Cardano
ADA#14ADA is the native coin of Cardano, a proof-of-stake blockchain, used to pay fees, delegate to stake pools and vote on governance.
- Market cap
- $9.11B
- Volume 24h
- $801.6M
- All-time high
- —
- Circulating supply
- 36.79B of 45B
Passes all 8 Shariah criteria.
- 8 pass
- 0 caution
- 0 fail
Verdict history
- HalalCurrent
First publication
Fundamentals, market picture and news will appear here.
Halal analysis
Can a Muslim hold Cardano?8 Shariah criteria
8 pass · 0 caution · 0 failHolding ADA pays nothing; delegation rewards pay for block production by stake pools, though the delegator's coins never leave the wallet and bear no penalty risk.
Riba means interest or any guaranteed increase on a loan. Simply holding ADA earns nothing. The native return comes from Ouroboros proof of stake: holders delegate ADA to a stake pool, and each epoch (five days) the pool's rewards depend on how many blocks it actually produced; the operator takes its costs and margin, and the rest is shared by stake. Rewards vary, the ADA is not lent to anyone and stays spendable in the holder's wallet, and Islamic Finance Guru (IFG) rates ADA permissible with the same analysis as Bitcoin.
The score is slightly below the maximum because delegators do no work themselves and Cardano has no slashing, which some scholars see as closer to a risk-free return.
ADA is the working coin of a live proof-of-stake chain: it pays fees, secures consensus and carries governance votes.
Cardano has produced blocks since September 2017, and ADA is needed to pay fees, to delegate for consensus and to vote in governance; about 58% of circulating ADA was staked in September 2026. That is real utility, and IFG, Sharlife and CryptoUmmah all rate ADA permissible. Some state bodies (Egypt, Turkey, the UAE, Indonesia's MUI) doubt cryptocurrency in general, but none names Cardano or gives a concrete reason against it, so the criterion gets the maximum score. Paid on-chain use is still small, which is noted but is not a Shariah violation.
- Resolutions of the Shariah Advisory Council of the SC - Securities Commission Malaysia
- Ruling on trading and dealing in Bitcoin - Dar al-Ifta al-Misriyyah
- Kripto paraların kullanımının dini hükmü nedir? - Din İşleri Yüksek Kurulu (Diyanet)
- Keputusan Ijtima' Ulama Komisi Fatwa se-Indonesia VII tentang Hukum Cryptocurrency - Majelis Ulama Indonesia
ADA has no chance-based features or memecoin sector, but most of its exchange trading is in perpetual futures.
Maysir is gambling: winning or losing by chance rather than through productive exchange. Ordinary price swings are not maysir, ADA has no chance-based payout of its own, and there is no large memecoin market on Cardano. The score is lowered within the pass band because the market around ADA is dominated by derivatives: on 27 September 2026, perpetual futures made up about 86% of ADAUSDT volume on Binance and Bybit combined (a single-day snapshot).
There is no company earning for holders: fees and new issuance go to stake pools, delegators and an on-chain treasury that holds ADA and pays for work by vote.
This criterion asks how the issuer or protocol earns, and whether any of that income is impermissible. Cardano has no company that collects revenue for ADA holders. The protocol's only income is transaction fees, a service charge, plus new ADA released from the reserve; 20% goes to the on-chain treasury and the rest to stake pools and delegators. Treasury withdrawals are voted on-chain under Constitution 2, must be in ADA and pay for work; no treasury lending or yield was found, so the criterion gets the maximum score.
The Cardano Foundation's 2025 Bitcoin loans concern its own balance sheet, not the protocol, and are recorded as a data gap.
The supply cap, genesis distribution, reward formula and treasury rules are public and enforced on-chain, though the founding entities are large holders and disagree over treasury use.
Gharar is excessive uncertainty or hidden information in a deal. ADA's supply rules are public and enforced by the network: the maximum of 45 billion ADA is fixed in the genesis parameters, the genesis split is published, and the reserve is released at 0.3% per epoch. The node software is open source, and parameter changes, hard forks and treasury withdrawals pass public on-chain votes under a written constitution.
The founding entities hold large stakes and voting power and have disputed treasury requests in public, but these are disclosed rather than hidden terms, so the criterion gets the maximum score.
ADA is used mainly for delegation, governance and fees; interest-based lending exists on Cardano but is small.
This criterion looks at what the asset is actually used for. ADA's main uses are infrastructure: about 58% of circulation was delegated to stake pools in September 2026, holders and DReps vote on upgrades and treasury spending, and ADA pays for transactions and smart contracts. There is no large gambling or memecoin sector on Cardano. The score is lowered slightly because some DeFi is interest-based: Liqwid, a lending market, held about $12.9 million, a notable part of Cardano's roughly $69 million of DeFi value but tiny next to staked ADA.
Fully paid spot ADA is widely available and can be held in one's own wallet.
This criterion asks whether the asset can be owned in a permissible way. ADA trades spot, with full payment and delivery, on major exchanges such as Binance and Bybit, and it can be withdrawn to a self-custody wallet, where it can be delegated without leaving the owner's control. In Malaysia it is traded on recognised market operators approved by the Securities Commission. Ownership does not depend on derivatives or leveraged wrappers, so the criterion gets the maximum score.
