Unchained and the University of Austin (UATX) have made waves in the financial and academic worlds with their recent announcement of a groundbreaking collaboration. The two entities have joined forces to establish the first long-term endowment fund held entirely in Bitcoin.
Joseph Kelly, CEO and co-founder of Unchained, expressed his enthusiasm for the partnership, stating, “I’ve seen the values the organization places on free speech and on building a modern academic institution that’s integrated with the marketplace, and I’m thrilled to play a role in helping the university make bitcoin a part of its long term strategy.” Kelly kickstarted the campaign by personally donating 2 BTC.
The initiative aims to raise $5 million in Bitcoin for the University’s endowment, with a commitment from the University to hold the BTC for at least five years. Unchained, a leading Bitcoin financial services provider known for its multisig Bitcoin vaults, will securely manage the endowment funds.
In addition to financial collaboration, the partnership between Unchained and UATX will also involve joint marketing campaigns, events, guest lectures, and hosted debates, aiming to integrate the University with the broader Bitcoin community.
Thomas Hogan, incoming Associate Professor at UATX’s Center for Economics, Politics, and History, highlighted the unique opportunity Bitcoin presents for advancing the University’s commitment to cultivating future leaders and innovators.
Unchained, founded in 2016, currently manages over $6 billion in Bitcoin and specializes in collaborative custody models. The University of Austin, a private, nonprofit institution dedicated to the pursuit of truth, is excited to embrace Bitcoin as part of its long-term strategy.
Kelly emphasized the importance of the partnership in the context of preserving freedom, stating, “By choosing Unchained as a partner, the university is also signaling its assessment of bitcoin’s function as a freedom preserving technology, with our custody model helping to ensure there is no single point of failure to UATX’s long-term holdings.”
This collaboration between Unchained and the University of Austin marks a significant step forward in the integration of Bitcoin into traditional financial and academic institutions, setting a precedent for future partnerships in the evolving landscape of digital currency.
