{"id":7075,"date":"2026-08-03T19:45:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T19:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learn.elca.org\/jle\/?p=7075"},"modified":"2026-08-05T15:49:39","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T15:49:39","slug":"cryptocurrencies-and-the-ethics-of-decentralized-finance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/learn.elca.org\/jle\/cryptocurrencies-and-the-ethics-of-decentralized-finance\/","title":{"rendered":"Cryptocurrencies and the Ethics of Decentralized Finance"},"content":{"rendered":"

[1] On October 31, 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto released a whitepaper describing the protocol for Bitcoin, a peer-to-peer electronic cash system.[1]<\/a> We do not know whether the founder of Bitcoin was aware that Protestants celebrate October 31st as Reformation Day, but the date is fitting, for, in the years that have followed, Bitcoin has initiated a new sort of reformation: a reformation of money and financial institutions. This essay seeks to introduce readers to cryptocurrencies and explore the ethical ramifications of decentralized finance, or \u201cDeFi,\u201d as it shifts corporate accountability, transparency, and stakeholder participation from traditional banks, corporations, and regulators to open protocols, public ledgers, and distributed participants.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Historical Context: The Trouble with Big Banks<\/strong><\/p>\n

[2] Bitcoin emerged in the context of the 2008 financial crisis. Subprime mortgages, packaged into complex securities, and excessive leverage led to a liquidity crisis among the big banks. Congress\u2019 Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) authorized up to $700 billion to stabilize the financial system, injecting capital into banks such as Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and JP Morgan Chase; the Federal Reserve lowered interest rates and purchased mortgage securities through quantitative easing. While government officials argued that such measures were necessary to prevent a complete collapse of the economy, many Americans criticized the bank bailouts for rewarding risky behavior and establishing a class of private, for-profit institutions that were too big to fail. Frustration with big banks was widespread, but few alternatives existed.<\/p>\n

[3] Cryptographers in the cypherpunk movement (which arose in response to concerns about privacy, surveillance, and the desire for individual control of technology) had been working on permissionless electronic cash systems for decades. But even platforms like DigiCash still required trusted third parties\u2014that is, banks\u2014to process electronic payments. The breakthrough came with Satoshi Nakamoto\u2019s Bitcoin whitepaper, published on a crypto mailing list on October 31, 2008, which proposed a solution to the problem of double-spending in a peer-to-peer network: Bitcoin would use a proof-of-work system to verify and broadcast a record of transactions among all nodes in the network, maintaining a distributed ledger. On January 3, 2009, Satoshi Nakamoto launched the Bitcoin network, \u201cmining\u201d the \u201cGenesis block\u201d of the Bitcoin blockchain. In it, he embedded a message, forever reminding users of the failure of big banks: \u201cThe Times 03\/Jan\/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks.\u201d<\/p>\n

[4] And thus Bitcoin initiated the possibility of decentralized finance. Most people ignored it for the first decade of its existence, but now even major financial institutions recognize that it is here to stay. The value of a single bitcoin has gone from essentially zero to its current price of around $60,000 USD;[2]<\/a> its use has grown from a handful of cypherpunks to an estimated more than 365 million users globally;[3]<\/a> and major financial firms now offer Bitcoin investment products.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Bitcoin: The First Cryptocurrency<\/strong><\/p>\n

[5] Initially, the concept of cryptocurrency can be challenging to wrap your mind around. We are used to physical cash issued by the government and a centralized institution (like a bank) that secures and manages it for us. Bitcoin is different. It meets all the formal requirements of money (it is durable, portable, divisible and aggregable, fungible, scarce, acceptable, and verifiable),[4]<\/a> but it is not something you can physically hold in your hands. The government doesn\u2019t issue it. It is not run by a company or corporation. It has no CEO or president. Instead, it is a secure, digital, open-source, peer-to-peer network (\u201cBitcoin\u201d with a capital B) that broadcasts a public ledger (the blockchain) through which users exchange value (using tokens that are called \u201cbitcoins\u201d with a lowercase b).<\/p>\n

