Sustainability, Trust, and Blockchain Applications in Islamic Finance and Circular Economy: Best Practices and Fintech Prospects

Since the adoption of the SDGs in 2015, it has been a 5-year journey of trial-and-error experimentations all over the world to come up with innovative solutions beyond business-as-usual and get the job done. In this paper, we assess blockchain-backed solutions beyond the hype. While the technology has a promising potential to trigger disruptive innovations to fulfill the SDGs, it is not mature yet with many gaps in terms of approaches and tools to develop blockchain use cases, monitor and evaluate blockchain experiments, mitigate associated risks and ethical considerations while managing changes within organizations leading blockchain-powered platforms. It is only by filing these gaps that blockchain can deliver its promises and may be effectively used as an SDG accelerator. Islamic finance can play a key role in shaping the transition towards a more circular economy. One promising way of doing so, is by scaling-up the use of blockchain-enabled solutions in the practices of circular economy and Islamic finance. As the technology is still getting mature, more innovative and applied research is needed to capitalize on the lessons learned within various geographies and across a wide range of economic, social, and environmental spectrums.