Crypto And Faith Collide: Colorado Pastor Securitizes Church With Tokenization

A church in Colorado is turning to crypto and blockchain technology in order to secure ownership over its historic chapel, the Old Stone Church.

In a pioneering approach, the responsibility has been put on a network of churches under the leadership of Pastor Blake Bush at the Colorado House of Prayer. It’s an unusual way to gather $2.5 million for investment through a digital asset called “Stone Coin” and encourage each community member toward investment for its future.

A Divine Inspiration?

Pastor Bush claims his plan to tokenize the church simply materialized after a spiritual experience. He claims the voice of God simply told him to “tokenize the building.”

Through several years now, Bush has been praying to get protection for the church, which this revelation seemed to bring. The 19th-century Old Stone Church has been leased by the Colorado House of Prayer for the past two years. It was sold to its current owner in 2022 and sold to the church community for $2.5 million.

It’s an emerging trend, with churches increasingly looking to technology for answers to modern financial problems. As many churches can be characterized by slipping attendance and pinched bank balances, this might just be the example others will have to follow.

The church will sell tokens for $500, at a minimum investment of $1,500. This structure opens up this potential investment to a wider range of people, increasing the potential for greater community involvement and support.

Crypto: The Mechanics Of Tokenization

The Stone Coin is pegged to a real estate token created by REtokens and shall run on the Polymath private blockchain. With this structure, it allows the church to fractionalize the value of the building into smaller shares so that community members can easily invest in it. So far, it has raised about half of what it targeted, but leaders are remaining hopeful for more investors to come on board.

Opening it to non-parishioners, however, opens up the likelihood of an outside group taking control of the asset. Pastor Bush diffused such concerns in a rather jocular tone, saying that even in the case of groups with opposing beliefs, like Satanists, he would gladly open his arms to them, saying, “Let’s introduce you to Jesus.” There is a broader vision at work here for outreach and engagement with the community.

Moving Ahead

But Pastor Bush’s ambitions don’t stop there. He dreams of setting up a foundation to enable other communities with historic buildings, like his, to tokenize them. It could be a game-changer for so many churches which find themselves in the same predicament.

“This has been billed as the first tokenized church in the world,” Hanson confirmed. “And it probably won’t be the last.”

Estimates speculate that up to 100,000 church properties in the US alone will be sold or repurposed over the next decade, so perhaps this is just the spark that awakens others to look at alternative directions.

Featured image from Forbes, chart from TradingView