[6] Here\u2019s a simplified explanation of the nuts and bolts of the protocol: users submit transactions to the network for approval and nodes (computers) compete to verify and record transactions in timestamped blocks on the network (the blockchain). Nodes must demonstrate \u201cproof-of-work\u201d by solving complex mathematical equations (thereby using real-world energy) in order to add blocks to the chain. The work\/energy required for \u201cmining\u201d blocks deters malicious agents from attacking the network[5]<\/a> and is incentivized by rewards of a set amount of bitcoins.[6]<\/a> The blockchain is publicly viewable, and anyone can become a miner, operating a node on the network.[7]<\/a> However, specific information about senders and receivers of transactions is cryptographically encrypted (hence, the nomenclature of \u201ccrypto\u201d currency).<\/p>\n

[7] The protocol governing the Bitcoin blockchain caps the total number of bitcoins (the tokens that can be exchanged on the Bitcoin network) that can ever exist at 21 million, so there is scarcity built into the system. Scarcity is not something we necessarily praise in other aspects of faithful living, but it is a key component of ensuring the value of money. If anyone could just print dollar bills at home, cash would have little value. A limited supply, however, tends to increase the value of an asset. Since the Bitcoin network is a decentralized system, changes to its protocol require a majority of nodes to adopt proposed changes rather than a top-down decision from government leaders or corporate executives, and users are unlikely to approve changes that would dilute the value of their existing holdings.[8]<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Currency or Commodity?<\/strong><\/p>\n

[8] Bitcoin was designed to be a payment network with its tokens usable as a currency. A single bitcoin is worth approximately $60,000 USD at present, but a bitcoin can be divided into one hundred million \u201csatoshis,\u201d making it possible to use bitcoin for ordinary, everyday purchases. While it still functions primarily as a digital commodity that people hold onto, there are now thousands of Bitcoin ATMs worldwide where people can exchange bitcoin for cash, Block, Inc. (formerly Square) allows merchants to accept payments in bitcoin, and the Lightning Network (a payment protocol built on the Bitcoin blockchain) enables faster and lower cost transactions.<\/p>\n

[9] Yet Bitcoin\u2019s price volatility makes its use in daily life challenging. Unlike the S&P 500, in which a daily swing of more than one percent is unusual, Bitcoin regularly experiences daily swings of greater than five percent. In fact, its value has fallen more than 50% since its all-time high in October of 2025. Financial analysts observe that recent losses track with previous four-year cycles and expect the market to recover after the mid-term elections, but such extreme price volatility makes financial planning challenging and encourages speculation. Most Bitcoiners try to \u201cstack sats\u201d (that is, satoshis, the smallest unit of a bitcoin) rather than spend them, viewing their holdings as an investment for the future and an ideological commitment to a form of sound money.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Inflation, Monetary Policy, and Financial Privilege<\/strong><\/p>\n

[10] In his book Check Your Financial Privilege<\/em>, human rights activist and Bitcoin advocate Alex Gladstein argues that Americans have \u201cfinancial privilege\u201d not merely because of the wealth they possess,[9]<\/a> but because we live in a liberal democracy (with property rights, free speech, and a functioning legal system) and have a relatively stable reserve currency in the U.S. dollar.[10]<\/a> \u00a0Inflation in the United States has averaged around 4% over the last five years,[11]<\/a> which is significantly less than many other nations, such as Venezuela, Zimbabwe, and Sudan, where devaluations of fiat currency vastly outpace occasional downturns in Bitcoin\u2019s value. In spite of Bitcoin\u2019s historical price volatility, on average Bitcoin has held its value more reliably than any fiat currency, including the U.S. dollar (which has been the default global reserve currency since the establishment of the Bretton Woods system in 1944).<\/p>\n

