Built in the Field

A Brilliance Labs initiative that trains, equips, and funds missionaries through international Bitcoin grants, design labs, practitioner networks, and hands-on education. We began as a $50,000 research grant and have grown into a global community running design labs, a weekly practitioner call, and a grant program for missionaries in restricted-access regions. If you want to go deeper, we’d love to have you involved.

Design labs and training programs have been conducted in three strategic locations: El Zonte, El Salvador (2024 Design Lab, 24 participants), Naivasha, Kenya (2024 Design Lab, 21 participants), and India (Fall 2025 Design Lab, 25 leaders from over a dozen organizations).

Missionaries can apply through the Bitcoin Grant Nomination Form available on the Brilliance Labs website. Grants are designed to support missionaries working in creative-access regions where traditional funding channels are restricted, expensive, or subject to surveillance. Contact us at hello@brilliancelabs.org for more information about the application process.

A $50,000 research grant from Missio Nexus in 2023 sparked an innovation project to answer a single question: How might Bitcoin be used to advance the Great Commission? The human-centered design sprints in three countries with missions practitioners, Bitcoin technologists, and national leaders revealed far more potential than initially expected, and the project expanded into what is now a thriving global network.

Nate Scholz oversees the Bitcoin for Missions initiative at Brilliance Labs. He leads the global practitioner network, coordinates design labs, and guides the ongoing documentary project that captures the work in El Salvador, Kenya, and India.

Bitcoin enables missionaries to receive funding in regions where traditional banking is restricted, expensive, or subject to government surveillance and censorship. It bypasses the 5-15% transfer fees typical of remittance services, reduces dependency on centralized financial institutions, and provides direct peer-to-peer value transfer across borders without intermediaries or gatekeepers.