Qatar Financial Centre (QFC), a leading onshore financial and business hub in the region, has launched a pioneering proof of concept (POC) under its Digital Asset Lab, marking a significant step forward in the application of blockchain technology to Islamic finance. This notable development was enabled through the collaboration of a powerful consortium of partners—AlRayan Bank, Blade Labs, and Hashgraph—each contributing unique expertise to a shared vision of financial innovation.
The POC will demonstrate a blockchain-based Digital Receipt System (DRS) that can enhance transparency, efficiency, and regulatory compliance in Shariah-compliant asset-backed finance. The system will operate on HashSphere, a private permissioned distributed ledger technology (DLT) network built with Hedera technology, deployed on Google Cloud infrastructure provisioned through QFC’s Digital Asset Lab.
This initiative exemplifies a collaborative model where regulatory foresight, technical innovation, and domain expertise converge. QFC serves as the orchestrator of the initiative, providing infrastructure support and subject matter expertise to guide the use case development. Hashgraph delivers and operates the underlying blockchain infrastructure, ensuring secure and scalable network performance, and Blade Labs leads the development of the DRS, including smart contracts and user interfaces tailored to Islamic finance use cases. AlRayan Bank plays a critical role in validating the system’s functionality, offering domain-specific insights and exploring commercialisation pathways, while Google Cloud enterprise-grade infrastructure is utilised for the initiative.
Commenting on the significance of the project, Yousuf Mohamed Al-Jaida, Chief Executive Officer, QFC, stated: “At QFC, we are committed to building a strong digital asset ecosystem that supports innovation and real-world applications. Through our Digital Assets Lab, we’re proud to facilitate this pilot as a step forward in exploring how blockchain can bring greater efficiency and scalability to Shariah-compliant financial products. This initiative reflects our continued support for tokenisation, financial innovation, and collaboration aligned with the Third Financial Sector Strategic Plan.”
Omar Al Emadi, Acting GCEO of AlRayan Bank, said: “Innovation is a cornerstone of Islamic finance, and this initiative reflects AlRayan Bank’s commitment to advancing Shariah-compliant financial solutions that meet the evolving needs of the market. Through our participation in this proof of concept, we reaffirm our role in validating the system’s functionality and laying the groundwork for scalable, practical applications that can strengthen the future of Islamic finance while reinforcing Qatar’s position as a regional hub for financial innovation.”
Houssam Itani, Group Chief Transformation Officer, AlRayan Bank, added: “Innovation is central to the future of Islamic finance, and this initiative underscores our commitment to advancing Shariah-compliant financial solutions that meet evolving market needs. By participating in this proof of concept, AlRayan Bank is not only validating the system, we’re also helping pave the way for practical and scalable applications of blockchain technology in the Islamic finance sector.”
Sami Mian, CEO, Blade Labs, remarked: “The Digital Receipt System POC will showcase that blockchain, smart contracts, and global identity standards can address the operational bottlenecks that currently prevent Islamic finance institutions from scaling certain Shariah-compliant asset-backed products. By providing a controlled environment to measure actual business outcomes, institutions can evaluate whether this technology approach solves problems worth solving before making larger commitments.”
Eric Piscini, CEO, Hashgraph, commented: “HashSphere is built to deliver the trust, performance, and regulatory confidence that today’s financial systems demand. Backed by the scalability and security of Hedera’s enterprise-grade technology, this collaboration highlights how the right infrastructure can unlock new possibilities in both Islamic finance and broader financial innovation.”
This initiative represents a bold step toward collaborative innovation in financial services. It’s also a strong demonstration of the role and objectives of the Digital Assets Lab. By bringing together diverse expertise across cloud technology, blockchain infrastructure, and Islamic finance, the Lab is facilitating co-experimentation and creation of new digital products and accelerating its commercialisation.
