London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 30, 2025

Jack Dorsey and Jay Z announce bitcoin fund as cryptocurrency goes mainstream

Jack Dorsey and Jay Z announce bitcoin fund as cryptocurrency goes mainstream

Bitcoin's big week got bigger with an announcement from rapper Jay Z and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey that the pair are establishing a bitcoin development fund.

Dorsey tweeted the news Friday, writing that they are taking applications for a "blind irrevocable trust" focused on Africa and India. He promises the fund will have "zero direction" from himself and Jay Z and that the partners are searching for three board members. Dorsey and Jay Z are investing 500 bitcoin into the project, currently worth roughly $23 million.

Bitcoin is already in Dorsey's portfolio. His other company, Square, bought 4,709 bitcoins in October 2020, equal to $50 million at the time. In 2018, the company expanded its mobile payment service Cash App to support bitcoin trading, even for users without a bank account. And in 2019 it launched Square Crypto, which awards grants to bitcoin developers and designers.

Also this week, a Twitter executive said in an interview that the company is reviewing other new uses of the digital currency, including employee pay.
Here's what else happened in bitcoin this week:

Tesla's big bet


The most valuable car company on the stock market, Tesla (TSLA), announced on Monday that it is holding some of its cash in bitcoin rather than traditional currency and might soon accept the cryptocurrency as payment for its cars.

In its annual filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Tesla said that it expects "to begin accepting bitcoin as a form of payment for our products in the near future ... which we may or may not liquidate upon receipt."

That news followed the revelation that the automaker is holding $1.5 billion in bitcoin on its balance sheet as part of a move to "invest a portion of [the company's] cash in certain specified alternative reserve assets." Tesla lists $19 billion in cash and cash equivalents on its balance sheet as of December 31.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has lately been signaling interest in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. In a December 20 tweet, he said that "Bitcoin is almost as bs as fiat money," suggesting his belief that it is perhaps less "bs" than traditional government-backed currencies.

Mastercard jumps in


The credit card company is bringing bitcoin to the checkout counter, announcing Wednesday that it will support "select cryptocurrencies" directly on its network at some point later this year.

Although Mastercard (MA) was short on specifics, the company said the process might work something like this: When a customer wants to buy an item with bitcoin, Mastercard's crypto partners will convert the digital currency into traditional currency and transmit the funds over Mastercard's network.

This change "will allow many more merchants to accept crypto" as well as "cut out inefficiencies, letting both consumers and merchants avoid having to convert back and forth between crypto and traditional [currency] to make purchases," Mastercard said.

Bitcoin comes to America's oldest bank


BNY Mellon -- America's oldest bank -- which dates back to Alexander Hamilton's founding of the Bank of New York in 1784 -- announced Thursday it formed a "digital assets" unit. It will begin helping clients address needs related to the growth of digital assets, including cryptocurrencies, at an unspecified date later this year.

Client demand and clearer regulation "present a tremendous opportunity for us to extend our current service offerings to this emerging field," said Roman Regelman, Mellon's CEO of asset servicing.

Bitcoin is becoming an "alternative asset"


Following the news of Tesla's large investment, the cryptocurrency saw a boost in confidence.

"As more and more companies start accepting bitcoin, this will only lead to further increases in demand in a market which is limited in supply," wrote Fawad Razaqzada, analyst at ThinkMarkets, in a note to clients.

"Bitcoin is becoming an alternative asset," said Brad Bechtel, global head of FX at Jefferies. "It's not correlated to anything else in the market." And that makes it an attractive asset to add to a portfolio, he added.

That's pretty bullish for the long-term bitcoin outlook, even as some, notably Bank of America, have called the crypto rally "the mother of all bubbles."

