Many people have speculated that a one-world currency is a sign of the end times and even the Mark of the Beast.
Is this something we should be on guard against as Christians or is it just another distraction and end times rabbit hole?
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There are lots of good reasons to be suspicious of crypto-currency; that it’s indicative of “the end times” shouldn’t be one of them.
If we were to collect all the many things which people have claimed to be the Mark of the Beast, or a sign of the end times, the list would be ridiculously long.
My two pennies? The Mark of the Beast should be understood within the larger biblical concept of marks/seals. In Deuteronomy God commands His Law to be a sign on the forehead and right hand of the Jewish people. In Ephesians St. Paul speaks of how we were sealed with the Holy Spirit when we believed the Gospel, since the time of the Acts baptism and chrismation (laying on of hands and applying oil) have been sacramental signs of this sealing with the Holy Spirit. In the Revelation itself we see that there is a group marked, sealed by God as belonging to Him.
The concept of a mark or seal indicates possession. In the Revelation there is a clear line drawn between those who belong to the Beast and those who belong to God. The Mark, therefore, is therefore almost certainly a way of talking about allegiance and loyalty to the Beast (and thus opposition to Christ).
In the context of the Revelation, talking not about “the end times” but about the circumstances facing the Church in the late 1st century, we see a clear line drawn between Roman imperial power, and God’s authority–to confess the lordship of Caesar or the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Which is why John sees the name of the Beast encoded with the number of six hundred and sixty-six, which is very likely a reference to Nero.
I think about this all the time. I think it is, at the very least, a sign that all the technology exists for Revelation to begin.