Jay Z and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey want to make Bitcoin the 'internet's currency'
They want to start development in Africa and India, where some cryptocurrencies have been banned.
Bitcoin continues to be pushed as a currency.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and rapper Jay-Z want to make Bitcoin the "internet's currency ." The two are putting their digital money where their mouths are by forming a blind trust to work on the mission.
Dorsey tweeted that he and Jay-Z gave 500 bitcoins, roughly worth $24 million as of Friday, to an endowment called Btrust to fund the development of Bitcoin. Dorsey said there will be an initial focus on Africa and India and that the project is looking for three board members. Dorsey and Jay-Z won't give any direction to the fund, just the mission to make Bitcoin the "internet's currency."
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
The news comes just days after both India and Nigeria announced the banning of cryptocurrencies, though Nigeria has seen a rise in the use of crypto in lieu of the country's currency.
Bitcoin continues to go up in price since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The cryptocurrency has increased by more than 800% since its low of just below $5,000 last March to its current value of approximately $47,500 as of Friday.