American church tokenizes chapel to fund $2.5M purchase

Forget the old ways of church fundraisers. Fort Collins’ oldest church, the Old Stone Church, is doing it with crypto now. Led by Pastor Blake Bush, this is about to be the first tokenized church in the U.S., with a $2.5 million fundraising goal. 

But don’t expect salvation with these tokens; they’re directed solely at buying this 19th-century stone chapel, which has been a spiritual hub for the community for years.

Are you there God? It’s me, crypto

In 2022, Bush got hooked on cryptocurrency after a friend introduced him to XRP, and he soaked up everything he could about the technology and the ongoing legal battle between Ripple and the SEC. 

By February, Bush had an epiphany—he needed to tokenize the Old Stone Church. He says, “I heard the Lord say, ‘tokenize the building.’”

Enter Tyler Vinson, the founder of REtokens, whose company had already dabbled in tokenizing assets, though not without controversy. 

Their previous attempt, a $2.25 million preferred stock offering, raised eyebrows for its high corporate costs and questionable returns. But Vinson was eager to take on the challenge of tokenizing the Old Stone Church.

REtokens and a Swiss blockchain operator, Polymesh, announced in May 2024 that they would jointly tokenize $30 million in real estate. The Old Stone Church is part of this ambitious plan. 

The first phase of the tokenization targets accredited investors, requiring a minimum investment of $50,000. The goal is to raise $2.5 million in the first year to buy the 11,457-square-foot building. 

Interestingly, the church’s current owner is one of Bush’s parishioners, Warren Yoder, who bought the building in 2022 for $2.2 million.

For those not rolling in cash, the plan is to eventually make these tokens available on a secondary market. Non-accredited investors, likely the church’s own congregation, will be able to buy in at $500 per token, with a minimum investment of $1,500. 

These tokens are expected to trade indefinitely, or as the initiative’s website puts it, “until Jesus returns or the majority of investors and the board decide to sell.”

A few locals have already joined the board overseeing this project, including the mayor of Severance, Colorado.

Bush was asked what would happen if, for example, a Satanist bought up the majority of tokens. His response ? “I’d be like ‘great, thank you, let’s introduce you to Jesus.’”