Texas: the University of Austin raises funds to be a holder of $5 million in Bitcoin

In Texas, the crypto company Unchained and the University of Austin (UATX) have formed a partnership for a fundraising of a whopping 5 million dollars in Bitcoin. UATX commits to being the holder of the BTC fund, keeping them for at least five years. 

Texas: l’UATX e Unchained raccolgono fondi per una dotazione a lungo termine di Bitcoin

In Texas, the crypto company Unchained together with the University of Austin (UATX) want to raise 5 million dollars in BTC to create a long-term endowment fund in Bitcoin. 

“We are excited to collaborate with @unchainedcom and we look forward to seeing what the future holds for us! 

In an innovative partnership, Unchained and the University of Austin @uaustinorg are launching the first long-term endowment fund in #bitcoin.”

In practice, the initiative will see UATX commit to preserving the BTC fund for at least five years. On the other hand, the 5 million dollars to be raised for the endowment fund will be securely stored and managed by Unchained. 

Unchained is a major financial services provider Bitcoin, specializing in multisig Bitcoin vaults. Founded in 2016, Unchained currently manages over 6 billion dollars in Bitcoin, helping thousands of individuals and businesses hold their own Bitcoin keys through its collaborative custody model.

Texas: the long-term endowment fund of $5 million in Bitcoin for the UATX

The mission of this collaboration is to successfully raise the significant amount of $5 million in BTC. 

On this subject, Joseph Kelly, CEO and co-founder of Unchained, has already intervened, personally donating 2 BTC to kick off this campaign. Here is how Kelly commented on his intervention on X: 

“I am very proud to contribute to this initiative with @uaustinorg. The world needs more great founders and we are excited to unite our communities to build something new!”

Incorporating bitcoin into its endowment, UATX is setting a precedent for other academic institutions to explore alternative and potentially more resilient financial models.

Not surprisingly, UATX seems to be known for its commitment to freedom of speech and integration with the market, which makes this partnership natural for its long-term vision

In any case, the Unchained and UATX partnership in Texas also aims to unite the University with the broader Bitcoin community, collaborating on planned initiatives such as joint marketing campaigns, events, conferences with guests, and debates.

The American state leading BTC mining

Already last September 2023, Texas became famous for being the American State leader in Bitcoin mining, with 28% of the entire hashrate owned by the USA.

In itself, currently, the USA is the leading country in the world of mining after China decided to ban the activity in the country in 2021. Specifically, the USA is attributed with 38% of the global hashrate. 

It must be said, however, that at the beginning of 2024, the Bitcoin hashrate metric suffered a sharp downward contraction, precisely due to the reduction of mining activities in Texas because of the unusual cold the country was experiencing.

Not by chance, at that moment, precisely the ERCOT, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, had asked the big miners like FoundryUSA, Luxor Mining Pool, and Marathon Digital to decrease the amount of electricity used. At that moment, the hashrate of Texas for Bitcoin mining therefore dropped by 25%.