Dear Christian Leader: You need to embrace Bitcoin

It is with a posture of humility that I propose what will at first sound like a crazy idea. Let me get it out of the way, and then subsequently build the case: I would like to suggest that you, your church and the Christian ministries that you support align themselves with Bitcoin. This should include: 1) educating yourself on Bitcoin, 2) offering internal education on Bitcoin to your church and/or ministry, 3) publicly accepting Bitcoin donations, 4) invest in and advocate for Bitcoin use in your community and around the world.

Why would I suggest you do such a thing? Bear with me as I explain.

What’s wrong with our financial system?

Our world is heading toward what could be one of the biggest shifts of power since the time of the Reformation, 500 years ago. Back then it was the separation of church and state, powered by a firm trust in the gospel and the God-sent invention of the printing press. Today it is the separation of state and money. Bitcoin is a Trojan horse that will undermine the current financial system – a financial system that is spiralling out of control with debt and is causing all kinds of social harm in our world.

What is wrong with the current system? From 2000 to 2020 the governments of our world have ballooned world debt from $62 trillion to $247 trillion (4x) while only growing global GDP from $34 trillion to $80 trillion (just over 2x) – see Forbes article quoting Jeff Booth. Essentially, debt expansion has doubled the pace of economic growth over the past 20 years. COVID has exacerbated the debt levels even further and this is only going to continue.

Why is this a bad thing? Proverbs 22:7 says, “the borrower is a slave to the lender.” God is not a killjoy by being against debt. He’s trying to warn us of a fundamental reality in the world: that debt consolidates power. When you become indebted to someone, you become their slave. They gain power over you. 

As world governments balloon their debt, they need to create more money to service the debt. As more money is created, asset prices go up in relation to the expanding money supply.  By printing endless amounts of money, our government has either deliberately or inadvertently incentivised people to borrow as much money as they can in order to buy as many assets as they can. The idea of working hard and saving money in order to get ahead is not possible in our culture. Why? Because the incentives are off. The clearest example of this is that my house earned more money than I did last year through my salary (due to rising house prices). The net result of this is that those who own assets benefit, and those who do not get left behind. 

In his recent interview with Carey Nieuhoff, Tim Keller identified the disappearance of the middle class as one of the biggest issues facing the church and our culture today. Keller mentioned that in our financial system (both US and Canada), labour is not as valuable as assets and that this is producing growing economic inequality. He then says that the growing economic inequality is fuelling a lot of the “political problems” in our world, and it’s only getting worse.

Economic desperation is an opportune time for populist movements to emerge. This was seen in Weimar Germany in the years preceding Hitler when they suffered hyper-inflation. When people work harder, but only to see their ability to purchase what they need decline, they become susceptible to blaming others. So much of class warfare and identity politics have their roots in economic unrest. 

Money is important. Money is our stored energy. Money allows society to function by allowing us to specialize our skills in specific ways through which we provide a service to the community. By receiving money for our work, we are able in turn to benefit from the entire market of people who poured their efforts into other things that we both want and need. Our money is akin to our stored time. Our stored time is stored life-energy.

Monetary expansion is theft and stealing is wrong. As the governments expand the money supply, it is taking money from the poor (those without assets) and giving it to the rich (those with assets). As Member of Parliament Philip Lawrence recently quoted: “inflation is a particularly vexatious economic peril that steals disproportionately from a society’s most vulnerable.” Put another way, “When our money is stolen, our labor is stolen. When our labor is stolen, our time is stolen. And when our time is stolen, our life is stolen” (Thank God for Bitcoin, 39).

How Bitcoin fixes this.

Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer digital payment system that was invented in 2008 by someone who goes by the alias Satoshi Nakamoto. In a breakthrough in computer science, Satoshi was able to create something never before seen: digital scarcity. On a macro level, Bitcoin is a digitally scarce asset that is growing exponentially (averaging 200% per year over the last 10 years). It functions as a base layer of money that is a replacement for central banks. Contrary to the inflationary money that comes from central banks, Bitcoin is deflationary. There is a capped supply of Bitcoin – only 21 million coins will ever exist. The supply is completely inelastic.

Bitcoin is fully decentralized. It runs on the most powerful network of computers in the world. There are two key elements: First, there are miners, which solve ultra-complex cryptographic algorithms in order to “mine” new Bitcoin and to process payments. Because the process is so energy intensive, miners often receive flak for being anti-environmental (although there is an excellent case to be made for its “green” potential). Second, there are nodes, which keep ledger of all transactions that have ever occurred. Although Bitcoin only needs 1 node to run, there are tens of thousands of nodes scattered throughout the globe which ensure its security. This means that the only way to stop Bitcoin from functioning would be to essentially shut down the internet… globally. Both miners and nodes continue to grow year over year, which all contribute to one thing and one thing only: securing the Bitcoin network.

Bitcoin was predicted at the dawn of the internet in 1997 in the book, the Sovereign Individual (James Dale Davidson and William Rees-Mogg). Specifically, they foresaw that cryptography could be used to make an anonymous digital form of money that would span the globe and accumulate the world’s store of value:

“Soon you will pay for almost any transaction over the Internet at the same time you place it using Cybercash. This new digital form of money is destined to play a pivotal role in cyber commerce. It will consist of encrypted sequences of multi-hundred digit prime numbers. Unique, anonymous and verifiable, this money will accommodate the largest transactions. It will also be divisible into the tiniest fraction of value. It will be tradeable at a keystroke in a multi-trillion dollar wholesale market without borders.” 

