{"id":26187,"date":"2020-09-25T16:24:08","date_gmt":"2020-09-25T21:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=26187"},"modified":"2020-09-26T10:56:31","modified_gmt":"2020-09-26T15:56:31","slug":"is-it-advisable-to-be-involved-in-bitcoin-or-cryptocurrency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-advisable-to-be-involved-in-bitcoin-or-cryptocurrency\/","title":{"rendered":"Is it advisable to be involved in bitcoin or cryptocurrency?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t

Question:<\/h2>\n

Hi,<\/p>\n

Please I want to make an inquiry on bitcoin, cryptocurrency, and the like. As a Christian, is it advisable to be involved in these?<\/p>\n\t

Answer:<\/h2>\n

Cryptocurrencies are electronic funds. They do not represent anything in the real world, such as a stock of gold somewhere. They are not backed by a government. They have been popular among criminals since they are not stored in some banks and so are harder to trace. Investing in cryptocurrencies is not the same as investing in a company through a stock market. It is used in some legal companies because it allows faster transfer of money, especially internationally, without government regulations at extremely low cost. But that same lack of regulation is what makes cryptocurrencies popular among the unethical.<\/p>\n

Basically, the investment is done in hopes that the value of the currency will increase. Cryptocurrencies have been extremely volatile because there is nothing that it represents. Its value is only what people are willing at any given moment to pay for it. Robert R. Johnson, professor of finance at Creighton University notes that the value of cryptocurrencies relies on new investors to drive up the value. This sets up eventual failure as eventually, you run out of new investors [“7 Things to Know Before Investing in Cryptocurrency<\/a>“]. There is also the problem that new currencies are being created all the time, which waters down the value of anything currently existing.<\/p>\n

While cryptocurrencies might have uses in the exchange of funds, investing in these currencies becomes nothing more than gambling.<\/p>\n

“A simple definition of gambling would be, desiring the possession or possessions of another (the prize), the gambler creates a risk (that of losing his own possession) in an attempt through chance to gain the possession or possession of another\u00a0with nothing given in exchange<\/strong>. Gambling takes many forms: card games, dice, numbers, betting, slot machines, sports pools, punch boards, bingo (for money or prizes), raffle tickets, matching, and even pitching pennies.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The investor in cryptocurrencies is hoping others will drive up the price so that he can sell his currency at a higher price (which then lowers the price for others). But nothing is purchased, no business is invested in, etc. See\u00a0Gambling<\/a>\u00a0regarding why trying to get something for nothing is wrong.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\t

Response:<\/h2>\n

Thank you for your information am grateful<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Question: Hi, Please I want to make an inquiry on bitcoin, cryptocurrency, and the like. As a Christian, is it advisable to be involved in these? Answer: Cryptocurrencies are electronic funds. They do not represent anything in the real world, such as a stock of gold somewhere. They are not backed by a government. They…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[815,258],"class_list":["post-26187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-gambling","tag-money-management"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":47764,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-the-stock-market-considered-gambling\/","url_meta":{"origin":26187,"position":0},"title":"Is the stock market considered gambling?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 26, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is the stock market considered gambling because they are no guarantees and it involves a risk of loss? When one buys stock they do it in hopes of that stock going up and that could be considered covetousness, greed and not being content; otherwise, they could just put their\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":53382,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-investing-gambling\/","url_meta":{"origin":26187,"position":1},"title":"Is Investing Gambling?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 30, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"by Matthew W. Bassford From time to time, I'll hear people arguing that, morally speaking, investing in the stock market is the same thing as gambling. Usually, the argument is advanced by folks who think that gambling is fine and want to expose what they see as hypocrisy in those\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":52806,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-christians-be-involved-in-government\/","url_meta":{"origin":26187,"position":2},"title":"Can Christians be involved in government?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 29, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear sir, I trust this email finds you well. I'd like to ask a question. I've been trying to learn from the biblical point of view if a Christian can participate in politics. Do we have brothers and sisters in the faith who are actively participating in politics? Thanks,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":45770,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-god-hold-us-responsible-when-we-pay-taxes-to-a-government-that-uses-the-money-for-sinful-purposes-such-as-funding-abortions\/","url_meta":{"origin":26187,"position":3},"title":"Does God hold us responsible when we pay taxes to a government that uses the money for sinful purposes, such as funding abortions?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 18, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I live in a State where Medicare covers abortions. Since our taxes pay for Medicare, will God hold us responsible for this? We are told in the Bible to pay taxes, but as citizens, we don't have control over how the money is spent. Thank you for your reply.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10946,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-i-get-married-now\/","url_meta":{"origin":26187,"position":4},"title":"Should I get married now?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 5, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I'm 20 years old Ethiopian boy. My question is: is it advisable if I married right now? Answer: \"Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the bed be undefiled: but God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers\" (Hebrews 13:4). Since you are above the minimum\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1300,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-do-we-do-when-the-government-is-involved-in-our-child-rearing\/","url_meta":{"origin":26187,"position":5},"title":"What do we do when the government is involved in our child rearing?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 21, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What do we when outside government authorities are involved in our child raising? \u00a0 Answer: This becomes a difficult question to answer well because much depends on the reason the government has seen fit to interfere. 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