A Washington Catholic Church Is Now Accepting Crypto Donations, Why It Matters
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, DC has announced intentions to expand its ministry and support 139 parishes and regional initiatives for the needy by accepting crypto donations.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington works with Engiven
The donations will be accepted through Engiven, a corporate donation platform that uses the blockchain to help nonprofits access cryptocurrency donations to advance their cause. The platform has already enabled crypto donations for over 400 faith-based groups, including a $10 million Bitcoin donation, one of the largest single BTC donations in history.
The executive director of development for the Archdiocese of Washington, Joseph Gillmer, stated that their goal in accepting crypto is to increase their ability to communicate with parishioners while making it easier for them to fulfill the church’s mission.
Engiven’s cryptocurrency donation platform will play a key role. The portal will allow people to donate crypto assets to over 300 parishes, schools and ministries in the greater Washington, DC area. The digital nature of the platform also means donors can send money anonymously using various cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, from around the world.
While the move is part of a trend of non-governmental organizations accepting the applicability of blockchain, particularly in payments using cryptocurrencies, the Vatican has yet to issue clear guidelines on the matter, nor has it officially endorsed the use of cryptocurrencies.
The Catholic Crypto Conference
November 2022 was the first ever Catholic Crypto Conference held in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. It brought together over 250 congregants, including theologians, philosophers, cryptocurrency enthusiasts and financial industry professionals, to discuss and improve the relationship between Catholicism and cryptocurrencies.
The conference focused on the opportunities and risks of crypto and how the Catholic Church should look at blockchain technology and its use case outside the financial world, such as the storage of parish records.
Blockchain is an immutable and distributed database that can store and track various transactions, including documents, coins or objects with precision to their origin, potentially making storage more secure. Secure storage can also help prevent corruption by keeping accurate records of when and who gained access to church funds or documents.
In 2019, Pope Francis so that a “better world is possible because of technology if it is accompanied by ethics and inspired by a vision of the common good.” The key is that any technology can be good if it is used to advance the common good.
While the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington seems to be leaning on technology and exploiting cryptocurrencies, the US has been aggressively cracking down on crypto companies.
Recently, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a Wells Notice to Paxos, the issuer of BUSD, a stablecoin, claiming that the token was an unregistered security.
Feature image from Canva, chart from TradingView
