Renowned rapper Jay-Z wants to launch a fund to accelerate the spread of Bitcoin in India and Africa in particular.
This was announced by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, who revealed that he and Jay-Z will donate 500 BTC to the ₿trust to finance its development.
This is a donation worth around $24 million, which should allow the initiative to get off to a flying start.
Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Corey Carter, is a New York rapper born in 1969 who is also an entrepreneur, record producer and sports agent.
He holds the record as the rapper with the most Grammy Award wins (22), has been a producer for many famous singers, is president of the record labels Def Jam Recordings, Roc-A-Fella Records and Roc Nation, and owns the music streaming service Tidal.
He is married to Beyoncé, and according to Forbes is the second richest singer in the world.
Jay-Z has been involved with the crypto world since at least 2018, when he announced that one of his companies, Arrive Venture Capital, had invested in Robinhood. While it’s not known if the artist-entrepreneur owns BTC, the fact that he and Jack Dorsey decided to donate 500 BTC most likely means that he holds plenty.
₿trust will be a 500 BTC blind trust for the development and spread of Bitcoin in Africa and India, with the aim of funding developers working on BTC-related products there.
The mission statement is explicitly “to make bitcoin the internet’s currency”.
Three years ago, Dorsey called for Bitcoin to become the currency of the Internet, and he is very committed to such developments.
Africa is proving to be a fertile ground for the spread of BTC lately, especially in countries where the local currency is too weak and inflated.
The situation is more complicated in India, where the government is once again trying to block the spread of cryptocurrencies. However, these attempts have already failed once, and it is not implausible that they will fail again.
Jay-Z has been involved in various philanthropic activities since 2003, and has already donated several million dollars during his career to many charities.
