Innovative Payment Systems Based on Islamic Financial Instruments and a Unified Digital Currency: Challenges and Prospects

The article explores the digital transformation of payment systems in Islamic countries against the backdrop of geopolitical turbulence, the sanction-driven fragmentation of the global financial infrastructure, and the growing interest in alternative mechanisms for international settlement. It is shown that the existing literature predominantly treats Islamic payment mechanisms through the lens of religious restrictions and traditional banking, focusing largely on compliance risks and adherence to Sharia norms, whereas their integration with advanced digital technologies and cross-border interoperability remains underexplored. The aim of this study is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the evolution of settlement mechanisms and to offer a theoretical substantiation of a concept for an independent international settlement circuit, in which traditional operations are replaced by decentralised digital assets backed by real commodities. The methodological framework of the study draws on the principles of Islamic financial law, a SWOT analysis, comparative analysis of national payment ecosystems, structural-functional analysis of innovative instruments, content analysis of the regulatory environment, and elements of systemic modelling of cross-border payment. As a result, the authors’ concept of a Hormuz Pact digital currency is developed a decentralised distributed ledger platform that incorporates the tokenisation of transit capacity, the issuance of stablecoins backed by energy resources, and the direct settlement of obligations with real assets. The platform is formalised as a multilateral clearing network using smart contracts, which allows it to be interpreted as a sovereign international settlement infrastructure compliant with Sharia law. It is argued that the platform’s settlement logic operates without recourse to conventional fiat liquidity or Western clearing operators by virtue of its direct material backing by basic commodities, thereby providing protection against extraterritorial sanctions. The conclusion is drawn that the resilience of the proposed system rests on its Sharia legitimacy, real-asset backing, and high adaptability to conditions of geopolitical turbulence. The findings make it possible to regard the proposed digital currency as an alternative international settlement mechanism that is particularly relevant in the context of the sanction-induced fragmentation and digital transformation of the global payments infrastructure.

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