Cardano offers an energy-efficient, openly governed network; no large-scale abuse was found, though its paid use is modest and a wallet built by a founding entity was exploited.
Maslahah weighs public benefit against harm. Cardano's benefit is an open-source, energy-efficient proof-of-stake network with public, on-chain governance of its treasury and upgrades. No large-scale fraud, sanctions-evasion or pump-and-dump problem tied to Cardano was found. The July 2026 drain of about 16 million ADA from 374 users of EMURGO's SecondFi wallet was a product flaw, not a protocol failure, and EMURGO pledged to reimburse them, so no concrete harm outweighs the benefit and the criterion gets the maximum score.
How you can use it
Tap a card for the ruling and sourcesBuying ADA with full payment and immediate delivery is widely available on major exchanges, and coins can be moved to a self-custody wallet. Spot is acceptable for a HALAL-rated asset.
Whether a US spot Cardano fund is trading, and how any such fund is structured (staking, lending or borrowing of ADA), was not verified. A fund that holds ADA itself would be assessed like spot, but only after its documents confirm no interest income and no lending of the ADA.
Tier-1 bodies such as Indonesia's MUI rule that using cryptocurrency as currency is not permissible, and paying with crypto is not allowed in Indonesia (Bank Indonesia) and is banned in Turkey (central bank regulation of April 2021). ADA is rarely used for everyday payments.
Native delegation, where you delegate ADA from your own wallet to a working stake pool, pays variable rewards for block production, keeps the coins in your wallet and spendable, and involves no lending, so it is rated pass. There is no lock-up and no slashing, which some scholars see as making the return closer to risk-free; CryptoUmmah treats delegation as agency (wakalah). Exchange staking and liquid staking tokens are caution: they pool ADA through an intermediary, and receipt tokens may be deposited into interest-based lending markets.
Margin trading in ADA is widely offered but is never acceptable: it is a deferred exchange with borrowed money and leverage (AAOIFI SS 20).
ADA perpetual futures are most of its trading volume, but futures, perpetuals and options always fail under AAOIFI SS 20: deferred exchange without delivery, usually with leverage.
Lending ADA on DeFi money markets such as Liqwid, or through exchange lending programmes, pays depositors interest from borrowers. This is riba.
ADA yield products built on lending, leveraged looping or basis trading pay interest or interest-like returns and fail. Native delegation is assessed separately above; products that only pass on delegation rewards are closer to the staking assessment, but their source must be checked product by product.
Scholars quotes
Based on this matrix, holding ADA is Halal.The opinion on this is the same as doing the same with any halal assets such as shares – 1) is permissible, 2) is more debatable and there are differing opinions on short-term trading.As of now, the projects run by Cardano appear to be in accordance with Shariah principles.As I mentioned at the beginning of this article it is not necessary to substantiate the permissibility of something as long as there are no prohibited factors involved in it or surrounding it.Penggunaan cryptocurrency sebagai mata uang hukumnya haram, karena mengandung gharar (ketidakjelasan), dharar (bahaya) dan bertentangan dengan Undang-Undang nomor 7 tahun 2011 tentang Mata Uang dan Peraturan Bank Indonesia nomor 17 tahun 2015 tentang Kewajiban Penggunaan Rupiah di Wilayah Negara Kesatuan Republik Indonesia.Sebagaimana mata wang yang lain, mata wang digital hendaklah tidak digunakan sebagai bayaran kepada barangan, perkhidmatan dan aktiviti tidak patuh Syariah seperti pembelian dadah, pelacuran, perjudian dan pendanaan aktiviti keganasan serta penggubahan wang haram.The SAC has also resolved that investment and trading of Digital Assets that fulfil the above requirements and which are traded on Digital Asset Exchange (DAX) registered with SC are permissible.Third: In light of the above and given the significant risks associated with this type of currencies and the instability of their transactions, the Council of the Academy recommends pursuing research and studies on issues affecting its ruling.Bitcoin is a digital currency that does not meet the legal and Sharia criteria that make it a currency subject to the rulings of dealing with official legal currencies recognized internationally.بناءً على ذلك: فلا يجوز شرعًا تداول عملة "البتكوين" والتعامل من خلالها بالبيعِ والشراءِ والإجارةِ وغيرها، بل يُمنع من الاشتراكِ فيها؛ لعدمِ اعتبارِها كوسيطٍ مقبولٍ للتبادلِ من الجهاتِ المخُتصَّةِ، ولِمَا تشتمل عليه من الضررِ الناشئ عن الغررِ والجهالةِ والغشِّ في مَصْرِفها ومِعْيارها وقِيمتها، فضلًا عما تؤدي إليه ممارستُها من مخاطرَ عاليةٍ على الأفراد والدول.According to research and opinion of experts so far, cryptocurrency is not considered ‘ maal ’ (wealth) in Sharia.Muhammadiyah memandang transaksi dan investasi kripto pada dasarnya mubah (boleh) tetapi dengan syarat tertentu.Our current position is 'tawaquf'; we can't say it is halal or haram, but we say it is better not to engage in itAI-assisted analysis checked against sources. Not a fatwa or investment advice.
Where it trades
Section in preparation
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