Twitter CEO and Co-Founder Jack Dorsey on Friday announced his ambitious plan to give BTC 500 (approximately Rs. 172 crores) along with American rapper Shawn Corey Carter, famously also known as Jay-Z , to launch a new endowment called Btrust. The endowment will be aimed at funding Bitcoin development to make it the online currency.
An executive stated that the endowment plans to initially focus in Africa and India. The latest move by Dorsey comes at a time when various tech giants have been initiating the usage of bitcoin as an online currency. It also comes at a time when the Indian government is looking for ways to ban all “private” cryptocurrencies.
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
It is seen that the interest to fund Bitcoin development emerges amid all-time growth of the cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency, at the current moment, is being traded at $48,000 , a surge it witnessed after Elon Musk put his weight behind the digital currency and invested $1.5 billion.
Dorsey, 44, took to twitter to announce the launch of his Bitcoin endowment Trust. He stated that “It’ll be set up as a blind irrevocable trust, taking zero direction from us,”
Alongside announcing the ambitious plans for the endowment, Dorsey noted that the endowment required three board members to start the new development. In addition , He also provided a link to a Google form for a board member application. The form also clearly mentioned that the mission of Btrust is to “make Bitcoin the Internet’s currency.
Dorsey has been one of the prominent technology executives, besides Musk, who ardently supports Bitcoin. Last month, he explained why he’s passionate about the cryptocurrency. he tweeted ” The reason I have so much passion for Bitcoin is largely because of the model it demonstrates: a foundational Internet technology that is not controlled or influenced by any single individual or entity,”. He further maintained that , “This is what the Internet wants to be, and over time, more of it will be.”
In October last year, it was reported that Dorsey’s payments company Square bought $50 million worth of Bitcoin to make the decentralized currency more accessible through its mobile payments service Cash App. Dorsey in 2018 passionately endorsed digital currency in a media interview and stated that he believed Bitcoin would once become the world’s single currency.
Like Elon Musk, who last week reported, that his company will start accepting bitcoin as a form of payment in the near future, Twitter is also reported to have Bitcoin payments in consideration for bringing a tipping feature.
At the same time, the Indian government is cautioning investors against investment in the contentious currency as the authorities plan a ban on all the private currencies in the country. A bill with a title “The Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021” to prohibit “all private” cryptocurrencies is in development.
On the contrary, the Indian authorities is exploring the possibility of issuing a digital version of the rupee. Therefore what future will the Indian government hold for the unregulated currency, is still a mystery.