I thought about this, and I would approach it differently based on who my friend is. Are they a competent person, surrounded by other competent people, not shyi

I thought about this, and I would approach it differently based on who my friend is. Are they a competent person, surrounded by other competent people, not shying away consulting lawyers, and navigating difficult regulatory environment? You might still be right to be skeptical, but if they are have their bases (and backs) covered, even if it explodes under them, it will be mostly a story you laugh about few years down the line (and you will be able to be all "I told you!" ;) Or they actually pull it off :) On the other hand, "fraud prevention in charity money transactions" sounds to me a regulatory nightmare, regardless of enthusiasm for the underlying technology. So if your friend and their team don't sound ready for that, I would try to dissuade them, lest their enterprise is just a lawsuit in waiting (or a large fine). To be honest, the most successful enterprise (mostly because they actually didn't hodl bitcoin :P) in this space I know about, was a small consultancy, doing small proof-of-concept in our local startup ecosystem. As they say, in a gold-rush, money is in selling shovels?