In short
- Stablecoin giant Tether donated $250,000 to OpenSats this week, prompting Jack Dorsey to criticize the size of the donation.
- Dorsey highlighted his own $21 million donation and received mixed reactions from the Bitcoin community.
- Udi Wertheimer later called out Dorsey over his investment in Ocean, a Bitcoin mining pool that has sparked controversy.
Sometimes it can be easier to say nothing at all.
This week, stablecoin giant Tether announced a $250,000 donation to OpenSats to support Bitcoin developers — only for one of the world’s best-known programmers (and Bitcoin maximalists) to publicly rebuke the size of the gift.
Twitter co-founder and Square CEO Jack Dorsey denounced the donation on X on Thursday, shortly after it was touted by Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino.
“Why only $250,000?” Dorsey replied curtly to Ardoino.
Tether is one of the most profitable companies in the crypto industry. The USDT issuer, which is a $13 billion profit last year, is reportedly in discussions with potential investors seeking a $500 billion valuation.
Tether said its donation to OpenSats, which funds the development of free and open-source Bitcoin software, will support the nonprofit’s operations and grantmaking efforts.
A company representative did not respond Declutter‘s request for comment on Dorsey’s comment, to which Ardoino did not respond publicly.
However, shortly after the comment was made, another X-user pressed Dorsey on his own financial commitment to protecting Bitcoin developers, questioning how much he had donated.
The entrepreneur immediately shot back, “Over $21 million. You?”
OpenSats did indeed receive one Donation of $21 million of Dorsey’s Start Small initiative in 2024. The tech billionaire has been an outspoken advocate for decentralized technology and censorship resistance for years, and one of the best known Bitcoin backers all around.
But even Dorsey was not without his detractors. Udi Wertheimer, creator of the popular Bitcoin Ordinals project Taproots Wizardsinitially sided with Dorsey in the scuffle, but then turned on the Twitter inventor.
“No one should have to compete with Jack when it comes to funding open-source Bitcoin development,” Wertheimer said.
However, the Bitcoiner went on to criticize Dorsey for his investments in Ocean, a Bitcoin mining pool that previously existed trapped heat for discouraging the processing of non-financial transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain, including the creation of NFT-like Ordinals.
“You have to subtract from that number regardless of the size of your investment in Ocean,” Wertheimer said of Dorsey’s philanthropic contributions. “Unfortunately, that capital is actively used to slow down development.”
Unfortunately, on Crypto Twitter, no one is perfect.
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