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Cryptocurrency traders use old gold in drive to draw Islamic investors

Section: Daily Dispatches

By Andrew Torchia and Bernardo Vizcaino
Reuters
Sunday, April 8, 2018

In Dubai's decades-old Gold Souk, customers from around the world haggle over bangles and necklaces. Elsewhere in the emirate, the region's top center for gold trade, bullion is playing a new role in financial engineering.

A local start-up company founded last year, OneGram, is issuing a gold-backed cryptocurrency -- part of efforts to convince Muslims that investing in cryptocurrencies complies with their faith.

... Dispatch continues below ...



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Cobalt Blockchain Announces Supply Agreement
for Cobalt Concentrate from DRC Artisanal Mines Co-op

Company Announcement
Friday, April 6, 2018

TORONTO -- Cobalt Blockchain Inc. (TSXV:COBC) announced today that it has successfully negotiated a supply agreement with one of the largest local mining cooperatives in the Lualaba province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Commencing in June 2018, the company will be supplied with a minimum of 40,000 tonnes of cobalt concentrate per year, with a minimum grade of 1 percent cobalt.

"This is a significant milestone in our strategy to generate near-term cash flow," noted Lance Hooper, Cobalt Blockchain president and chief operating officer. "Supply agreements with established mining cooperatives complement our plans for larger-scale, mechanized production activities on mineral concessions in our property portfolio." ...

... For the remainder of the announcement:

https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/cobalt-blockchain-announces-supply...



The global surge of interest in bitcoin, ethereum, and other cryptocurrencies extends into the Gulf and southeast Asia, the main centers of Islamic finance.

But because they are products of financial engineering and objects of speculation, cryptocurrencies sit uneasily with Islam. Sharia principles, in addition to banning interest payments, emphasize real economic activity based on physical assets and frown on pure monetary speculation. ...

... For the remainder of the report:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-crypto-currencies-islamic-finance-ins...

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