FAITH-BASED ECONOMIC ETHICS IN CASHLESS SOCIETIES

Abstract

The global acceleration toward cashless societies, propelled by fintech innovations and central bank digital currencies, profoundly challenges entrenched faith-based economic ethics derived from Islamic, Christian, and Jewish traditions. Core principles such as equitable wealth distribution (zakat, tithing, tzedakah), prohibition of usury (riba), and divine stewardship of resources confront novel dilemmas including algorithmic opacity, biometric surveillance, and systemic exclusion of the unbanked—estimated at 1.4 billion individuals, disproportionately in faith-dense regions. This comprehensive study employs a comparative interdisciplinary framework to dissect doctrinal adaptations, empirical case studies from Nigeria's cashless policy disruptions and Indonesia's shariah-compliant GoPay ecosystem, alongside bibliometric mapping of 2018-2026 scholarship. Findings illuminate resilient mechanisms like blockchain-verified charity and interest-free P2P lending, juxtaposed against eschatological apprehensions (e.g., Revelation 13's "mark of the beast") and privacy erosions. Islamic maqasid al-shariah emerges as a blueprint for inclusive fintech, while Christian and Jewish ethics underscore vulnerability safeguards. Policy implications advocate embedding faith-derived norms into global standards like PSD2 and UPI, fortifying socioeconomic resilience in post-digital paradigms. This work pioneers cross-faith metrics for ethical fintech evaluation, urging regulators and scholars to harmonize technological efficiency with moral imperatives for humane financial futures.