Since Bitcoin's Creation, Many Evangelicals Have Eyed the Rise of Digital Currency with Skepticism

Since bitcoin's creation in 2008, many evangelicals have eyed the rise of digital currency with skepticism.

Since bitcoin’s creation in 2008, many evangelicals have viewed the rise of digital currency with skepticism. Focus on the Family, citing financial adviser Dave Ramsey, compared cryptocurrency to risky strategies like day trading and issued Proverbs-style warnings against seeking to gain riches quickly. Other Christian resources, such as Cru, give similar advice, comparing crypto to gambling.

Now, some evangelicals, such as the makers of the God Bless Bitcoin documentary, are becoming crypto enthusiasts—with the leader of the free world on their side. Point to Light, a non-profit focused on service to the poor, is making a documentary about Trump’s good works.

“[President Donald Trump’s] big appeal, at least since he entered politics, is to make people feel like they are a part of something,” said William Schultz, associate professor of American religions at the University of Chicago’s Divinity School. Now supporters can join Trump’s crypto empire. Political scientists and ethics experts say Trump’s cryptocurrency ventures raise conflict-of-interest concerns, trample long-held norms that risk degrading trust in the US government, and pave the way for more corruption from both political parties.

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Even though he may not be actively making personal business decisions—Trump has handed control of his business affairs to his sons—“he still benefits from all of his family’s business interests and from their companies,” said Mark Caleb Smith, director of the center for political studies at Cedarville University. It’s a stark departure from previous presidents—every president since the 1970s placed their assets in blind trusts to avoid even the appearance of profiting off the presidency.

With murky origins, cryptocurrency is the Wild West in the financial world. It remains a largely unregulated digital frontier despite a veneer of transparency. The transactions appear on a public ledger, but the identities of participants are anonymous. Digital currency, according to Devin Singh, associate professor of religion at Dartmouth College, appeals to both libertarians and anarchists, who from opposite ends of the political spectrum “see in cryptocurrencies a basis for communal transactions that circumvent state oversight and control.”

That’s made crypto a safe haven for bad actors in the underworld, and it’s partly why “the US, which is the global financial policeman, doesn’t traditionally like crypto,” said Derek Scissors, an American Enterprise Institute senior fellow who has an expertise in economics. Two countries have made cryptocurrency legal tender: El Salvador and the Central African Republic. One reason crypto hasn’t caught on as legal tender for more countries, Singh told Christianity Today: “It was not designed to function as a legal, state-backed currency.”

The Trump administration is steering the United States in a pro-crypto direction. Crypto-related political action committees and other groups spent more than $200 million during the 2024 campaign for pro-crypto candidates. Trump earned crypto support after issuing a campaign promise to make the United States the “crypto capital of the planet.”

Once on record as a crypto skeptic, Trump was not amused when mainstream financial institutions like Deutsche Bank said they wouldn’t do business with him after the January 6 Capitol riot. Now, while Trump is known as a real estate mogul, some estimates place around 40 percent of his net worth in various crypto assets.

Trump has a personal digital meme coin, $TRUMP. Meme coin is more of a collector’s item than an actual currency. A particular meme coin has no inherent value other than its association, which could be with celebrities or public figures, including presidents. Earlier this month, Trump encouraged people to invest in $TRUMP for the chance of face time with him. The top 220 holders of the token will be invited to a private reception Thursday at Trump National Golf Club near Washington, DC.

The invite caused the value of $TRUMP to spike, giving the Trumps more than $1.3 million in fees alone, which are generated whenever someone buys or sells the meme coin. Others, seeing the bump, seized the opportunity to sell their holdings and rake in the cash.

Some who invested have openly said they bought it in hopes of influencing US policy if they do have Trump face time. For example, Javier Selgas, CEO of a cross-border transportation logistics firm, said he would buy $20 million worth of $TRUMP coins as a way to advocate for free trade between Mexico and the US in the midst of the trade war.

Trump’s crypto empire includes Trump Digital Trading Card non-fungible tokens, along with Donald and Melania Trump meme coins, a