Colorado church eyes tokenization to raise funds for $2.5 million chapel

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.

According to a Forbes report, the church is keen on purchasing the 11,457-square-foot property it has been renting since 2022. Dubbed the “Old Stone Church” for its design, the building is valued at $2.5 million, and the church has turned to blockchain technology to raise funds.

Lead pastor Blake Bush disclosed to Forbes that the decision to turn to blockchain was the result of a “spiritual experience” after days of deep introspection. “I heard the Lord say, ‘tokenize the building,'” said Bush in the Forbes interview.

Tokenization is the approach of converting a real-world asset into a digital token that can be stored or transferred on distributed ledgers. While tokenizing financial instruments like stocks and bonds has gained public acceptance, real estate tokenization appears to be on an upward trajectory.

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 leaned on REtokens for technical support, with initial reactions being largely positive.

The church has reached half of its financial goal, raising nearly $1.5 million from its parishioners alone. There are plans for the church to expand 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, claiming that it will be an opportunity to introduce them to Jesus.

Outside religious reasons, the church’s decision to tokenize the building is tied to 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.

Furthermore, blockchain-based real estate transactions can be settled faster without intermediaries, with the technology supporting 24/7 trading of tokenized assets. Tokenized real estate can allow the church to reach a global audience, but the difficulty of achieving regulatory compliance may dent the plans.

Tokenization is the rave of the moment

Analysts say that the tokenization of real-world assets could balloon to a $15 trillion market by the end of 2030, buoyed by a slew of positives and rising interests from governments.

Japan and Israel have both picked up the gauntlet in experimenting with real estate tokenization in controlled environments, eyeing the mainstream use of blockchain to improve operations in the sector. Authorities in both countries say that the peer-to-peer nature of transactions eliminates the requirement of broker fees, lowering the entry barrier and enhancing 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,” read a statement from the Israel Land Authority (RAMI).

Watch: Tokenized was built with blood, sweat and tears