Digital Assets and Christian Stewardship

In a previous article on "The Ethics of Money," we established that money is not a morally neutral entity, but rather a tool subject to Biblical ethical standards that Christians must understand to exercise proper stewardship and avoid deception. Today, we face a new frontier in monetary technology: digital assets. These emerging forms of value storage and exchange present both unprecedented opportunities and significant dangers for the Christian steward. Just as our Lord warned us to be "wise as serpents and innocent as doves" (Matthew 10:16), we must approach digital assets with both discernment and integrity, applying the timeless principles of Scripture to these contemporary innovations.

The rise of digital assets—including cryptocurrencies, blockchain-based tokens, and other digital representations of value—has created a new landscape that many Christians find confusing and intimidating. Some dismiss these technologies entirely, while others embrace them without proper understanding or ethical consideration. Both approaches fail to honor our calling as faithful stewards. Instead, we must carefully examine digital assets through the lens of Biblical truth, applying the same ethical standards that Scripture establishes for all forms of money and wealth.

What Are Digital Assets?

Digital assets represent a fundamental shift in how value can be stored, transferred, and verified without relying on traditional financial institutions or government authorities. At their core, digital assets are digital representations of value that exist on distributed computer networks, secured by cryptographic technology. Unlike traditional money, which depends on the authority and trustworthiness of governments or banks, digital assets derive their value from mathematical algorithms, network consensus, and the trust of their users.

This technological innovation presents both promise and peril. On one hand, digital assets can potentially restore some of the properties that make money ethical according to Biblical standards—they can be designed with transparent, incorruptible protocols that carefully manage supply to preserve scarcity and prevent arbitrary manipulation, they can enable direct peer-to-peer transactions without intermediaries, and they can provide transparency through publicly verifiable ledgers. On the other hand, the digital asset space has also become a breeding ground for deceptive schemes that prey upon human greed and ignorance.

The Christian must therefore approach digital assets with careful discernment, understanding what we are dealing with, evaluating it according to Biblical principles, and making decisions that honor God and serve our neighbors rather than merely seeking personal gain.

Biblical Principles for Evaluating Digital Assets

Scripture provides clear principles for evaluating any form of money or wealth, and these principles apply directly to digital assets. First and foremost, we must remember that "the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils" (1 Timothy 6:10). This warning is particularly relevant in the digital asset space, where the allure of potential wealth has led many to abandon wisdom and prudence in pursuit of quick profits without proper understanding or evaluation.

The Biblical principle of just weights and measures, established in Deuteronomy 25:13-15, requires that our monetary systems be honest and consistent. God commands, "You shall not have in your bag two kinds of weights, a large and a small. You shall not have in your house two kinds of measures, a large and a small. A full and fair weight you shall have, a full and fair measure you shall have, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you." When applied to digital assets, this principle demands that we evaluate whether these new forms of money provide consistent, honest value storage and exchange, or whether they are subject to manipulation and deception.

It is important to recognize that some digital assets have indeed delivered extraordinary returns based on sound technical foundations and genuine innovation, leading to adoption. Bitcoin, for example, has provided remarkable returns over its history precisely because it introduced revolutionary monetary properties—a transparent, incorruptible protocol that carefully manages supply to preserve scarcity over time, decentralized operation resistant to single points of failure, and transparent operations verifiable by anyone. Like gold, which has served as sound money for millennia despite ongoing mining inflation, Bitcoin's protocol allows for predictable supply increases that gradually diminish and eventually approach zero, all governed by mathematical rules that cannot be arbitrarily changed. Such returns, when grounded in legitimate technological advancement and sound economic principles, are not inherently problematic from a Biblical perspective.

However, many digital assets fail the Biblical test of honest weights and measures. Projects that promise extraordinary returns without sound technical or economic foundations, that lack transparency in their operations, or that are designed primarily to enrich their creators at the expense of later investors violate Biblical principles. These are the "fool's gold" of our digital age—attractive on the surface but ultimately worthless and harmful to those who trust in them. The Christian steward must learn to distinguish between legitimate innovations and the countless deceptive schemes that masquerade as investments.

