Bitcoin continues to be pushed as a currency.
Angela Lang/CNET
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 ₿trust to fund the development of Bitcoin. Dorsey said there will be an initial focus on Africa and India, and they’re looking for three board members. The two will give no 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
This news comes just days after both India and Nigeria announced the banning of cryptocurrencies, although the latter has seen a rise in the use of crypto in lieu of the country’s currency.
Bitcoin continues going up in price since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The cryptocurrency 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.