Fasset has obtained a provisional license from Malaysia’s Labuan Financial Services Authority (FSA) to establish what it claims is the first stablecoin-powered “Islamic digital bank.”
This license allows Fasset, a comprehensive financial super app, to function within a regulated sandbox focusing on Shariah-compliant financial offerings, as stated by the company in a news release on Tuesday.
“We can now merge the trustworthiness of a global banking institution with the ingenuity of a fintech disruptor that’s entirely halal,” said Fasset CEO Mohammad Raafi Hossain.
Islamic finance is a financial system aligned with Islamic law (Shariah), which prohibits interest (riba), avoids excessive risk and uncertainty (gharar), and bars investments in harmful or unethical sectors such as alcohol, gambling, or pornography.
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Fasset expands into Islamic digital banking
The recent approval enables Fasset, which caters to 500,000 users across 125 nations, to provide deposit services, cross-border payments, and zero-interest banking.
The Dubai-based company aims to mimic the success of NuBank in Latin America, but targeting underserved regions in Asia and Africa. The firm offers digital savings, yield products, and the opportunity to invest in US stocks, gold, and cryptocurrencies.
Additionally, Fasset plans to launch a crypto debit card for everyday purchases and introduce “Own,” an Ethereum layer 2 developed on Arbitrum for settling real-world assets. The company has also secured licenses in the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Turkey, and the European Union.
A license from the Labuan FSA permits a financial entity to operate within the Labuan International Business and Financial Centre (IBFC), a regulated offshore financial hub in Malaysia. This license is not the same as a full digital banking license from Bank Negara Malaysia.
Cointelegraph reached out to Fasset for comments but did not receive a response before publication.
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Last month, Visa initiated a pilot program enabling banks to pre-fund cross-border payments using Circle’s USDC (USDC) and EURC (EURC) stablecoins.
This action followed a day after Swift announced its partnership with Ethereum developer Consensys and over 30 financial institutions to create a blockchain-based settlement platform aimed at facilitating 24/7 real-time cross-border payments.
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