[11] Monetary policy involves decisions about the supply of money, as well as interest rates and credit conditions.[12]<\/a> With fiat currency, which is so called because more of it can be created by fiat<\/em> by a state\u2019s central bank, increases in the money supply often result in inflation, which has a disproportionate effect on the poor, accelerating wealth inequality.[13]<\/a> Bitcoin is different: its monetary policy is written into its code and cannot be manipulated by a central governing body like the Federal Reserve. With its cap of 21 million Bitcoins, it is intentionally deflationary, meaning that its fixed supply is designed to increase the value of its units of exchange (bitcoins) over time.<\/p>\n

[12] Farida Bemba Nabourema, a Togolese human rights activist, considers Bitcoin to be \u201cthe currency of decolonization.\u201d[14]<\/a> She writes,<\/p>\n

The current global financial system benefits wealthy nations at the expense of poorer ones, trapping developing countries in cycles of dollar-denominated debt and IMF-imposed austerity. Under exploitative loan conditions, nations deplete their resources to service debts, leaving little for domestic development\u2026 Bitcoin offers a sovereign monetary alternative, free from manipulation by predatory creditors and foreign institutions. Unlike fiat currencies tied to centralized policies, Bitcoin allows individuals and nations to store value independently, bypassing exploitative systems that erode wealth. If one holds Bitcoin properly, no bureaucrat or three-letter organization can decide to devalue their Bitcoin overnight, or quietly inflate away their savings.[15]<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Empowering Dissidents and Refugees<\/strong><\/p>\n

[13] Bitcoin allows users to \u201cself-custody\u201d their assets. This can prove invaluable for dissidents, refugees, and humanitarian organizations. You and I may think nothing of depositing our money in a bank, but for the 5.7 billion people (71% of the world\u2019s population) who live in autocracies,[16]<\/a> banks are not necessarily reliable or trustworthy institutions. Those who are critical of their country\u2019s government may have their bank accounts frozen or seized at any time. Cash, gold, stocks, and bonds are all stores of value that can be confiscated by authoritarian regimes at will.<\/p>\n

[14] With Bitcoin, however, users can store their holdings on a hardware wallet and only those who have the \u201ckeys\u201d (a twelve- or twenty-four-word seed phrase) can access it. This makes Bitcoin portable and censorship resistant. Immigrants and refugees can keep their savings in bitcoin and easily bring it with them across national boundaries. Pro-democracy organizations can collect and disperse funds without the government tracking their activity. Women in patriarchal societies where access to banks is restricted can earn and store their own money securely.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Energy Use and Environmental Impact<\/strong><\/p>\n

[15] But Bitcoin has an energy problem. Its \u201cproof of work\u201d method for mining blocks of verified transactions requires energy, and a lot of it. In 2017, Newsweek<\/em> published an article with the headline, \u201cBitcoin Mining on Track to Consume All of the World\u2019s Energy by 2020.\u201d[17]<\/a> The calculations behind this article were clearly faulty, but the concern was warranted, as bitcoin mining requires around 14.12GW of continuous power demand, or approximately 123.82 TWh per year.[18]<\/a> That\u2019s about 0.5% of total annual electricity consumption globally, more than the entire nation of Finland (which has a population of 5.5 million people). While many people consider this wasteful, for Bitcoiners it is the price they are willing to pay for a secure network.<\/p>\n

[16] Bitcoin\u2019s total<\/em> energy consumption, however, is not the whole story. The kind of electricity Bitcoin miners consume matters, and what would have happened to that energy without Bitcoin mining. Bitcoin mining is portable. Miners can set up shop anywhere. It is interruptible. Computers can switch on and off at any time, only using energy when there is low demand. Mining profit margins are slim, so there is a financial incentive to find cheap and stranded energy sources. Bitcoin miners have used energy from methane gas captured from landfills and abandoned coals mines, stranded natural gas at oil fields, and hydroelectric power in remote regions that would otherwise be curtailed or wasted. As a result, Bitcoin\u2019s share of total global carbon emissions is only about 0.13% (lower than its 0.5% share of total electricity consumption),[19]<\/a> with somewhere between 37% and 50% of its energy mix being zero-emissions.[20]<\/a><\/p>\n

