Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey has criticized Tether’s decision to donate only $250,000 to Bitcoin developers. This week, the stablecoin giant announced a donation to OpenSats to support Bitcoin developers and Bitcoin-related projects.
The fund was donated to boost the charity’s operations, which is expected to include the provision of grants to projects that support Bitcoin. Speaking about the funding, Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, said, “We at Tether believe that Bitcoin, and the free, open-source software that powers it, are indispensable to a freer and decentralized future.” However, it seems the donation did not go down well with Dorsey, who publicly criticized the size of the gift. “Why only $250K?” Dorsey said, replying to Ardoino.
Jack Dorsey criticizes Tether’s gift to Bitcoin Devs
According to reports, Tether is one of the most profitable companies in the crypto industry. The company, which issues stablecoin USDT, posted a $13 billion profit last year. In addition, it is also reportedly hoping to raise about $20 billion in a private placement that could push its value closer to $500 billion. Bloomberg reported the development, citing two unnamed sources who had close ties to happenings inside the company.
In its donation to OpenSats, Tether claimed the funds will be used to support the nonprofit’s operations and grant-making efforts. Shortly after Dorsey commented, a user on X prodded him on his financial contributions towards the cause of protecting Bitcoin developers, asking him how much he donated. The entrepreneur shot back immediately, saying, “Over $21 million. You?”
According to reports, Jack Dorsey’s Start Small Initiative donated $21 million to OpenSats in 2024. The billionaire has been an outspoken advocate for decentralized technology and censorship resistance for years. Dorsey is also one of the most famous Bitcoin backers in the industry.
In an interview in 2020, Dorsey showered praises on Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, “I think it was smart not to do it anonymously, not to do it as a real identity, but to do it as a pseudonym,” said Dorsey at the time.
However, even Jack Dorsey’s philanthropy didn’t come without its critics. Udi Wertheimer, creator of the popular Bitcoin Ordinals project Taproots Wizard, also waded into the discussion, first taking Dorsey’s side before he turned on the Twitter co-founder. “No one should go into a pissing match with Jack when it comes to funding open-source Bitcoin development,” Wertheimer said, praising Dorsey for his positive gestures towards Bitcoin and projects related to the asset.
The Bitcoiner went ahead to criticize Jack Dorsey for his investments in Ocean, a Bitcoin mining pool that has been criticized previously for discouraging the processing of non-financial transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain, including the creation of NDT-like Ordinals. “You should subtract from that number whatever the size of your Ocean investment was,” Wertheimer said of Dorsey’s philanthropic gestures. “Sadly, that capital is being actively deployed to slow down development.”
However, it remains to be seen what Tether decides to do. An option is to increase its donation to the nonprofit, while the other is to explain why it decided to donate the amount it did. Lastly, the company can choose to refrain from making any comments about the donations. Meanwhile, Tether has continued to increase its BTC holdings. As previously reported by Cryptopolitan, the company recently bought 8,888 BTC, becoming the sixth-largest Bitcoin wallet, worth $9.75 billion.
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