Bitcoin first became money in the infamous transaction when one individual sold 10,000 Bitcoin for two Papa John’s pizzas on May 22, 2010. It has grown organically and exponentially ever since. The inventor, Satoshi Nakamoto disappeared 10 years ago and has never been seen or heard from. This means that Bitcoin has grown without its founder and without any CEO. Bitcoin is a phenomenon. It continues to this day to grow as individuals discover it, invest in it, increase its value, which in turn garners more traction. Today Bitcoin is worth around $50,000 CAD. In relative terms, Bitcoin is comparable to the adoption level of the internet in 2005.

By being a scarce, digital, decentralized form of money, Bitcoin functions as a replacement for our current financial system. As the price continues to increase, the case becomes more compelling.

Why should Christians advocate for Bitcoin? 

Christians value truth. Bitcoin is raw truth. Every node running the Bitcoin blockchain contains the whole ledger of every transaction that has ever occurred on the network. It is theoretically immutable, and completely transparent, leaving no room for falsehood – a vast contrast to the central banks.

Christians value freedom. Bitcoin today is providing freedom all over the world. It allows people in Canada to be able to outpace house prices, so they can afford to buy a home amid inflation. More importantly, it provides people who live in countries with hyperinflation a lifeboat – a way they can store their savings and not have it confiscated through malicious governments. Furthermore, Bitcoin undermines totalitarian regimes by providing a monetary “out” from their oppressive systems. Because it is digital and cryptographic, it cannot be easily confiscated. With Bitcoin it is possible to move from an oppressive jurisdiction to an open jurisdiction and to keep your entire net-worth in a 12 or 24 word passphrase in your mind.  

Christians care for the poor. Bitcoin flips the tables on the existing powers that have created the current and increasing wealth gap. It provides an opportunity for the poor to secure financial success by allowing them to invest in something that will increase in value over time. 

Christians value equity. Bitcoin puts everyone on an equal playing field in which everyone functions according to the same economic rules. There is no special favour for those closest to the money printers (see Cantillon effect). Anyone with an internet connection can access Bitcoin.

Christians hate violence. Bitcoin defunds mass violence by aligning societies and countries to a fair monetary incentive structure. It make seizure of property far more difficult, thereby disincentivizing war (see more recent article on Can Bitcoin bring World Peace?).

Christians want to change the world by helping people know Jesus. I may be wrong, but from what I can see, most people in the Bitcoin community are atheist. However, they are genuine truth-seekers, incredibly intelligent, and very open minded – oh, and did I mention they’re really cool? If Bitcoin continues its trajectory, it is this group of early adopters who will be the richest and most influential people in the world in the coming decades. Therefore, it is imperative that we bring gospel-centred Christian voices into their world that they might know Jesus and be changed by Him. We have the opportunity: reach Bitcoiners today, change the world tomorrow (ref. Bill Bright).

Lastly, I believe Christians have the “gumption” to stand for Bitcoin. Christians (in most countries) understand what it’s like to be a cultural minority. We know what it’s like to hold to strange counter-cultural beliefs like the resurrection of the dead. We know how to stand firm on those beliefs despite the pressure coming from society. In a similar way, Bitcoin is a counter-cultural movement that takes conviction. You have to “hodl” (hold on for dear life) hard when the price swings are so great. You have to know what you own to not sell out early.

One of the greatest problems to overcome is that Bitcoin, although one of the greatest inventions of all time (think: the printing press that pushed out the Gutenberg Bible), is shrouded in a fog of meaningless alt-coins (eg. Ethereum, Dogecoin, XRP, etc). It is constantly criticized by the mass media as being a bubble on the verge of collapse due to its extreme price volatility or it is said to be harmful to society because of its energy use. But Christians understand the importance of holding onto something of extreme importance despite what others think. This is the essence of faith (Hebrews 11:1).

Much more could be said. It is next to impossible to explain Bitcoin in one article. I encourage you to learn more. Start by reading the excellent book Thank God for Bitcoin, or by reading the article, The Bullish case for Bitcoin. There are so many great resources out there, and hopefully this blog is helpful too.

Allow me to conclude.

Bitcoin is not going away. It is my belief that it will continue to grow in adoption, price and influence over the course of the decades to come. It will utterly reshape our world – our government structures, our work, and our culture. It is imperative, therefore, that Christians educate themselves on it as fast as possible so they can help make the world a better place. Too often, Christians are perceived as being laggards when it comes to bringing positive cultural change. Let’s not let this one get away from us.

Let me leave you with a quote from the great investor Ross Stevens:

“When I talked to institutional investors a few years ago I would get the question, ‘what’s the chance of Bitcoin going to zero?’ And a few years ago that was an interesting conversation. Last week a client asked me, ‘what’s the chance of Bitcoin going to zero,’ and I asked, ‘what’s the chance of Christianity going to zero?’ It’s just not… it’s left the station.” 

Please give this some prayerful consideration and do your research! If you found this helpful, I would encourage you to share this article with your church, your family or whoever else needs to hear it.

Sincerely,

Hodling Jesus