[17] Environmentalists and Bitcoin activists Margot Paez and Tony Cross argue that Bitcoin mining could even potentially lead to overall reductions in carbon emissions due to its \u201cflexible, scalable, portable, location-agnostic, and price-sensitive\u201d consumption of electricity that stabilizes the grid and incentivizes the buildout of renewable energy infrastructure.[21]<\/a> The energy question is more complicated than it appears at first glance, and, ultimately, the ethical question is whether decentralized finance (or \u201cresistance money,\u201d as philosophers Andrew M. Bailey, Bradley Rettler, and Craig Warmke describe it) is worth the cost.[22]<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Other Cryptocurrencies<\/strong><\/p>\n

[18] Bitcoin is not the only cryptocurrency. It continues to dominate the market, but thousands of other cryptocurrencies (so-called \u201calt-coins\u201d) have been created with different protocols. Ethereum, for example, is a platform for smart contracts, decentralized applications, and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs).[23]<\/a> It uses \u201cproof-of-stake\u201d instead of \u201cproof-of-work\u201d to validate blocks and achieve consensus, meaning that users must stake a certain amount of ether (the native token\/asset of the network) in order to attest to the validity of blocks. Proof-of-stake systems thus give users with greater holdings more influence.[24]<\/a><\/p>\n

[19] Solana operates in a similar fashion and hosts numerous meme coins. Meme coins (e.g., Official Trump or Fartcoin) typically reference an internet meme or have some other humorous characteristic. Their long-term investment prospects are low, and they are characterized by high volatility and risk. Dogecoin (founded by Elon Musk) began as a meme-coin but is now used widely for tipping and donations online. Other widely used cryptocurrencies include Cardano, Polkadot, XRP Ledger, BNB Chain, Avalanche, and TRON.<\/p>\n

[20] Stablecoins are digital representations of existing fiat currencies; for example, the value of Tether and USD Coin are pegged 1:1 with the U.S. dollar. Some governments have contemplated the creation of digital money in the form of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), which would utilize private or permissioned blockchains, be controlled by central banks, and thus not be an instance of decentralized finance. The United States has banned the issuance of a CBDC until at least 2030, due to concerns about consumer privacy and government surveillance.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Decentralized Finance (DeFi)<\/strong><\/p>\n

[21] This essay has focused on Bitcoin, the original and most widely used cryptocurrency today, because its permissionless blockchain design initiated the possibility of decentralized finance (DeFi). As described above, Bitcoin has many positive use cases, but from an ethical perspective, its most significant impact is the way in which the decentralization it enables shifts the nature and locus of responsibility from centralized organizations and institutions (with clear and established roles and responsibilities) to individuals.<\/p>\n

[22] Not all cryptocurrencies are decentralized, and, in fact, most protocols involve a mixture of centralized and decentralized aspects. For example, a DeFi protocol might use a decentralized blockchain consensus mechanism but be run by a foundation that employees a team of developers. Many protocols use tokens that are controlled by early investors, and governance mechanisms regarding changes to the protocol or schedule of token issuance may vary. In some cases, however, power remains concentrated in the hands of a few, and decentralization is mere rhetoric that enables technocratic evasion.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Financial Risk: The Burden (and Privilege) of Responsibility<\/strong><\/p>\n

[23] Decentralization has many benefits. It democratizes participation and enables global cooperation. Users from around the world can participate in systems they do not own. Blockchain technology uses disparate nodes located all around the world to verify and record transactions that are viewable to all. Transparency is built into the protocol. Rules and regulations are public and affirmed through each user\u2019s participation in the network. In decentralized autonomous organizations, governance is distributed among users, token holders, developers, and liquidity providers instead of centralized in a corporate board, among executives, or shareholders.<\/p>\n

