Bitcoin for Missions Built in the Field
In 2023 Missio Nexus gave us a $50,000 grant to answer one question: how might Bitcoin help advance the Great Commission? We ran design labs with missionaries in El Salvador, Kenya, and India. Out of them came a network of missionaries and finance leaders who meet every Friday at 9 a.m. Pacific to use Bitcoin in the field.
The Origin
How Bitcoin for
Missions Started
In 2023, Missio Nexus awarded Brilliance Labs a $50,000 innovation grant to answer one question: how might Bitcoin be used to advance the Great Commission? We ran human-centered design sprints in three countries with missions practitioners, Bitcoin technologists, and national leaders. We found more than we expected, and the project kept going after the research ended.
Design Labs
Where
We’ve Been
November 2023
El Salvador
24 participants at Bitcoin Beach in El Zonte. Missions practitioners from Central and South America joined technologists for a five-day design sprint. Three prototypes launched, including a Bitcoin savings model for sending bases and a circular economy for rural Guatemala.
March 2024
Kenya
21 participants in Naivasha. Practitioners from Nigeria, Sudan, and the U.S. worked alongside Kenyan technologists. They toured Gridless Compute’s Bitcoin mining operations, then built prototypes for village-scale infrastructure and financial education.
November 2025
India
25 leaders from over a dozen organizations. In a context marked by strict financial regulations and high levels of persecution, our team applied the design process to find Bitcoin-based solutions to the funding challenges unique to India’s missions landscape.
A documentary about the design labs is in production.
The Network
Join the
Network
Bitcoin for Missions started as a research project and became a network of missionaries, finance directors, technologists, and national partners. We share one goal, the Great Commission, and we think Bitcoin can help with the money problems that have slowed it down for decades.
Weekly Call
A standing meeting for practitioners, every Friday at 9 a.m. Pacific. Part group coaching, part problem-solving, part field updates. People come when they have questions or want to connect. We keep it small on purpose.
Private Channels
Our communication happens through invite-only channels where practitioners share freely, ask questions in real time, and support each other between calls.
Write to us at hello@brilliancelabs.org. Tell us where you serve and what you’re trying to solve.
Updates & Resources
From
the Field
Bitcoin for Good: Orange-Pilling NGO’s and Charities
Ahshuwah Hawthorne co-presented this masterclass at the Plan B Forum in Lugano on helping charities and NGOs understand Bitcoin.
Watch Bitcoin for Good →Bitcoin Solves Real World Problems
In this plenary session from the 2024 Thank God for Bitcoin Conference, Ahshuwah Hawthorne explores how Bitcoin addresses real-world financial challenges facing missionaries and nonprofits.
Watch Bitcoin Solves Real World Problems →Podcast: How Bitcoin Solves Financial Challenges for Missionaries
Nate Scholz and Ahshuwah Hawthorne sat down with Jordan Bush to talk about how Bitcoin helps missionaries with money problems in developing countries.
Watch the podcast with Jordan Bush →How Bitcoin Transforms Funding for Global Missions
Ahshuwah Hawthorne on how Bitcoin changes funding for global missions: fewer barriers, lower costs, and direct support for workers in the field.
Watch the podcast with Ahshuwah Hawthorne →Bitcoin and 21st Century Villages
A panel with Ahshuwah Hawthorne, Mike Peterson, and Eric Hersman on what Bitcoin could mean for 21st-century villages and community-driven development.
Watch Bitcoin and 21st Century Villages →Inside the First Annual Bitcoin for Ministry Summit
On April 8, 2026, Brilliance Labs hosted the first Bitcoin for Ministry Summit in Arlington, Texas. Our research intern Jacob Evans wrote up what happened.
Read the Summit recap →Bitcoin Is Bridging Barriers in Global Missions
Nate Scholz’s article on how Bitcoin helps money reach missionaries, as published in Mission Frontiers (Frontier Ventures) in September 2025.
Read in Mission Frontiers (opens in a new tab) →India: Exploring Bitcoin Applications Through Human-Centered Design
A report from the Brilliance Labs India event in November 2025, where 25 leaders gathered to find Bitcoin-based solutions to the unique funding challenges of India’s missions landscape.
Read the India design lab report →Bitcoin for Missions
White Paper
Brilliance Labs • Revised Jul 2024
Read the
Research
Our published findings on how Bitcoin can help with the money problems missions organizations face: cross-border payments, government surveillance, currency devaluation, and fundraising. It includes the design lab method, field research, and prototype case studies from El Salvador, Kenya, and India.
Open the White Paper (PDF) → Opens in a new tab.Questions
Frequently
Asked
What Bitcoin for Missions is, where the design labs happened, and how to get involved.
What is Bitcoin for Missions?
Bitcoin for Missions is a Brilliance Labs initiative that trains and equips missionaries to use Bitcoin, through design labs, a practitioner network, and hands-on education. It began in 2023 with a $50,000 research grant from Missio Nexus. Today it runs a weekly practitioner call, every Friday at 9 a.m. Pacific, and publishes research such as the Bitcoin for Missions white paper. To get involved, email hello@brilliancelabs.org.
Where has Bitcoin for Missions operated?
We have run design labs in three places: El Zonte, El Salvador (November 2023, 24 participants), Naivasha, Kenya (March 2024, 21 participants), and India (November 2025, 25 leaders from more than a dozen organizations).
How can missionaries receive Bitcoin grants?
We don’t take applications for Bitcoin grants. Our granting to missionaries and international partners is private and by invitation only, mostly for work in creative-access regions where regular funding channels are restricted, expensive, or watched. If you’d like us to know your work, email hello@brilliancelabs.org to introduce it.
What started Bitcoin for Missions?
A $50,000 research grant from Missio Nexus in 2023. The question was: how might Bitcoin be used to advance the Great Commission? We ran human-centered design sprints in three countries with missions practitioners, Bitcoin technologists, and national leaders. They showed more promise than we expected, and the project grew into the network that meets today.
Who leads Bitcoin for Missions?
The Brilliance Labs team leads Bitcoin for Missions. We run the practitioner network, coordinate the design labs, and are producing the documentary about the work in El Salvador, Kenya, and India. Nate Scholz, our former Global Programs Director, wrote the white paper and helped build the design labs before he retired in 2026. Questions go to hello@brilliancelabs.org.
How is Bitcoin used in missions?
Bitcoin lets missionaries receive funds in places where banking is restricted, expensive, or watched by the government. It avoids the 5 to 15% fees common in the hardest remittance corridors, depends less on banks, and moves value person to person across borders. For step-by-step detail, read our guides on how to send Bitcoin to missionaries and crypto for cross-border missions funding. If your agency wants help setting this up, see Frontier Finance Consulting.
What the Missio Nexus Grant Produced
Design labs in three countries, nine prototypes, and a network of practitioners that is still growing. Join the network, bring us in to consult, or give to keep the work going.