The mechanics matter. Ruya is not some offshore exchange improvising its own religious branding. It is a digital first Islamic bank regulated by the UAE Central Bank, with its own Sharia supervisory board and national level backing for the ruling that Bitcoin can be treated as compliant when structured correctly. Transactions run through a licensed virtual asset partner that provides secure execution, while custody uses institutional infrastructure for both hot and cold storage. This triad of banking regulation, Sharia governance, and licensed crypto infrastructure creates a template that other Islamic institutions can copy. It transforms BTC from something many scholars saw as speculative and dubious into an asset that can sit alongside sukuk and compliant equities inside a portfolio.
The size of the opportunity is staggering. Saudi Arabia alone controls around $1 trillion in Sharia compliant financial assets, and across the broader Islamic world, compliant assets reach the multi trillion level. Until now, most of that capital had no structurally acceptable path into BTC. With Ruya’s model, high net worth clients, family offices, and eventually sovereign allocators can justify exposure as part of long term wealth building that adheres to religious principles. That is where the narrative about ETFs “bleeding” begins to intersect with this development. Spot Bitcoin ETFs in Western markets have reportedly seen roughly $2.7 billion in net outflows over a 6 week window, while wealthy entities and sovereign vehicles have been accumulating over the counter at price points near $80,000 per coin. The supply is quietly shifting from public wrappers to private, longer term hands.
The religious barrier being removed at the banking level does something more powerful than a new fund listing on a Western exchange. It normalizes Bitcoin ownership for millions of observant Muslims who previously had to choose between their faith and their desire to participate in the digital asset boom. A compliant channel inside a bank app means a user can dollar cost average into BTC the same way they would into other halal investments, with full transparency around governance and risk. It also gives Islamic regulators and scholars real time visibility into how these products are used, which should reduce fears of speculation and misuse that have haunted earlier debates.
If other Islamic banks in the Gulf, Southeast Asia, and North Africa follow Ruya’s lead, the market could see a gradual but relentless wave of structurally sticky demand. These are not the fast money flows chasing every narrative token. They are institutional and retail investors constrained by religious rules who now have a sanctioned outlet for their Bitcoin curiosity. That could change how supply shocks unfold in the next cycle, especially if ETFs continue to leak coins while sovereign wealth funds and compliant banks quietly buy in the background. For the first time, BTC is not just technologically and financially borderless. It is starting to become religiously borderless too, and that might be one of the most underestimated catalysts for its long term adoption.
Originally published at https://coinbasecorridor.blogspot.com on December 9, 2025.
How Ruya’s Bitcoin Fatwa Could Rewrite the Next Bull Market was originally published in Coinmonks on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.