The Stewardship Imperative

Scripture calls Christians to be faithful stewards of the resources God has entrusted to us. The parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30 teaches us that we are accountable for how we manage what God has given us, and that faithful stewardship requires both wisdom and action. This stewardship responsibility extends to our understanding of monetary systems and emerging technologies that may affect our ability to preserve and grow the resources under our care.

In our current monetary system, where government-controlled currencies are subject to inflation and debasement, Christians face the challenge of preserving the value of their labor and savings, even unto future Godly generations. This is a Covenantal mindset. As we established in "The Ethics of Money," when the purchasing power of money is deliberately eroded through monetary expansion, those who have stored their wealth in that money are being robbed of the value of their past labor. This theft violates the Eighth Commandment and represents a form of systemic injustice that Christians should both understand and, where possible, protect themselves against.

Discerning Truth from Deception

The digital asset space is filled with what Scripture calls "empty words" and "empty deceit" (Ephesians 5:6, Colossians 2:8). Promoters of various digital asset projects often use sophisticated marketing techniques, celebrity endorsements, and promises of wealth to attract investors. Many of these projects are designed primarily to enrich their creators or venture capital investors rather than provide genuine value to users.

Scripture warns us to "test everything; hold fast what is good" (1 Thessalonians 5:21). When applied to digital assets, this means we must carefully examine the claims made by project promoters, understand the underlying technology and economics, and evaluate whether a particular asset serves genuine economic purposes or merely feeds speculative mania.

The wise Christian will ask comprehensive questions like these before investing in any digital asset:

Who controls this digital asset and how (that is, is it centrally controlled)?
Does it store value reliably or provide a key utility?
How does it generate value for users rather than merely for its creators?
Is the project transparent about its operations and risks?
Does it have a stable and liquid market of accessible trading pools?
Does the project have sound technical and financial foundations that justify confidence in its long-term viability?
Is there a reliable network effect and genuine utility that supports its value proposition?
Will my involvement contribute to human flourishing or merely feed speculative bubbles?

Christians must have the courage to reject schemes that lack sound foundations, even when they are popular or when friends and family are participating in them. We must also have the wisdom to recognize legitimate innovations that may serve God-honoring purposes, even when they challenge conventional thinking about money and finance.

The Call to Wisdom and Preparation

As we navigate this new technological landscape, Christians must commit themselves to education and understanding. Ignorance is not a virtue when it comes to stewardship responsibilities. Just as the wise virgins in Christ's parable prepared oil for their lamps (Matthew 25:1-13), we must prepare ourselves with knowledge and understanding to navigate the challenges and opportunities of our time.

This preparation involves understanding both the technical aspects of digital assets and the Biblical principles that should guide our evaluation of them. We must learn to distinguish between legitimate innovations that may serve God-honoring purposes and deceptive schemes that prey upon human greed and ignorance. We must also understand the broader economic and monetary context in which these technologies are emerging, including the problems with our current monetary system that digital assets claim to address.

Most importantly, we must remember that our ultimate security and hope rest not in any human monetary system, whether traditional or digital, but in God Himself. As Scripture reminds us, "As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy" (1 Timothy 6:17).

Conclusion: Faithful Stewardship in a Digital Age

Digital assets represent both opportunity and danger for the Christian steward. They offer potential solutions to some of the ethical problems inherent in our current monetary system, but they also present new avenues for deception and speculation that can lead the unwary into financial and spiritual harm.

Our response must be grounded in Biblical wisdom rather than fear or greed. The goal is not to avoid all risk or potential for significant returns, but to ensure that our decisions are based on sound understanding, Biblical principles, and genuine utility rather than mere speculation or the allure of easy wealth.

Whether dealing with traditional money or digital assets, our goal should not be merely to maximize our own wealth, but to honor God with the resources He has entrusted to us and to contribute to human flourishing rather than exploitation.

The digital asset revolution is not merely a technological phenomenon—it is a test of our faithfulness as stewards and our commitment to Biblical principles in an age of rapid change. May we meet this test with wisdom, discernment, and unwavering commitment to the truth of God's Word, for the advancement of His Kingdom.

This article builds upon the Biblical framework established in "The Ethics of Money" and applies those principles to contemporary digital asset technologies. For the complete foundation of these principles, readers are encouraged to study the original article alongside this application.

BY EVERY WORD FOUNDATION