In St. Martin, Mississippi, Back Bay church became the first Southern Baptist church to accept cryptocurrency as donations.
Pastor Adam Bennet, who has been in full-time ministry since 2005, introduced Bitcoin BTC/USD as a donation option.
He has decided to include Ethereum ETH/USD, Dogecoin DOGE/USD, Stablecoin DAI/USD, Litecoin (CRYPTO LTC) USD Coin USDC/USD as giving options in the church.
“I talked with a few others in the church who were into crypto, which grew into a discussion about it,” he said. “Then I did some research and found that the Salvation Army accepts it. So I looked into their platform and ended up deciding to use a different one for us.”
“I’m an early adopter and like to be on the cutting edge of things. But we also have other people who are invested in crypto. So we want to take some of the assets we’ve invested, see it appreciate, and give it to the work of the church,” explained Bennett.
“There are already non-profits using crypto to transfer value from one country to another,” he said. “Transactions in some Third World countries can’t happen quickly and cheaply.”
Those non-profits, Bennett explained, are using crypto to get funding for projects such as building wells efficiently.
According to Bennett, his church’s dipping its toe into crypto at this point. He is expecting its usage to grow in the years to come. But, for now, he encourages others to do their research – a lot of it – before following suit.
“Our church started because there was some interest. It was more of curiosity,” he said. “But it is an asset. So if someone wanted to donate to our church as they would with a parcel of land, they can. Then we can sell it and used that money for the mission of God.”
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