Jack Dorsey, Jay Z to fund bitcoin development with new 500 BTC endowment

Twitter co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey says he and well-known rapper Jay-Z are giving 500 bitcoin to set a new endowment.

Dorsey wrote in a Tweet on Friday that the new endowment, called ₿trust, is set to fund bitcoin development with an initial focus on teams in Africa and India. The 500 BTC is worth over $23.5 million at bitcoin's current prices.

"It'll be set up as a blind irrevocable trust, taking zero direction from us. We need 3 board members to start," Dorsey said while adding a board member application form.

Dorsey is a known long-time supporter for bitcoin with "#bitcoin" as his Twitter profile. The new fund comes days after reports that Dorsey made a $1 million donation to U.S.-based crypto policy think tank Coin Center.

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Square Inc, which is also co-founded and chaired by Dorsey, purchased around 4,709 bitcoin in last October with an aggregated cost of $50 million. 

The firm also has an ongoing Square Crypto Grant program to fund development of bitcoin-related technology and design.

Over the past year, more than 10 companies, including crypto exchanges, tech startups and nonprofit organizations, launched similar programs. 

The Block reported at the time that these programs supported more than 25 developers and projects with an estimated $3.46 million. 

About Author

Wolfie joined The Block’s news team in 2020 and switched to the research side in 2021 to focus on crypto mining analysis. Prior to The Block, he had been a journalist at CoinDesk for three years. Wolfie has a background in financial journalism.