was haram (basically a sin). As far as I know, in the muslim world it is indeed strictly prohibited that you can gamble.
Well, if we take this argument deeper and look at Bitcoin's inner mechanism, you'll know that the mining process is essentially a big lottery where miners (players/gamblers) bet hashing power in hopes to get a reward.

My question is, would then Bitcoin be haram for the entire muslim community, or other religions where gambling is sin? As you can tell by my nickname I don't follow any religion, I would just find hilarious that a religion would prohibit Bitcoin usage because a fundamental part of it mechanism is considered gambling.

Interesting, but I think then the Stock Markets/Forex/ and many other systems of the current world would be "gambling" as well.

Edit: Maybe they could "ban" the mining process, but I don't think they can "ban" hodling and using it as currency,
since that could be equated to gold coins. I have no idea, but I believe coins (especially gold/silver/etc) are allowed.

It depends on who you are talking to. Every person or as you are talking about muslims, some see it as a sin. Being into stocks is a gamble as well since you can lose your stocks and all that. Therefore some could see bitcoin as haram since that's a risk you take as well. I know some people who see these things as haram.

short answer: NO
mining itself could be considered haram.. because people can put money in and have to gamble it against other miners in hopes for a reward..

much like buying a lottery ticket itself is haram. but that does not mean getting funds from a lottery winner or any other rich person is haram. so once the funds are handed to someone else those funds are no longer haram and are just currency.

because exchanging/barter is jst simple swapping.. not gambling.. so buying bitcoin is not haram storing bitcoin is not haram, using bitcoin to buy a sofa from overstock.com is not haram... just the mining part could be considered haram and muslims wouldnt mine directly. but it doesnt stop them using bitcoin once swapped

If we take an even deeper argument, far deeper than bitcoin mechanism, we can basically say that EVERYTHING is gamble. Philosophically saying, we gamble for life, "should I wake up from my bed every morning and bet my sleep time in hope to get some earning?" "Should I cross this road and bet my chance (with probability 1 to 1 million, perhaps) of getting crashed in hope to be able to get to that house across the street?" the list is endless (and yes, it'll be far out of bitcoin topic ;D).

Some Muslims forbid hearing music so I wouldn't be surprised.

That does not sound correct.  A competition between skilled players is not gambling, say for example a horse race.  Yet people in the bleachers DO BET on it.  And we consider their activity gambling.  But the activity of racing horses cannot be.  Neither a prize awarded to a winner.

At least that's this Kafir's opinion...

I don't think trading qualifies at that, more than commerce and supply and demand. Some sort of tactics and daily trading can be seen as gambling and speculation but really is like how most business and companies function in todays world, you have a chance to go bankrupt if you do some bad moves.

As for mining, there's luck involved yes and one could argue that you can invest many dollars into a miner to hit a jackpot that will never come. I think you may have a point. Buddhism doesn't prohibit anything but gambling just as taking alcohol or drugs is frowned upon because it leads to bad decisions and clouds your mind.

I feel this way that for many people it's better to stay off, for me gambling should be just having a good time and being entertained for a certain amount of time, if you win you win, just consider your bet and money gone the minute you start playing.