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.
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