Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey has partnered with Jay Z on a new endowment to fund Bitcoin development starting in Africa and India.
Jack 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.
He said there will be an initial focus on Africa and India and that the project is looking for three board members.
It will be set up as a blind irrevocable trust, so neither Dorsey nor Jay Z can give any direction on how it’s run. Dorsey and Jay-Z won’t give any direction to the fund, just the mission to make Bitcoin the “internet’s currency.”
According to TechCrunch , cryptocurrencies have grown increasingly popular throughout the African continent for making cross-border transactions cheaper, and in some cases being resistant to government control.
Government in India has so far been reluctant to embrace bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Friday’s move comes as New Delhi is adamant on introducing a law that would ban private cryptocurrencies in the nation. It is also looking to create its own digital currency.
Africa, most especially Nigeria, on the other hand, has experienced an increase in cryptocurrency transactions in recent years. Last year, Nigerians traded more than $400 million worth of cryptocurrency on major local crypto exchanges, and the country is only second to the U.S. in terms of volume of bitcoin traded in the last five years.
Read also: CBN explains directive on cryptocurrency transactions
There have been growing concerns that the Nigerian government have intentions to regulate cryptocurrency in the country. Last week, those doubts were actualized as CBN gave a directive to banks and financial institutions from dealing in cryptocurrency or facilitating payments for cryptocurrency exchange platforms.