[24] This empowers individual users but also heightens their responsibility. There are few safeguards or guarantees in crypto markets. If a cryptocurrency crashes, no one will reimburse your investments. There are no market circuit breakers to halt trading in times of extreme volatility. There is no SIPC insurance. There is little government regulation regarding financial disclosure and reporting. Crypto influencers and exchanges do not have the same fiduciary obligations as financial advisors do to their clients, and there are few rules regarding custody, trading practices, conflicts of interest, and market manipulation. In the event of fraud, transactions are irreversible. Best practice dictates that users should not leave their holdings in exchanges but self-custody them on hard wallets. If they lose the \u201ckeys\u201d (a twelve- or twenty-four-word seed phrase) to their wallet, however, they lose access to any coins that were stored on the wallet. For all these reasons, education is crucial before investing.<\/p>\n

[25] Traditional centralized financial systems absorb these risks and protect vulnerable participants. A bank can help you if you forget your password, send money to the wrong person, or are a victim of fraudulent transactions. But it can also freeze your account at any time, confiscate your funds, or excessively leverage them to the point of institutional collapse.<\/p>\n

[26] DeFi not only shifts the responsibility for financial risk to individuals; it also intensifies their moral agency. Users are not pawns at the whim of algorithms and code; they are voluntary participants in consensus mechanisms who can opt out at any time to join other networks that better align with their values. The rhetoric of DeFi can appear radically individualistic at times but to function properly decentralized systems must be structurally supported and secured through communities (networks) that make decisions collectively (not hierarchically) regarding shared norms and values (mediated through protocols). DeFi thus has no qualms about placing trust in collectives; rather, what it seeks to avoid is placing trust in leaders<\/em> of collectives (e.g., corporate boards and executives), who have a sordid history of selective enforcement of rules and regulations.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n

