Religious values, not financial education — why choose Bitcoin

Patterns of use across various societies show that religious values frame Bitcoin’s role, while financial literacy remains a secondary factor.

Family and peer networks shape the first step into Bitcoin

Bitcoin has never been more visible in daily finance, yet most people still approach it without much knowledge of what they are buying. 

In the U.S., Gallup’s July 2025 survey found that 14% of adults own cryptocurrency. Familiarity remains shallow, with 60% saying they have “heard of it but don’t know much,” while only 35% report knowing “something” about it. 

Regulated markets such as the United Kingdom show similar patterns. The Financial Conduct Authority’s March 2025 consumer survey estimated ownership at 12% of adults. It also documented how conviction spreads. 

32% of users said they first heard about crypto from friends or family, and 20% said they were influenced by them when deciding to buy. Even among those who reported doing research, the sources often came from social channels rather than formal education.

The knowledge gap is visible across borders. An OECD study published in September 2025 assessed adults in 39 countries and reported an average digital financial literacy score of 53 out of 100, rising slightly to 55 among OECD members. 

Only 29% of adults globally, and 34% within the OECD, reached the minimum 70-point threshold required to be considered digitally literate in financial contexts.

Taken together, more often than not, the first step toward buying Bitcoin (BTC) comes through networks of family and friends, suggesting belief in the asset can pass through inherited trust or beliefs. The question then becomes, can religious value play any role in it?

Islam and financial permission

In Muslim societies, the adoption of Bitcoin has been shaped less by financial literacy scores than by centuries of jurisprudence that define what counts as legitimate money and trade.

Islamic finance is grounded in three principles. The first is riba, the prohibition of interest. The second is gharar, the prohibition of excessive uncertainty. The third is maisir, the ban on gambling.

These principles have guided Muslim engagement with financial instruments from medieval trade bills to modern sukuk bonds, which are asset-backed securities designed to provide returns without interest, and they continue to influence perceptions of Bitcoin.

When Bitcoin entered public awareness in the 2010s, clerical authorities applied these inherited filters.

Turkey’s Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) issued a warning in late 2017, stating that Bitcoin was “not compatible with Islam” because of its speculative nature, volatility, and lack of government oversight.

Egypt’s Dār al-Iftāʾ declared in 2018 that dealing in Bitcoin was haram, citing volatility, speculation, absence of state oversight, fraud, and potential for misuse.

In 2018, Pakistan’s State Bank instructed banks to avoid crypto transactions. Between 2021 and 2022, Indonesia’s top clerical body issued fatwas that declared crypto impermissible as currency.

In each case, these rulings set the conditions for how the public engaged with Bitcoin, yet Islamic finance has also shown the ability to adapt new instruments once compliant pathways are identified.

In 2019, Bahrain’s Central Bank licensed Rain, the region’s first Shariah-certified exchange. That approval, rooted in clerical certification, gave crypto legitimacy that grassroots use alone could not secure.

Pakistan shifted from prohibition to regulation in 2025 with its Virtual Assets Ordinance, which introduced a supervised licensing framework.

Demographic evidence reinforces this link. In the 2025 Chainalysis adoption index, five Muslim-majority countries appear in the top 20. Pakistan is ranked third, Indonesia seventh, Bangladesh thirteenth, Turkey fourteenth, and Yemen sixteenth.

If financial literacy were the key factor, adoption rates would diverge, since literacy scores in many of these countries remain among the lowest measured by the OECD. 

Instead, adoption aligns with demographic weight where religious authorities have certified compliant channels or where regulators have sanctioned use, and it lags in settings where prohibitions remain.

Patterns of use also reflect inherited religious priorities. In Pakistan and Indonesia, retail use centers on stablecoins for remittances and currency hedging, activities consistent with Islamic finance priorities that focus on avoiding speculation and meeting real economic needs.

In Turkey adoption rose sharply during episodes of lira volatility, reflecting a doctrinal focus on preserving value rather than chasing risky returns. Speculative DeFi trading, which is more common in Western contexts, remains less visible.

Taken together, when rulings describe Bitcoin as haram, uptake slows. When Shariah-compliant rails are certified, adoption expands.

Catholic traditions and communal money

Catholic-majority societies have a long history of linking faith, migration, and money. In medieval Europe the Church often acted as a financial institution. Monasteries lent grain to local communities, cathedrals collected tithes from parishioners, and parish charities redistributed wealth to the poor.

