Church Tokenizes Principal Place of Worship to Raise Funds for Purchase

The Colorado House of Prayer has announced the tokenization of its principal place of worship in a valiant attempt to raise funds to purchase the building.

The Colorado House of Prayer has announced its intention to tokenize its main place of worship in a bid to raise funds and purchase the building.

According to a report by Forbes, the church is keen on buying the 11,457-square-foot property, which it has been renting since 2022. The building, which is known as the “Old Stone Church” due to its design, is valued at $2.5 million, and the church has decided to use blockchain technology to raise the funds.

Lead pastor Blake Bush told Forbes that the decision to use blockchain technology came to him during a “spiritual experience” after days of deep introspection.

“I heard the Lord say, ‘tokenize the building,'” Bush said in the Forbes interview.

Tokenization involves converting a real-world asset into a digital token that can be stored or transferred on distributed ledgers. While tokenizing financial instruments such as stocks and bonds has gained mainstream acceptance, the tokenization of real estate appears to be on the rise.

To achieve the task of tokenization, the church launched its digital asset called Stone Coin on Polymesh’s permissible distributed ledger. Bush and the church enlisted the help of REtokens for the technical aspects, and the initial reactions have been largely positive.

The church has managed to raise nearly half of its financial goal, garnering close to $1.5 million from its parishioners alone. There are plans for the church to open up the token sale to non-parishioners in the future, but fears of a takeover by Satanists continue to trail the token expansion to outsiders.

However, Bush has downplayed the concerns of a Satanist takeover, saying that it will be an opportunity to introduce them to Jesus.

Apart from religious reasons, the church’s decision to tokenize the building is also driven by several economic benefits. For one, tokenization makes fractional ownership of property possible, allowing church members to own a piece of the property while improving the liquidity of the asset class.

Moreover, blockchain-based real estate transactions can be settled faster without intermediaries, and the technology supports 24/7 trading of tokenized assets. Tokenized real estate can allow the church to reach a global audience, although the difficulty of achieving regulatory compliance may hinder the plans.

Tokenization is the buzzword of the moment

According to analysts, the tokenization of real-world assets could reach a massive $15 trillion market by the end of 2030, thanks to a combination of positives and increasing interest from governments.

Both Japan and Israel have begun experimenting with real estate tokenization in controlled environments, eyeing the mainstream use of blockchain to enhance operations in the sector. Authorities in both countries say that the peer-to-peer nature of transactions eliminates the need for broker fees, lowers the entry barrier and enhances liquidity.

“By tokenizing these assets and using blockchain rails, real estate transactions can be nearly instantaneous and can occur directly between two parties anywhere in the world,” a statement from the Israel Land Authority (RAMI) reads.

Watch: Tokenized was built with blood, sweat and tears

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