The world's first Christian 'cryptocurrency', named 'Christ Coin', has been launched. Essentially a Christian version of Bitcoin, Christ Coin provides a token-based means of generating and transferring finances, free from government or bank control.
It's all legal, but digital currency is still new, controversial ground and remains confusing to many. Can it be trusted? And is a Christian version of it – which includes financial rewards for 'Christian' activity such as Bible study and good deeds – a good idea?
Crypto-what-now?
Cryptocurrencies provide a means for parties to transfer funds through a system that's free of government or bank interference. Its proponents say that makes it more secure, less susceptible to the turmoil of fluctuating markets and political instability – of which recent years, especially since the 2007-2008 financial crisis, have seen much. Encryption techniques keep the currency regulated and secure.
Bitcoin is the most famous of the cryptocurrencies. On one hand its value is famously unstable, but overall its worth has seen an impressive increase since it first began. Again, its advocates say it hands power to the people, ushering in a new world era. Life Change, the Christian company behind Christ Coin, says cryptocurrencies are the 'next evolution in global commerce' and are 'here to stay'. So they're joining in.
Their currency, as you might expect, has a spiritual edge: enabling 'the faithful to have a way to approach finances that uniquely helps grow and support the global Christian church'. On Life Change's platform, which is free for anyone to join, users can buy coins, and perhaps most controversially, 'earn' them through Christian activities done via Life Change.
These include volunteering, attending small groups, reading the Bible, streaming Christian music, watching sermons and sharing, creating or liking Christian content online.
Stored in a 'digital wallet', the coins can then be exchanged for personal income, or sent to churches and organisations as a digital tithe.
Cash for godliness? That sounds dodgy...
Some may baulk at the prospect of Christ Coin. In the 500<sup>th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, these financial 'rewards' sound a little like digital 'indulgences', the medieval Catholic innovation – essentially promising heavenly blessings in exchange for earthly cash – that Martin Luther railed against.
The Christ Coin is in some ways the opposite (providing cash for godly deeds), but it does still sound a little like buying your way through the Kingdom of God. Isn't the point of Christlike living that its costly, and isn't done in hope of earthly reward? Getting paid to read the Bible certainly adds an incentive, but it also messes with one's motives.
Another criticism might be that this smacks of a Christian subculture on Christian steroids. The modern Church has successfully innovated its own world of music, books, film, clothing and of course celebrity; Christian currency is next. Isn't this only going to exacerbate a 'bunker mentality' where believers fear the world around them, while 'the world' increasingly struggles to make sense of the ever-distant faithful?
But could it be good?
In fairness to Life Change, a bunkered Christianity isn't its aim. As their White Paper explains, Christ Coin is centered on the ideal of the Church serving the spiritual and material needs of the world, resulting in 'radical change for the betterment of all mankind'.
As they put it: 'We believe that God meets the needs of his church so that his church can meet the needs of the world. Therefore, we believe it is important to create an environment where the needs of both the church and the world can be met seamlessly and simultaneously.'
Rather than lining the pockets of churchgoers with self-serving investment schemes, Life Change's platform is actually meant to help the church look outward, and serve the needs of the world's poorest.
Through Christ Coin, it's using the 'barrier-free medium of the internet' to do that, uniting church groups and generating more resources for global humanitarian work.
It would defend their token-earning system thus: 'By tying token rewards to spiritual material consumed, Life Change incentivizes content consumers to continue their journey towards spiritual enrichment'.
Call it a financial encouragement towards godliness perhaps, because who doesn't need a little push sometimes? It prompts another question: when it comes to pursuing piety, do the ends jusify the means?
So should I sign up?
The platform has only recently been launched, so it remains to be seen what the church at large will make of it. The strange, emerging world of cryptocurrencies is still a baffling and scary one to many.
But Bitcoin et al have been likened to the internet: once dismissed as clunky and impractical, and now embraced as essential – and inescapable. That makes Life Change's move a smart one. If cryptocurrencies are the future, at least in part, perhaps we might as well get on the train?
What if it's the Mark of the Beast?
Or maybe not. Some have warned that Bitcoin is the 'Mark of the Beast' from the book of Revelation, an apocalyptic tool of the anti-Christ of which we should steer well clear. Frankly, the world of cryptocurrencies is so confusing that they may well be right, but we'll never know, though we should probably stop seeing the Bible's final book as a roadmap for 21<sup>st century politics.
What we can know is that the Bible, and the teachings of Christ, contain countless warnings about money. The love of it, of course, is the root of all evil. We cannot serve God and money, Jesus warned. He himself lived a poor, homeless life, and encouraged his followers to sell their possessions. If Christ Coin empowers the financial generosity of Zacchaeus then that's marvellous, but its promise of wealth – especially in exchange for godliness – remains potentially catastrophic for faith.
Money is also a tool that can bring great blessing, and if the world can be reordered so that the poor have more of it and the rich have less, that sounds like a worthy, even biblical cause.
The shifting world of cryptocurrencies can be tough to follow, but it reminds us of one liberating and sobering truth: For better or for worse, money is what we make it.
Joseph Hartropp is a Contributing Writer for Christian Today. You can follow him on Twitter @JosephHartropp.
