Jack Dorsey, Jay Z to invest $23.6m in bitcoin development

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and rapper Jay Z created an endowment to fund bitcoin development in which they have already put 500 bitcoin worth $23.6m.

The endowment, which is called ₿trust, will initially fund development in Africa and India, Dorsey said Friday.

It will be set up as a blind irrevocable trust, Dorsey said, adding that the duo won’t be giving any direction to the team,

₿trust is looking to hire three board members. The mission of the fund is to “make bitcoin the internet’s currency,” a job description says.

The announcement came as the Indian government was getting closer to introducing a law that would ban private cryptocurrencies in the country.

Africa, most especially Nigeria, on the other hand, has experienced a surge in cryptocurrency transactions in recent years. Last year, Nigerians traded more than $500m worth of cryptocurrency on major local crypto exchanges.

Dorsey’s other business, Square, already supports bitcoin and last year acquired about $50m worth of bitcoin for its corporate treasury.