American Catholic Church Set to Accept Donations in Crypto
- Several religious and charity institutions have begun accepting donations in crypto since 2021.
Cryptocurrencies as a means of payment is steadily creeping into almost every part of society and, most recently, religious organizations. According to new reports, the Roman Catholic Church’s Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. has announced plans to grow its ministries by accepting donations in cryptocurrency.
Crypto donations platform Engiven, announced in a post that it would handle all donation efforts by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. in a bid to increase the church’s digital stewardship initiatives.
The move by the archdiocese is one of the many cases of crypto payments by a religious organization. According to the church’s website, all donations will be deployed to support over a hundred D.C area parishes alongside other community charity programs.
Reacting to the news, Joseph Gillmer, executive director of development for the archdiocese, remarked that the church had plans to leverage technology to improve its missions and engage its members. He said,
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. seeks to leverage technology to engage parishioners in new and exciting ways, making it easier for the faithful to fulfill the mission of the Church. Engiven is helping us to fulfill the mission of the Church by providing an advanced, yet easy to use, cryptocurrency donation platform with the flexibility for the faithful to support more than 300 parishes, schools, and ministries in the greater Washington, D.C. region.
On the donation page for the archdiocese, donors can make their contributions without revealing their identities. They also have the luxury of choosing from a wide range of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC) and 0x’s ZRX. Engiven further noted that all donations would get to their intended parishes.
This would not be the first time Engiven has handled donations for faith organizations. According to reports, the crypto platform has handled crypto donations for over 400 religious organizations, including a single bitcoin donation for $10 million. Many crypto enthusiasts are encouraged by the rise of crypto donations for religious institutions.
Some dioceses within the Roman Catholic Church have given their approval and are open to accepting donations in cryptocurrencies. However, the Russian Orthodox Church has no plans to join the trend. The institution claimed in February 2021 that it had no plans to accept crypto donations or create a digital token of its own. It instead encouraged its members to make donations via mobile transfer.
The Use of Crypto in Philanthropy
Cryptocurrency is changing many aspects of life, including philanthropy. The rise of crypto donations suggests that many people are embracing this new technology, which suggests that cryptocurrencies are already cementing their place as a part of the modern financial system. Crypto donations have inspired a new generation of young people to take up philanthropy and have also helped smaller charities access funding easily from any part of the world.
Lawrence has covered some exciting stories in his career as a journalist, he finds blockchain-related stories very intriguing. He believes Web3 will change the world and wants everyone to be a part of it.
