In this day and age, extremism and xenophobia have become embedded in societies across the world. Whether on the basis of religion, ethnicity or social values, such norms have taken a toll on how we interact or judge others. Post-9/11 attacks, the most marginalised and judged community is the Muslim community that is currently going through the worst of times. With the rise of both far-right and religious extremism in the form of political parties and terrorist organisations on a global scale, the challenge to tackle them is ever-increasing. However, the good news is that counter-extremism efforts have been in place on both government and private levels in multiple flashpoints or potentially threatened regions. Rehabilitation centres and educational opportunities for those effected by extremist tendencies have remained quite fruitful for returning them to normalcy but there’s another way as well that can work equally effectively: ‘Cryptocurrency for Peace’. This is a revolutionary initiative taken by the Ananas Foundation, a London-based charity organisation aiming to combat extremism through data mapping, digital applications and inter-faith dialogue with the help of artificial intelligence and digital economy. My recent meeting in London with Zeena Qureshi, the foundation’s UCL/Stanford-educated CEO, brought more insight into how she and her team tends to expand knowledge through the digital sphere and combat extremism in a focused-manner. In her detailed overview on the promising project, she informed me that its outreach would be across every corner of the globe whose key goal would be to ensure a more tolerant society where harmony and peace prevail over hatred. For the very same purpose, her foundation has created its own cryptocurrency called Anacoin that was launched earlier this month on a token sale. A ‘reward’ system is also in place to give back to the people as per their aspirations and contributions to the project’s sustainability. For those unfamiliar with cryptocurrency, it’s a relatively new concept in digital economy that works separately from the regular banking system which helps increase the value of what’s being promoted online or through social media platforms. The more appealing something is, its value would increase accordingly. Currently, some 1200 organisations are utilising its benefits with a total market value of $100bn through sponsorships and self-funding techniques. The foundation has also created its first digital application called The Living Quran, which is a detailed and user-friendly version of the Holy Quran under its Living Text Initiative. More applications would follow under this initiative for other texts such as the Bible among others. The application features translations and interpretations in multiple languages as well as commentaries and historical context of each surah from a variety of authentic opinions from different schools of Islamic thought. Hence, in conjunction with the anacoins, the application would assist its readers and researchers to contain the scourge of extremism in an increasingly effective manner. If looking at a broader spectrum, this can assist governments around the world in counter-extremism efforts and even help expand it to schools, universities and workplaces. Moreover, the project can be used as a potential tool for digital rehabilitation of former terrorists, militants and xenophobic individuals. A truly revolutionary idea! Zeena’s team has already come a long way to revolutionise the goals it wishes to achieve and the day is not far when its project would be utilised on mass-scale for noble causes. The writer is a geopolitical analyst and an alumnus of the Department of War Studies, King’s College London, University of London. He regularly appears on the media to discuss and debate on issues related to foreign policy, politics and national security. He can be reached at hassankhan440@gmail.com and tweets @mhassankhan06 Published in Daily Times, October 26th 2017.