Jack Dorsey and Jay Z have created an endowment to fund bitcoin development initially in Africa and India, TechCrunch reported. Jack Dorsey is the CEO of Twitter and Square, and Jay-Z is a rapper. TechCrunch also reported that the two have pledged 500 bitcoin – which is around $23.3 million – toward ₿trust.
On February 11, 2021, @jack tweeted: “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 blind irrevocable trust, taking zero direction from us. We need 3 board members to start:”
There appears to be good reason to focus on teams in Africa. According to TechCrunch, Africa (especially Nigeria) has experienced a surge in cryptocurrency transactions recently. Cryptocurrency offered protection against currency devaluation and for value exchange during cross-border transactions. Bitcoin is also useful for situations where the government shut down bank accounts.
India, however, might pose a problem regarding Bitcoin. Bloomberg Quint reported that India has introduced a bill called The Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021, to the ongoing Budget session of Parliament.
It is possible that the 500 BTC in the irrevocable trust could help people in Africa (who are already using Bitcoin.) It might not work out so well in India if their government is ready to ban Bitcoin.
CNBC reported about the downside of Bitcoin. It has a carbon footprint comparable to that of New Zealand, producing 36.95 megatons of CO2 annually, according to Digiconomist’s Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index. It also consumes as much power as Chile. The Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption index says Bitcoin produces 110.53 TWh, which is more than the entire annual energy consumption of the Netherlands.
I think that Jack Dorsey and Jay-Z mean well and want to help people by making Bitcoin available to them. The environmental cost of bitcoin is too high. Perhaps Jack Dorsey and Jay-Z can invest in something that wouldn’t harm the planet as much as cryptocurrency mining does.