Is Ethereum (ETH) halal or haram?

Ethereum is the settlement layer for most of the crypto economy: smart contracts, stablecoins, tokenized assets and thousands of applications run on it. That gives ETH clear, genuine utility, a strong point in favour of permissibility, because you are holding a token that pays for real computation and access, not a coin with nothing behind it.

The main concern: staking

Since Ethereum moved to proof-of-stake, ETH can be locked, or "staked," to earn rewards. Where those rewards are presented as a fixed, guaranteed annual percentage, especially through an exchange, they closely resemble riba, and most scholars advise against taking them. A minority accept staking only where the reward is a genuine, variable, at-risk share of network fees for validation work. The common cautious position is therefore to hold and use ETH but avoid staking rewards.

Other points to weigh

ETH itself carries no interest mechanism when you simply hold or spend it, which helps its case. Like any traded asset it attracts speculation, so day-trading and leverage on ETH fall under the usual warnings, maysir and riba. And because Ethereum hosts everything, some of what runs on it is unlawful, though most scholars separate holding the base asset from the misuse of the platform by others.

Verdict

For many scholars, holding and using ETH leans permissible; the staking reward is the part to be careful about, and leverage is to be avoided. See our full Ethereum assessment and the staking guide. Education, not a fatwa.