Egyptian chief missionary declares Bitcoin transaction "illegal": halal, or unscrupulous?

According to the internet publication "Ahram", Grand Mufti Shawki Allam, Egypt's chief religious missionary, said that Bitcoin transactions are "illegal" under Islamic doctrine. Allam wrote in a directive order released on Monday that Allam wrote:

Bitcoin is not an "acceptable trading interface," so trading Bitcoin is illegal.

The clergy, citing potential money laundering on bitcoin, said that bitcoin would not be under the control of any government and could therefore undermine Egypt's economy.

Allam noted that bitcoin has a negative effect on the "legal security of traders" and added:

"Islam prohibits the use of bitcoin because it harms individuals, groups, and institutions."

One of the wealthy consultants told the BBC that bitcoin "can be used directly to finance terrorists."

The Egyptian government said it is not a fan of cryptocurrencies, but also refers to Bitcoin as "belonging to fraud hidden under legal obligations."

Bitcoin, in the end halal?
As early as last February 2017, several crypto experts at Cointelegraph delivered speeches on the identity of Bitcoin in Islamic doctrine. Matthew Martin of Blossom Finance explains his beliefs:

Bitcoin is halal.

He wrote:

"Bitcoin is a halal bitcoin as an online payment tool. In fact, bitcoin goes beyond the traditional, conservative bank's payment network." Bitcoin, with mathematical certainty, guarantees the transfer of payers' ownership of assets, as opposed to the traditional use of private Banks do not guarantee that the originator of the payment activity actually owns the relevant assets because of the different bank networks in the ledger, which is prohibited under Islamic doctrine by the use of a partial reserve system.

Matthews also said that in the Islamic doctrine, Bitcoin is unlikely to be regarded as money:

"Historically, goods of intrinsic value recognized by Islam, such as Dinar, Dirham, etc. Rice, dates, wheat, barley and salt. What is money in the strict sense of explanation, May miss bitcoin. "