Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter, appoints three Nigerians to lead Bitcoin trust fund
In conjunction with Jay-Z, Twitter co-founder and Block CEO Jack Dorsey have revealed the board members of his bitcoin development endowment. He made the announcement in a statement on his official Twitter page. Dorsey made it known that three Nigerians and one South African have been selected to the board of his Bitcoin Trust (BTrust) fund, which will be used for development in Africa and India.
The two earlier declared their desire to donate 500 BTC to establish a trust, an endowment that will fund bitcoin development, with an emphasis on teams based in Africa and India, to begin with. Dorsey said he required three board members when he announced his intention for a blind trust in February.
The three Nigerians appointed are Abubakar Nur Khalil, Obi Nwosu, and Ojoma Ochai while the South African in the group is Carla Kirk-Cohen. All four have contributed in one way or the other to the development of bitcoin in Africa. The three Nigerians got the appointment despite the ban on cryptocurrency by the Nigerian government, in early 2021.
According to Dorsey, the four experts were chosen from a pool of 7000 applicants by a committee. “They’ll now work on establishing the operational principles while they consider how to effectively divide the 500 bitcoin to development projects,” Dorsey wrote in his tweet. Dorsey has long been a promoter of Bitcoin, incorporating it into the balance sheet of his payments company, Block. The company changed its name from Square to Coinbase earlier this month to signal a bigger push into cryptocurrency. Block also runs a grant program to support the advancement of bitcoin technology.
Khalil took to his Twitter page to thank Dorsey for the opportunity, stating that he is honoured to be a part of the team. “Thank you so much Jack for this opportunity to work with this great team. Let us get to work to build the future of Bitcoin and launch Africa to the front of this monetary revolution.” In appreciation of the appointment, Ochai expressed how happy she is to be a part of the Btrust team. She thanked Dorsey, Jay Z, and other people who made the dream a reality.
I am excited to get going. I thank you, Jack and Jay and all of you who made this happen. I look forward to working with fellow board members. To understand how big of a deal this appointment is, we will explain what a Btrust fund is.
Bitcoin is a completely virtual cryptocurrency that is used as a decentralized medium to exchange funds over a peer-to-peer blockchain network. The demand and supply in the market greatly impact its value, thus when there is an increase in demand on a global scale, the price invariably rises. The Bitcoin investment trust fund functions in the same way as other investment trust funds. A crypto trust fund, in general, is a publicly-traded financial institution that invests in financial assets on behalf of its shareholders.
Investing in BTC through investment trust funds is like buying a share of Bitcoin. As an investor, there won’t be a need to spend time learning about cryptocurrency or looking for a secure storage option. The trust funds are in charge of all areas of trade and money storage.
According to CNBC Bitcoin trusts allows investors to buy bitcoin exposure through brokerage or retirement accounts without the wallet, key, or storage issues that cryptocurrency exchanges have. Now let’s take a look at the 3 Nigerians who got Jack Dorsey’s eye and landed the appointment.
1. Abubakar Nur Khalil is a 22-year-old African Bitcoin Core Contributor, who is based in Kaduna state, Nigeria. He is the founder and CEO of Recursive Capitala, a company that invests in the development of Africa’s web 3.0 ecosystem. In addition to this, he is a researcher and web developer.
Khalil began his contributions in the Cryptocurrency space when he was 19 years old. He is also a younger brother to Khalil Nur Khalil, the Executive Secretary of Kaduna Investment Promotion Agency (KADIPA). In May of 2021, the Human Rights Foundation announced the latest batch of Bitcoin Development Fund grants, and Abubakar Nur Khalil received $50,000 in BTC for his work on Bitcoin wallet software.
2. Obi Nwosu is the CEO and co-founder of Coin floor, which is the UK’s oldest Bitcoin exchange. He’s spent more than two decades establishing online marketplaces and bringing virtual currencies to tens of millions of people. Obi’s aim and focus are to make learning about, investing in, and owning Bitcoin, the world’s best savings technology, as simple as possible. Obi was formerly the Founder and CEO of Supalocal, and also held top positions at ebookers.com and WeeWorld, where he oversaw the establishment of a virtual currency that is now utilized by 30 million people.
Nwosu’s Coinfloorr made history earlier this year when it became the first “Publicly Auditable” Bitcoin Exchange, thanks to a “proof of solvency” blockchain that is accessible to all of its users. Coinfloor is one of the largest Bitcoin to GBP exchanges in the world. It is registered as a Bureau de Change with Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs Department, even though the Exchange is not regulated by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority.
3. The only female appointed is Ojoma Ochai, and according to Unesco, she is the Director Programmes British Council and leads the council’s arts and creative economy programme in West Africa working with partners in the region and internationally to strengthen creative industries policy and practice through interventions including research, skills development, and advocacy. She also manages the education and society portfolio, which aims to strengthen the education sector and enhance outcomes in areas such as social justice, governance, and inclusiveness. Ojima is also a member of UNESCO’s Expert Facility on the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of Cultural Diversity. She worked as an Entertainment Specialist for a World Bank Growth and Employment project in Nigeria from 2014 to 2016, advising on cluster-based approaches for the film and music industries’ development.
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