Pay with Crypto Currencies (bitcoin, ethereum, etc)

[cris77]

According to the IRS cryptocurrency are consider assets and you should pay capital gain on appreciated assets.
I know that the church accept some donation in kind ( https://tech.lds.org/wiki/Donations_in_kind ).

Giving appreciated assets is a great way to get a tax break in the US.
This works well if you are in a high tax bracket, and even more if you are in a high state tax state.
It can "cost" little to gift money this way--for example only 20% of the total donation.

I was wondering when we could have a way to donate in Bitcoin or Ethereum.

[sbradshaw]

The Church does accept donations via Bitcoin. I'm not sure about Ethereum. If you send an email to donations@ldschurch.org they can help you with the process.

[cris77]

Good to know that they accept Bitcoins. I did not see any official communication about it.
Ethereum is another big player in the cryptocurrency space I hope they will be able to accept them too.

[jdye06]

Was curious if anyone got any more information on this or not? I reached out to donations but have not heard back yet. Hoping to get all the necessary info and donated before year end.

[sbradshaw]

Another email address you might try is LDS Philanthropies: ldsphilanthropies@ldschurch.org.

[jdye06]

Received an email back from donations@ldschurch.org:

Currently, bitcoin or Ethereum are not approved methods for making donations to the church so we are unable to accept it.

We appreciate your efforts in reaching out to us.

Thank You,
LDS Donations
US Headquarters

I will try ldsphilanthropies@ldschurch.org as well just in case. SBradshaw- did you actually go through the process or have an email stating they accept bitcoin in the past?

[sbradshaw]

SBradshaw- did you actually go through the process or have an email stating they accept bitcoin in the past?

About a year ago I was talking to someone who had gone through the process and was donating with Bitcoin (if I understood them correctly).

[jimmex50]

Another option is to use a Donor advised fund as a go-between. I know the one offered by Fidelity accepts Bitcoin

[johnshaw]

Or Speak to a financial advisor rather than some random non-experts on a message board

[pheonix32191]

As the new internet money technology, Bitcoin, and other cryptocurrencies, have been gaining adoption around the world, I feel it extremely important that the church at least learn somewhat how this technology works and perhaps acknowledge what they think about it to interested saints with any guidance or cautions. I feel this dirupting technology will change the financial world and fiat currencies in bigger ways than the internet did with information transfer.
Just a thought.
If they have already given information on the above please let me know.
Thanks.
-Spencer J. Gibson