An evangelical church in Switzerland announced that it will accept Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as viable offerings, despite concerns over the currency’s volatile value.
A spokesman for the International Christian Fellowship church in Zurich, one of Switzerland’s largest churches, said the church is convinced that cryptocurrency technology will soon become a part of everyday life and is keen to integrate use of that technology now, according to Newsweek. The church is following a trend set by the Swiss government, which has welcomed the integration of cryptocurrency technology in its banks and payments for government services.
“Digital currencies and the blockchain technology will change our daily lives more and more in the next years,” Nicolas Legler, the church’s spokesman, told Swiss media. “Cryptocurrencies will be implemented, be it bitcoin or other currencies controlled by the State. We are convinced that this technology will soon belong to our daily lives.”
Cryptocurrency values have fluctuated wildly in recent months and the technology has garnered its fair share of controversy, with criminals using bitcoin to fund terrorist activities and cases of cryptocurrency lending platforms setting up Ponzi schemes. But the Swiss government, and most recently Swiss churches, have gone full steam ahead in welcoming and promoting the use of cryptocurrencies in a variety of ways, and with the current value of bitcoin sitting at roughly $12,000 per unit, they are confident their investments will serve them well.
Ethereum, a non-profit that created the second most valuable cryptocurrency known as ether, is incorporated in Switzerland. The Swiss city of Zug implemented a program in which citizens could pay for government services with bitcoin. The Chinese bitcoin mining company Bitmain Technologies also announced that it will soon base its new Swiss branch in the city of Zug.
ICF church also said that in addition to bitcoin, the church will accept other cryptocurrencies like bitcash and ether, making it a generally cryptocurrency friendly institution.
The government of Switzerland and Swiss churches’ stance toward cryptocurrency have become the mirror opposite of countries like Egypt where the government has threatened to prosecute anyone who promotes cryptocurrencies and Islamic leaders have declared cryptocurrency to be haram.
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