[27] Bitcoin has initiated a reformation in money and financial institutions by introducing the possibility of decentralized finance and governance. Decentralization does not solve the ethical challenges of wealth inequality and injustice, but it creates new possibilities for resistance and community, rooted in transparency and moral agency.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System<\/em>, 2008, bitcoin.org\/bitcoin.pdf (accessed June 30, 2026). Satoshi Nakamoto is a pseudonym. No one knows who Satoshi Nakamoto truly is. After starting the Bitcoin network, he vanished from public life and has not been heard from since 2011.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> The price of bitcoin peaked at $126,000 USD in October of 2025. Historical price charts are available at \u201cBitcoin Price Chart,\u201d TradingView, 2025, www.tradingview.com (accessed June 30, 2026).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Estimating the number of users of any cryptocurrency is challenging given that transactions are tied to addresses rather than users, but Crypto.com estimates global users at approximately 365 million. \u201cCrypto Market Sizing 2025,\u201d Crypto.com, January 16, 2026, https:\/\/mkt-static.crypto.com\/%5Bcrypto.com%5D-crypto-market-sizing-2025.pdf (accessed June 30, 2026).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Bitcoin\u2019s acceptability is debated; however, global adoption continues to grow and there continues to be demand for its tokens.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Should a \u201cfork\u201d emerge in the blockchain, the valid chain is that which is recognized by a majority of nodes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> The reward for mining a block is currently 3.125 bitcoins; the protocol stipulates that the reward amount is cut in half every four years. Nodes can switch on and off whenever, so the difficulty of mining bocks is adjusted on a regular basis (approximately every two weeks) to maintain an average block time of 10 minutes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Anyone can become a miner; however, nowadays specialized computers with high processing power are necessary for mining to be profitable, and most miners join mining pools, which distribute rewards among participating miners on a more regular basis.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> The consolidation of individual miners into mining pools (where bitcoin rewards are distributed among participating miners) does not affect the decentralized nature of the Bitcoin network since pools coordinate rather than control miners\u2019 hash rate and miners can switch pools quickly and easily if the need should arise.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> According to the UBS Global Wealth Report, the median wealth (net worth) of an adult in the United States in 2022 was $107,739. That\u2019s more than 20 times the median wealth of an adult in South Africa ($5,141), Columbia ($4,450), or India ($3,755), and more than 300 times the median wealth of an adult in Sierra Leone ($329), the Central African Republic ($260), or Haiti ($207). \u201cTable 3-1: Wealth pattern within markets, 2022,\u201d A. Shorrocks et al., Global Wealth Databook 2023<\/em> (Credit Suisse Research Institute, 2023), https:\/\/bibbase.org\/f\/nKAPSyp34A9azBzJd\/Shorrocksetal2023.pdf (accessed June 30, 2026).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[10]<\/a> Alex Gladstein, Check Your Financial Privilege: Inside the Global Bitcoin Revolution<\/em> (Bitcoin Magazine Books, 2022), 3.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[11]<\/a> \u201cConsumer Price Index,\u201d U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2026, https:\/\/www.bls.gov\/cpi\/ (accessed June 30, 2026).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[12]<\/a> Monetary policy is distinct from fiscal policy (i.e., spending and taxation).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[13]<\/a> A report from the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity (FREOPP) found that in the United States, \u201cfrom 2004 to 2020, earners in the bottom decile experienced inflation that was 71 percentage points higher than for the top decile, on a compounded basis.\u201d Jackson Mejia and Jon Hartley, \u201cInflation\u2019s Compounding Impact on the Poor,\u201d FREOPP, April 25, 2022, https:\/\/freopp.org\/whitepapers\/inflations-compounding-impact-on-the-poor\/ (accessed June 30, 2026).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[14]<\/a> Gladstein, Check Your Financial Privilege<\/em>, 104.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[15]<\/a> Farida Nabourema, \u201cWhy the Left Can\u2019t Ignore Bitcoin: From Skepticism to Embracing a Tool for Change!,\u201d Medium, December 30, 2024, https:\/\/medium.com\/@faridabemba\/why-the-left-cant-ignore-bitcoin-from-skepticism-to-embracing-a-tool-for-change-1e8568d3c3fc (accessed June 30, 2026).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[16]<\/a> Marina Nord et al., \u201cDemocracy Report 2024: Democracy Winning and Losing at the Ballot\u201d (University of Gothenburg, Sweden: V-Dem Institute, March 2024), p. 13, www.v-dem.net\/documents\/43\/v-dem_dr2024_lowres.pdf (accessed June 30, 2026).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[17]<\/a> Cuthbertson, \u201cBitcoin Mining on Track to Consume All of the World\u2019s Energy by 2020,\u201d Newsweek, December 11, 2017, https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/bitcoin-mining-track-consume-worlds-energy-2020-744036 (accessed June 30, 2026).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[18]<\/a> Andrew M. Bailey et al., Resistance Money: A Philosophical Case for Bitcoin<\/em> (Routledge, 2024), 199.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[19]<\/a> Ibid., 214.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[20]<\/a> Ibid., 221.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[21]<\/a> Margot Paez and Troy Cross, How Bitcoin Mining\u2019s Flexibility Reduces Carbon Emissions: Present and Future Energy Impacts of AI and Bitcoin Mining<\/em> (Bitcoin Policy Institute, 2024), https:\/\/cdn.prod.website-files.com\/627aa615676bdd1d47ec97d4\/6851ca4714d1bc12b967d97e_AI%20and%20Bitcoin%20Mining.pdf (accessed June 30, 2026).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[22]<\/a> Bailey et al., Resistance Money<\/em>, 206.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[23]<\/a> \u201cEthereum Whitepaper,\u201d Ethereum.Org, June 25, 2026, https:\/\/ethereum.org\/en\/whitepaper\/ (accessed June 30, 2026).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[24]<\/a> Critics of proof-of-work systems, however, argue that mining concentrates power among those with capital, energy access, and hardware.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[1] On October 31, 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto released a whitepaper describing the protocol for Bitcoin, a peer-to-peer electronic cash system.[1] We do not know whether the founder of Bitcoin was aware that Protestants celebrate October 31st as Reformation Day, but the date is fitting, for, in the years that have followed, Bitcoin has initiated a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[157,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-corporate-responsibility","category-economics"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCryptocurrencies and the Ethics of Decentralized Finance - Journal of Lutheran Ethics<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/learn.elca.org\/jle\/cryptocurrencies-and-the-ethics-of-decentralized-finance\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cryptocurrencies and the Ethics of Decentralized Finance - 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