Financial cybercrime in the Islamic Finance Metaverse
Klemens Katterbauer, Hassan Syed, Laurent Cleenewerck
Abstract
Financial cybercrime in the metaverse has become increasingly more significant for authorities, corporations, and individuals to address, requiring new regulatory and compliance frameworks, as well as novel cybersecurity mechanisms in order to prevent these crimes. Financial cybercrimes in the metaverse have increased in the last years significantly, with either the massive stealing of cryptocurrencies from exchanges or the sale of fake or dubious NFT and other financial products that have lost significant value within a short period of time. Cybercrimes in the metaverse have taken place at significant scales and given the infancy of regulations as well as the virtual nature of these activities, only few crimes have been prosecuted. Islamic finance may represent a considerable opportunity for the metaverse via connecting the financial services and instruments to real and virtual assets free of speculation. The article provides several recommendations for regulators to address these cybercrime challenges and how Islamic finance can assist in these cybercrimes.