Over time, Catholic communities also became tied to migration and remittance flows. Southern Europe, Latin America, and Southeast Asia developed financial cultures where money was earned abroad and sent home through family and parish networks.

That inheritance, where money functions as a communal lifeline rather than an individual investment, continues to shape how these societies approach crypto and Bitcoin.

The Catholic population worldwide numbers about 1.4 billion. In the 2025 Chainalysis grassroots adoption index, four Catholic-majority countries appear in the top 20.

Brazil is ranked fifth, the Philippines ninth, Venezuela eighteenth, and Argentina twentieth. Together they account for 20% of the list, a share slightly higher than their portion of the global population.

The key feature lies not only in the level of participation but also in the style of use. Catholic-majority countries rely on crypto for remittances, inflation hedging, and everyday payments rather than speculative trading.

Brazil offers a standout example. Reports from the central bank in 2025 showed that about 90% of Brazilian crypto flows involved stablecoins, reflecting payments and transfers rather than leveraged bets.

Venezuela demonstrates the same logic under different conditions. Facing one of the world’s deepest inflationary spirals, the country saw nearly half of all retail transactions under $10,000 conducted with stablecoins between July 2023 and July 2024, according to Chainalysis.

Overall activity more than doubled during that period, with digital dollars used for rent, groceries, and school fees.

The Philippines, where overseas remittances equal about 9% of GDP, remains in the global top 10, with local exchanges reporting steady demand tied to remittance channels.

Argentina shows another variation, where stablecoins have become a parallel store of value during repeated currency crises, and analysts describe their role in daily commerce as routine.

The examples reveal that Catholic societies approach crypto as a tool of necessity. Stablecoins and Bitcoin function mainly for payments, savings, and protection against inflation, showing continuity with older financial habits.

Hindu and Buddhist inheritances

Hindu and Buddhist societies approach money through distinct historical inheritances, indicating that crypto adoption can be guided as much by cultural and religious context as by levels of financial literacy.

In Hindu-majority contexts, gold has long been treated as the ultimate store of value. Across centuries, it has carried religious significance in rituals, weddings, and household savings.

India alone holds an estimated 23,000 to 25,000 tonnes of gold, a quantity greater than the reserves of most central banks combined.

That inheritance conditions how Hindus view Bitcoin. It is perceived less as a speculative asset and more as digital gold, a parallel to a familiar store of wealth outside state control.

Restrictive policies introduced in 2022 included a 30% gains tax and a 1% transaction levy, yet India still ranked first in the 2025 Chainalysis grassroots adoption index.

OECD surveys consistently place India below advanced economies on financial education, so literacy levels cannot explain the rise.

Adoption is driven instead by cultural comfort with alternative stores of value. Bitcoin and stablecoins are absorbed into the same mental framework as physical gold, functioning as an intergenerational reserve against inflation, currency instability, and state policy.

Meanwhile, Buddhist-majority societies display a different inheritance. Buddhist traditions focus on adaptability, small-scale entrepreneurial activity, and collective trust within communities.

Historically, Buddhist economies relied more on village networks and resource sharing than on centralized finance. That orientation persists in the digital age.

Although Buddhists make up only about 4% of the global population, three Buddhist-majority countries rank in the 2025 top twenty adoption index.

Vietnam is placed fourth, Thailand seventeenth, and Japan nineteenth. The bloc is therefore represented at levels well above its demographic weight.

Chainalysis reports show that Vietnam and Thailand have strong retail adoption dominated by small-ticket transactions, peer-to-peer activity, and SME participation.

These practices mirror inherited Buddhist traditions of entrepreneurial flexibility and community trust that reduce barriers to experimenting with new financial tools.

Japan’s presence reflects a related but distinct cultural thread. The country combines high literacy levels with an inherited Buddhist emphasis on discipline, thrift, and collective resilience.

Crypto exchanges there became some of the earliest to face regulation after Mt. Gox collapsed. That framework created a system where cultural expectations of trust and order could be matched with a new technology.

Taken together, Hindu and Buddhist adoption also shows how faith inheritance shapes behavior, defining what money is, how it should be stored, and why communities are willing to trust Bitcoin and crypto as part of daily economic life.