Twitter chief Jack Dorsey  and rap mogul Jay-Z are teaming up to create a fund devoted to making bitcoin digital money “the internet’s currency”, the social media mogul announced.

Dorsey, who is also founder and chief of financial services and mobile payments firm Square, said in a tweet that he and Jay-Z are giving 500 bitcoin to fund an independent endowment called “Btrust.”

“It will be set up as a blind irrevocable trust, taking zero direction from us,” Dorsey said, adding that the fund would initially focus on bitcoin development teams in Africa and India.

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The amount of the cryptocurrency announced by Dorsey was worth about $24 million on Friday.

He said three board members were required to start the venture, adding a link to an online application that stated the mission is to “make bitcoin the internet’s currency.”

Launched in 2009, bitcoin has seen a humongous rise since March 2020, when it stood at $5,000, spurred by online payments giant PayPal’s announcement to allow account holders to use cryptocurrency.

Tesla this week announced a $1.5 billion investment in the digital money and plans to accept the cryptocurrency from customers buying its electric vehicles.

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The announcement came on the heels of a cheeky social media embrace of bitcoin by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who temporarily changed his Twitter bio to simply read “#bitcoin.” 

On Friday, Canada’s main securities regulator cleared the launch of the world’s first exchange-traded bitcoin fund, giving retail investors greater access to the booming cryptocurrency.

Skeptics say bitcoin is highly volatile and regulators warn it is vulnerable to illicit use.

Bitcoin rose to a new high of $48,930 on Friday after MasterCard and US bank BNY Mellon moved to make it easier for people to use the cryptocurrency.