Unchained Partners with UT Austin on Bitcoin Endowment

Bitcoin financial services firm Unchained and UT Austin intend to invest $5 million in BTC for the next five years.

The University of Austin and the Bitcoin financial services firm Unchained have partnered to establish a long-term endowment fund holding Bitcoin.

Unchained, a crypto services and custody provider based in Austin, Texas, announced a new collaboration with the University of Austin (UATX) on May 31.

Together, they are establishing the first Bitcoin-held long-term endowment fund with a $5 million fundraising target. The funds will remain invested in Bitcoin for a minimum of five years.

This initiative investigates alternative financial strategies and incorporates Bitcoin into higher education.

The announcement stated, “By integrating Bitcoin into its endowment, UATX establishes a model for other academic institutions to investigate alternative financial models that may be more resilient.”

Joseph Kelly, the chief executive officer of Unchained, established the fund with a solitary contribution of 2 BTC, equivalent to approximately $137,000 in present value.

Kelly wrote on X on May 31: “The world needs more great founders, and we are thrilled to bring our communities together to build something new.”

Additionally, Unchained will furnish a collaborative custody repository for the safekeeping of the endowment fund.

The initiative’s objective is to promote community involvement through collaborative marketing campaigns, public events, guest seminars, and debates that elucidate the public regarding the advantages of Bitcoin and its capacity to transform the fields of finance and education fundamentally.

“This initiative reflects the core missions of both Unchained and University of Austin Texas, emphasizing sound money principles, resistance to censorship, and challenging the status quo.”

University endowments consist of monetary contributions or alternative financial assets bestowed upon academic institutions. These endowments function as self-sustaining funding sources by deliberately withholding the entire fund balance.

Not only UATX but other American universities are investing in cryptocurrencies. Cointelegraph reported in March that the Blyth Fund of Stanford University had increased its portfolio exposure to 7% Bitcoin through BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF.

Furthermore, since 2018, esteemed Ivy League institutions, including Harvard, Yale, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), have experimented with cryptocurrency investments.