[fund] 7Seas Fund (shariah compliant)

[PatrickHarnett]

Starfish BCB is opening a new fund to meet the needs of customers that require a shariah compliant investment.  Therefore, after working with Senbonzakura I am pleased to introduce the:

7Seas Fund (shariah compliant)

The 7Seas Fund is a pooled investment. 
As a shariah compliant fund, there are no guarantees of returns and no guarantees are given, expressed or implied.  Returns are linked to the underlying investments.

Participants may request a fund account address from me via pm.
There is currently no limit on the size of investment that can be made.
Any returns are allocated on the basis of the capital contributed as a percentage of the total.
Payouts are of any surplus generated rather than retained.  Re-investment by participants is allowed.  Schedule is planned for monthly.
Starfish BCB will not charge a fee for administering 7Seas, but commits to having a minimum of 100 BTC allocated to the fund.

Investments
Investments and allocation of fund resources will be screened and determined according to the prohibited sectors (briefly set out below).
Initial allocations will not exceed more than 20% of the fund size into any one venture.
Exposure to personal and/or business loans will not exceed 50% of the fund size.
This allocation policy may mean coins sit idle while suitable investments are found.

Shariah Compliant Instruments
Murabaha (Profit – sharing)
Musharakah (Joint ventures)
Mudarabah (Financing)
Ijara (Renting)
Istisnaa (Industrial - Financing)
Takaful (Islamic Joint Insurance)
Sukuk (Islamic Bonds)
Stock or Equity Investing

Prohibitions
Gharar (Literal meaning: to deceive, cheat, delude, lure, entice)
Maysir (gambling, bets and wager where whatever one profits is at the cost of others)
Prohibited Business Activities (eg. Alcoholic, Cigarette)
Riba (Interest)
Alcohol, Pork-Related Products,
Conventional Financial Services (Banking, Insurance Etc.),
Entertainment (Hotels, Casino/ Gambling, Cinema, Pornography, Music Etc.),
Tobacco, Weapons and Defense Industries.

Compliance
I consider having a Senbonzakura/IBB stamp of approval vitally important.  Sen and the IBB has agreed to work with StarFish to provide shariah compliance oversight on an as required basis. 

Commencement and operations
At commencement, Starfish will be allocating its current shariah compliant loans to the 7Seas Fund.  While this is only a single loan around 20BTC, it is a start.
Each month basic fund metrics will be published showing fund size, active investments, and returns.

[PatrickHarnett]

Reserved for operations reports.

30 June 2012
Fund size = 100 BTC  (one investor)
Investments = 0 BTC
Lending = 15 BTC
Idle coins = 85 BTC
Returns = 0 BTC

[pieppiep]

Although I'm an atheist, I very like the idea of a shariah compliant fund. I don't believe I've seen anything like this, thus it creates a new market.
Good luck with it!

[wachtwoord]

Doesn't allowing bonds conflict with not being able to charge interest? Also, regarding the single loan that is Shariah compliant, in which of the categories does it belong?

(I'm just being curious/nosy, feel free to refuse to answer )

[senbonzakura]

Doesn't allowing bonds conflict with not being able to charge interest? Also, regarding the single loan that is Shariah compliant...

I can answer the bond part , with this Demystifying Halal Bonds http://www.halaljournal.com/article/1976/demystifying-halal-bonds

"Ever wanted to know the difference between conventional bonds and its Halal counterpart? Anna El-Rashid provides a clearer picture. Halal bonds, or Sukuk derives its name from the Arabic term Sakk or cheque."

[Bitcoin Oz]

I think MOORE would be closer to halal because it doesnt lose value as the difficulty increases. A pure 1mh/s bond will always get less dividends over time and you may not get your original investment back which is close to taking advantage of people.....

[wachtwoord]

Doesn't allowing bonds conflict with not being able to charge interest? Also, regarding the single loan that is Shariah compliant...

I can answer the bond part , with this Demystifying Halal Bonds http://www.halaljournal.com/article/1976/demystifying-halal-bonds

"Ever wanted to know the difference between conventional bonds and its Halal counterpart? Anna El-Rashid provides a clearer picture. Halal bonds, or Sukuk derives its name from the Arabic term Sakk or cheque."

On a first look that sounds a lot like preferred shares in western banking. No equity in the company itself but a claim on its cash flows before equity owners are paid. I'll have a better look later, thanks for the info.

[PatrickHarnett]

Doesn't allowing bonds conflict with not being able to charge interest? Also, regarding the single loan that is Shariah compliant, in which of the categories does it belong?

(I'm just being curious/nosy, feel free to refuse to answer )

I am not at liberty to disclose the use to which the loan is being put notwithstanding the fact I don't actually know, other than it is a reputable person that I was happy to provide funds to without additional ID.  It is also difficult to say a specific 1 BTC out of a 1000 BTC can't be used to pay for something as that's not identifiable.

Nowhere in this is 7Seas charging interest or providing fixed interest returns. 

pieppiep: I am not strongly religious (raised a catholic), but understand the need for different religions and cultural viewpoints.  This, however, is a business issue rather than something that needs to be debated as to the merits or otherwise of a particular dogma.  Similarly, there will be people that wish to have an ethical investment, and 7Seas meets that requirement too.

[RandomQ]

This is a great Idea keep up the good work.

I see great things ahead for this Fund.

[PatrickHarnett]

update ?

can you show us latest report , thank you

I have not been working actively on this fund, so the report is pretty brief:

Investments: 178BTC
Income: 2BTC  (one from a small loan, the other as a gratuity)
Return is around 1%/month currently based on a 30 June commencement.

[nimda]

update ?

can you show us latest report , thank you

I have not been working actively on this fund, so the report is pretty brief:

Investments: 178BTC
Income: 2BTC  (one from a small loan, the other as a gratuity)
Return is around 1%/month currently based on a 30 June commencement.

Excuse my ignorance. How did you profit off of the loan?

[PatrickHarnett]

update ?

can you show us latest report , thank you

I have not been working actively on this fund, so the report is pretty brief:

Investments: 178BTC
Income: 2BTC  (one from a small loan, the other as a gratuity)
Return is around 1%/month currently based on a 30 June commencement.

Excuse my ignorance. How did you profit off of the loan?

They paid back more than I provided to them.  The loan was without interest.

[nimda]

update ?

can you show us latest report , thank you

I have not been working actively on this fund, so the report is pretty brief:

Investments: 178BTC
Income: 2BTC  (one from a small loan, the other as a gratuity)
Return is around 1%/month currently based on a 30 June commencement.

Excuse my ignorance. How did you profit off of the loan?

They paid back more than I provided to them.  The loan was without interest.

So it was a voluntary "tip" or gratuity on top of the loan. Interesting.

[PatrickHarnett]

Just for completeness, this has been wound up and funds distributed.

[Luke-Jr]

My review:

• I was interested in this because I am Catholic, and like the ideal of funds that don't participate in immorality (usury).
• In early July, I invested 50 BTC with 7Seas.
• I completely forgot about the fund until my investment was returned (plus a little extra).
• In conclusion, PatrickHarnett seems to be fairly reputable.