
Audio By Carbonatix
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and musician Jay-Z have pledged 500 bitcoin (around $23.3 million) toward ₿trust, an endowment to fund bitcoin development, Dorsey announced on Twitter today.
The CEO said development will initially be focused on teams in Africa and India, but that he and Jay-Z plan to give “zero direction” to the plans.
₿trust is currently looking for three board members, with an application form noting its mission is to “make bitcoin the internet’s currency.”
Africa and India are two interesting markets in which to focus bitcoin development.
As TechCrunch notes, cryptocurrencies have grown increasingly popular throughout the African continent for making cross-border transactions cheaper, and in some cases being resistant to government control.
Nigeria is reportedly second only to the US in terms of the amount of bitcoin traded in the country in the last five years.
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. It‘ll be set up as a blind irrevocable trust, taking zero direction from us. We need 3 board members to start: https://t.co/L4mRBryMJe
— jack (@jack) February 12, 2021
Meanwhile, the Indian government is currently looking to ban private cryptocurrencies in the country, Bloomberg reports, while also investigating the creation of an official digital currency.
TechCrunch notes that cryptocurrency development in the country has been slow, despite its strengths in software development.
Dorsey has been a longtime supporter of cryptocurrency, and this has been reflected in the actions of his companies.
His payments platform company Square has accepted bitcoin as a form of payment since 2014 and announced it had purchased $50 million in bitcoin last year as an investment in cryptocurrency.
At the time, Square said it believed bitcoin could be the currency of the future and that cryptocurrency is an “instrument of economic empowerment.”
Earlier this week, Twitter’s chief financial officer said the company was looking into how it might pay its employees or vendors in bitcoin in the future.
₿trust is the second major bitcoin investment announced this week.
On Monday, Tesla said it had invested $1.5 billion in the cryptocurrency and was hoping to take it as a payment method in the near future.
Latest Stories
-
‘Abrogate the contract, refund deducted funds’ – Sulemana Braimah tells NASPA
20 minutes -
NASPA clarifies GH¢60 deduction, says fee was meant to be GH¢15 monthly
24 minutes -
Flux Power & Automation launches smart energy management system to help Ghanaian businesses cut electricity costs
27 minutes -
Consortium in talks to buy Liverpool minority stake
29 minutes -
NASPA suspends capacity building programme after concerns over allowance deductions
32 minutes -
Global drug threats emerging rapidly through technology – NACOC D-G
38 minutes -
Wontumi conviction: History has been made; political protection for illegal miners over – Inusah Fuseini
38 minutes -
No sirens or police escorts without approval, Speaker Bagbin tells MPs
41 minutes -
Challenging Heights selected for FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund to support child trafficking survivors
53 minutes -
Italy proposes 3,000 hectare mechanised cocoa farm as COCOBOD explores new partnership
54 minutes -
Adu Boahene trial: EOCO investigator says no complaint sparked GH¢49.1m probe
55 minutes -
Photos: Mahama meets global health leaders to discuss Africa’s health sovereignty
57 minutes -
President Mahama discusses health-related matters with top UN officials
58 minutes -
SABC apologises after falsely linking Ghana to Ebola outbreak
1 hour -
Ecobank, Mantrac Ghana partner to boost equipment financing for local businesses
1 hour