Jay-Z, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey create $24M fund to develop Bitcoin
The duo intends to make Bitcoin the internet's currency
Rapper-entrepreneur Jay-Z and Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter and Square, have joined forces to establish a new Bitcoin fund. It will be focused on developing the cryptocurrency’s adoption initially in Africa and India.
According to Dorsey, the duo intends to make Bitcoin “the internet’s currency,” and they are investing 500 Bitcoin, currently worth about $24 million, into the project.
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“JAY-Z/@S_C_ and I are giving 500 BTC to a new endowment named ₿trust to fund #Bitcoin development, initially focused on teams in Africa & India,” Dorsey tweeted on Thursday. He has previously said he supports Bitcoin “as a long-term path towards greater financial access for all.”
Dorsey said ₿trust will be established as a blind irrevocable trust, “taking zero direction from us.” Jay-Z and Dorsey are seeking three board members to oversee the fund.
Bitcoin is already in Dorsey’s portfolio. His other company, Square, bought 4,709 bitcoins in October 2020, equal to $50 million at the time.
The new Bitcoin fund set up by Jay-Z and Dorsey comes as India’s government is moving to ban Bitcoin and other private cryptocurrencies while its central bank is developing its own digital currency.
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Other corporations have recently invested in Bitcoin. Last week, Elon Musk’s company, Tesla, acquired $1.5 billion in Bitcoin, boosting its value, and the company announced that it would begin accepting the cryptocurrency as payment for its electric vehicles.
According to CNN, the news of Tesla’s large investment created a boost in confidence in cryptocurrency.
Mastercard also announced that it would begin supporting “select cryptocurrencies” on its network beginning this year.
“As more and more companies start accepting bitcoin, this will only lead to further increases in demand in a market which is limited in supply,” wrote Fawad Razaqzada, an analyst at ThinkMarkets, in a note to clients, CNN reports.
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