Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, rapper Jay-Z plan bitcoin development fund for India, Africa

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and rapper Shawn Corey Carter, popularly known as Jay-Z, are setting up ₿Trust, an endowment to fund bitcoin development initially in India and Africa.

In a tweet, Dorsey said the two are planning to give 500 BTC to a new endowment to fund the development of Bitcoin in India and Africa.

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

The fund will be a blind irrevocable trust, with zero direction from both of them. The duo is also looking for three board members for the fund. 

The development  comes at a time when Indian government is considering a ban on cryptocurrencies in India. Late January, a Lok Sabha bulletin mentioned Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) for a bill tabled in the ongoing parliament session. Titled “The Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021,” the proposal aims to ban all private cryptocurrencies, while setting the stage to roll out the legal framework for an "official digital currency".

Earlier this week, India-based cryptocurrency startups CoinDCX, WazirX, Unocoin, CoinSwitch Kuber, Zebpay and PocketBits signed up for an online petition to educate and build awareness amongst policy makers and the public about cryptocurrencies.

Dorsey has been a vocal advocate of bitcoin. Late last year, payments company Square, whose CEO is Dorsey,  bought $50 million in bitcoin. 

Twitter is already engaged in a tussle with the Indian government as the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has ordered the social networking company to ban over 1,000 accounts, allegedly linked to the ongoing farmer protests.