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
UK and Vietnam Sign Landmark Migration Deal to Fast-Track Returns of Irregular Arrivals
UK Drug-Pricing Overhaul Essential for Life-Sciences Ambition, Says GSK Chief
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie Temporarily Leave the UK Amid Their Parents’ Royal Fallout
UK Weighs Early End to Oil and Gas Windfall Tax as Reeves Seeks Investment Commitments
UK Retail Inflation Slows as Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since Spring
Next Raises Full-Year Profit Guidance After Strong Third-Quarter Performance
Reform UK’s Lee Anderson Admits to 'Gaming' Benefits System While Advocating Crackdown
United States and South Korea Conclude Major Trade Accord Worth $350 Billion
Hurricane Melissa Strikes Cuba After Devastating Jamaica With Record Winds
Vice President Vance to Headline Turning Point USA Campus Event at Ole Miss
U.S. Targets Maritime Narco-Routes While Border Pressure to Mexico Remains Limited
Bill Gates at 70: “I Have a Real Fear of Artificial Intelligence – and Also Regret”
Elon Musk Unveils Grokipedia: An AI-Driven Alternative to Wikipedia
Saudi Arabia Unveils Vision for First-Ever "Sky Stadium" Suspended Over Desert Floor
Amazon Announces 14 000 Corporate Job Cuts as AI Investment Accelerates
UK Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since March, Food Leads the Decline
London Stock Exchange Group ADR (LNSTY) Earns Zacks Rank #1 Upgrade on Rising Earnings Outlook
Soap legend Tony Adams, long-time star of Crossroads, dies at 84
Rachel Reeves Signals Tax Increases Ahead of November Budget Amid £20-50 Billion Fiscal Gap
NatWest Past Gains of 314% Spotlight Opportunity — But Some Key Risks Remain
UK Launches ‘Golden Age’ of Nuclear with £38 Billion Sizewell C Approval
UK Announces £1.08 Billion Budget for Offshore Wind Auction to Boost 2030 Capacity
UK Seeks Steel Alliance with EU and US to Counter China’s Over-Capacity
UK Struggles to Balance China as Both Strategic Threat and Valued Trading Partner
Argentina’s Markets Surge as Milei’s Party Secures Major Win
British Journalist Sami Hamdi Detained by U.S. Authorities After Visa Revocation Amid Israel-Gaza Commentary
King Charles Unveils UK’s First LGBT+ Armed Forces Memorial at National Memorial Arboretum
At ninety-two and re-elected: Paul Biya secures eighth term in Cameroon amid unrest
Racist Incidents Against UK Nurses Surge by 55%
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves Cites Shared Concerns With Trump Administration as Foundation for Early US-UK Trade Deal
Essentra plc: A Closer Look at a UK ‘Penny Stock’ Opportunity Amid Market Weakness
U.S. and China Near Deal to Avert Rare-Earth Export Controls Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit
Justin time: Justin Herbert Shields Madison Beer with Impressive Reflex at Lakers Game
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
Giuffre’s Memoir Alleges Maxwell Claimed Sexual Act with Clooney
House Republicans Move to Strip NYC Mayoral Front-Runner Zohran Mamdani of U.S. Citizenship
Record-High Spoiled Ballots Signal Voter Discontent in Ireland’s 2025 Presidential Election
Philippines’ Taal Volcano Erupts Overnight with 2.4 km Ash Plume
Albania’s Virtual AI 'Minister' Diella Set to 'Birth' Eighty-Three Digital Assistants for MPs
Tesla Unveils Vision for Optimus V3 as ‘Biggest Product of All Time’, Including Surgical Capabilities
Francis Ford Coppola Auctions Luxury Watches After Self-Financed Film Flop
Convicted Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed by UK Prison Service Arrested in London
United States and China Begin Constructive Trade Negotiations Ahead of Trump–Xi Summit
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro over Drug-Trafficking Allegations
Miss USA Crowns Nebraska’s Audrey Eckert Amid Leadership Overhaul
‘I Am Not Done’: Kamala Harris Signals Possible 2028 White House Run
NBA Faces Integrity Crisis After Mass Arrests in Gambling Scandal
Swift Heist at the Louvre Sees Eight French Crown Jewels Stolen in Under Seven Minutes
U.S. Halts Trade Talks with Canada After Ontario Ad Using Reagan Voice Triggers Diplomatic Fallout
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
×