Horizen

Holding ZEN pays nothing and staking pays a variable share of ecosystem income, but a lending protocol whose fees may feed staking is being funded.

Riba is interest or any guaranteed increase on a loan. ZEN staking has no fixed rate and no lock-up: rewards come from a pool fed by DAO funds, returns on DAO liquidity, app fees and sequencer fees, and staked ZEN is not lent out. That is closer to profit sharing than to a loan. Sharlife, the first authoritative source that rates Horizen, lists it as permissible.

ZEN is the governance and staking token of a working network.

This criterion asks whether the asset has real value as property (mal). ZEN gives votes in the Horizen DAO and a claim on the staking rewards pool, and it bridges between Base and the Horizen network. Sharlife lists it as permissible. The general scholarly dispute about crypto is reflected in confidence, not here, so the criterion is at the maximum.

ZEN has no chance-based mechanics.

Maysir is gambling: gaining or losing by chance rather than through productive exchange. ZEN has no lottery or betting feature. CryptoUmmah rates maysir as minor and incidental. No concrete gambling problem is documented, so the criterion is at the maximum.

The network is meant to earn sequencer fees and a share of fees from privacy apps.

This criterion asks how the network earns. Horizen plans income from layer-3 sequencer fees, from apps such as a private exchange and a private bridge, and from returns on DAO liquidity. These are fees for services and trading liquidity. No interest income is shown to exist today, so the criterion is at the maximum; the planned lending protocol is noted under riba and usage.

Supply is capped and rules are published, but the project has changed model completely and its staking income is still mostly planned.

Gharar is excessive uncertainty or hidden information. Supply is capped at 21 million ZEN, the token had a fair launch with no ICO, and governance runs through a DAO with published rules. Two concrete points keep the score below the maximum. Horizen moved from a privacy coin on its own chain to a token on Base, so the reasons to hold ZEN are new and unproven. And Horizen itself says the staking inputs are not yet at scale and that some core apps are late. CryptoUmmah rates gharar as moderate (65.6/100). Sharlife lists ZEN as permissible, so the status stays pass.

Horizen is privacy infrastructure for on-chain finance; a private lending market and trading vaults are among the uses it funds.

This criterion looks at what the network is actually used for. Private execution for traders, funds and businesses is a neutral service, and compliance tooling is part of the stack. The score is lowered within pass because Horizen is directly funding a private borrow-lend protocol with interest-rate mechanics and automated trading vaults; these are not live yet and are not the main purpose of the network.

Fully paid spot ZEN is widely available and can be self-custodied on Base.

This criterion asks whether the asset can be owned in a permissible way. ZEN trades spot on Binance, Coinbase, Bybit and OKX and is an ERC-20 token that can be held in a self-custody wallet on Base. The criterion is at the maximum.

Privacy for lawful financial activity is a real benefit; no harm specific to ZEN was found.

Maslahah weighs benefit against harm. Horizen aims to protect traders and businesses from having every position exposed, while keeping auditability and compliance tools. No source collected documents fraud or a hack involving ZEN, so the criterion is at the maximum.