Twitter co-founder and Block CEO Jack Dorsey just announced the official board members of his bitcoin development endowment in collaboration with Hip-Hop royalty Jay-Z.

As previously reported by AfroTech, Dorsey has expressed interest in the power of bitcoin and other forms of cryptocurrency. He will now put some action behind the talk of using the digital form of currency to leverage his business.

Jack Dorsey is following through on his commitment with Jay-Z to pledge 500 BTC to set up ₿trust, an endowment to fund bitcoin development focusing on teams based in Africa and India. 

When AfroTech first told you the news in February 2021, Dorsey mentioned needing three board members, but he’s now announced four. The team will take zero direction from Dorsey and Jay-Z when getting started.

The Members

Dorsey’s star-studded team includes a diverse bunch. According to the businessman, a team selected the following candidates from a pool of 7,000 applicants: Carla Kirk-Cohen, Abubakar Nur Khalil, Obi Nwosu, and Ojoma Ochai.

The individuals align with Dorsey’s mission to promote bitcoin development in Africa, as three out of the four members hail from Nigeria and have played a pivotal role in promoting cryptocurrency within the country. Now they will continue those efforts at a larger scale thanks to the Block platform.

“I’m so grateful for you all and so inspired,” Dorsey said via Twitter. “They’ll now work towards defining the operating principles as they think about how to best distribute the 500 bitcoin towards development efforts.”

Bitcoin MVP

As a long-time supporter of Bitcoin, Dorsey will now add the form of cryptocurrency to the balance sheet of his payments firm, Block.

Just last month, Dorsey stepped down from his role as CEO of Twitter, and now it all makes sense as he furthers Block’s stance on cryptocurrency. Earlier this month, the firm rebranded from Square to solidify its leap into crypto and currently has an ongoing grant program designed to fund the development of bitcoin technology.