The 500 BTC blind trust announced its board of directors. Back in February, Jack Dorsey and Jay-Z created the ₿trust with a clear mission; to “make bitcoin the internet’s currency.” The four individuals in charge of making that happen are now public knowledge. Three of them are from Nigeria, a country that prohibited banks to process Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies’ transactions. And is now one of the world’s leading P2P Bitcoin markets.
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Bitcoin’s price was roughly $47K on February 12th. That day, Dorsey announced the blind trust via Twitter, “Jay-Z 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.” It’s interesting that the blind trust uses Bitcoin as the unit of account. In the future, who knows how much those 500 BTC might be worth in fiat terms?
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
In any case, Dorsey’s call for board directors received more than 7000 applicants.
The Blind Trust ’s Board Members
In the Tweet announcing the winners, Dorsey said. “I’m so grateful for you all and so inspired. They’ll now work towards defining the operating principles as they think about how to best distribute the 500 bitcoin towards development efforts.” As promised, the four candidates will have full autonomy and decide the direction and scope of the trust.
Announcing the ₿trust board: @actuallyCarlaKC, @ihate1999, @obi, & @ojomaochai! I’m so grateful for you all and so inspired. 🧡⚡️🌍
They’ll now work towards defining the operating principles as they think about how to best distribute the 500 bitcoin towards development efforts. https://t.co/jwbr4qQUZ2 pic.twitter.com/1MszEPdGKL
— jack⚡️ (@jack) December 15, 2021
The blind trust’s board members are: Ojoma Ochai, Obi Nwosu, Abubakar Nur Khalil, and Carla Kirk-Cohen, the only South African of the bunch. By just casually looking at their Twitter feeds it becomes obvious that they’re all thoroughly dedicated to Bitcoin already. Here, Nwosu explains how the Nigeria ban actually helped promote Bitcoin. Ochai, a hard-core cultural promoter, recommended Spiral to her followers and hinted at her designation. Kirk-Cohen is helping to train the next generation of African Bitcoin developers, and so is Nur Khalil, who’s a Bitcoin Core contributor.
A lot of people think that Bitcoin will go to zero because “GovErNmeNtS will ban it” @obi explains why Bitcoin actually gets stronger 💪 when governments try to hinder its adoption. pic.twitter.com/hD97KMZxMx
— 37 sats (@ck_SNARKs) November 23, 2021
As for reactions, Kirk-Cohen is the only one that hasn’t said anything yet. Nur Khalil, who’s only 22, said. “Thank you so much Jack for the opportunity!! I am really honored to work with this great team! Let’s get to work on building the future of Bitcoin and launching Africa into the forefront of the monetary revolution!!!” For her part, Ochai said. “Really excited to get going! Thanks to you Jack, Jay and all who made this happen! Look forward to working with fellow board members…” Finally, Nwosu said. “Thanks Jack and the team. Super excited to be a part of this vision, organization, and mission… and to finally be able to talk about it!”
Really excited to get going! Thanks to you Jack, Jay and all who made this happen! Look forward to working with fellow board members… https://t.co/kNYBQ33Vqi
— Ojoma (@ojomaochai) December 15, 2021
Conclusions And Questions
The original call for board members for the blind trust said they were “initially focused on teams in Africa & India.” Does the fact that there are no Indians in the group mean that the ₿trust will focus on Africa only? The continent is huge and each country in there has its own idiosyncrasies and special characteristics. What will the board choose? And speaking of that, will the board have total independence? The original post said “taking zero direction from us,” but, 500 BTC is a huge sum of money.
BTC price chart on Bitbay | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com
In any case, this blind trust will be one of the most interesting experiments developing over the next few years. And you can count on NewsBTC to keep you posted and informed of any new development.
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The world will thank Jack Dorsey and Jay-Z for this one. As podcaster Matt Odell said replying to Jack’s announcement, “I do not think people are properly appreciating how huge of an impact this initiative can have.”
Featured Image: The board members from Dorsey's tweet | Charts by TradingView
