The ruling
By treating crypto like currency or trade goods, contemporary scholars place it inside the standard wealth-zakat framework: if your net zakatable wealth — crypto included — is above nisab after a full lunar year, you owe 2.5% of the market value of what you hold.
Enter the market value of your tokens, not the quantity: what the whole holding is worth in your currency on your zakat date.
Dealing with volatility
Crypto prices swing hard, which makes "what is it worth?" feel slippery. The cure is a fixed valuation date. Many people simply pick a fixed zakat date — often in Ramadan — and pay on everything held that day; the general hawl guide explains how that works.
Whatever the price did before or after that date does not matter for the calculation. Take the value on your date, and it is done.
Where crypto sits in the calculation
Crypto is one line among several: add it to cash, gold and silver, investments, and business assets, then subtract immediate debts due within the year. The zakat calculator has a dedicated crypto field — enter the current market value of your tokens.
A worked example (illustrative numbers)
On the zakat date, a wallet holds tokens worth $10,000 at that day's market price, alongside $2,000 in savings, with no immediate debts. Net zakatable wealth: $12,000 — above nisab.
Zakat: 2.5% × $12,000 = $300. Had the portfolio been worth half as much on that date, the zakat would halve too — the date is what fixes the number.
Frequently asked questions
Is zakat due on Bitcoin?
Yes, on the contemporary treatment of crypto as currency or trade goods: holdings are zakatable at 2.5% of market value, counted with your other zakatable wealth once above nisab for a lunar year.
Do I pay on how much I bought it for or what it's worth now?
On what it is worth now — the market value on your zakat date. Purchase price does not enter the calculation.
What if the price crashes after I pay?
Zakat is worked out on your zakat date, and that snapshot is what counts. Later swings — up or down — do not reopen the calculation for that year.
How do I handle many different tokens?
Value each holding at its market price on your zakat date and add them together into one zakatable figure. The calculator has a single crypto field for the combined market value.