Asia | October 23, 2019

Indonesia’s BMT Bina issues “sharia compliant” bond on blockchain

Dennis Price
ImpactAlpha Editor

Dennis Price

ImpactAlpha, Oct. 23 – Faith-based investing is not only on the rise, it’s on the cutting edge.

Indonesian Islamic microfinance cooperative BMT Bina Ummah raised $50,000 (710 million rupiah) through a micro sukuk, or sharia-compliant bond, on a public blockchain on Blossom Finance’s “SmartSukuk” platform.

Unlike traditional debt instruments, sukuks are tradeable like stocks. Proponents say linking such Islamic bonds to social impact could mobilize large pools of capital across the Muslim world for social and environmental benefit.

Blockchain’s smart contracts let sukuks increase their efficiency and reach, says Blossom Finance.

“The additional funds provided by this sukuk offers longer term stable funding and increases the overall amount of financing that we can offer our members,” said BMT Bina’s Arif Yuliyanto.