Sometimes, silence is really the best response.
This week, the stablecoin giant Tether announced a donation of US$ 250,000 to OpenSats, aiming to support Bitcoin developers. However, the initiative ended up generating unexpected criticism: one of the most influential programmers and maximalists of the cryptocurrency did not hesitate to publicly question the donated amount.
Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter and CEO of Square, commented ironically on the donation on Thursday (16), on the X network, right after the announcement made by Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether.
“Why only $250,000?”, wrote Dorsey, in his typical dry tone.
Tether is one of the most profitable companies in the crypto universe. The issuer of the USDT stablecoin, which reported a profit of $13 billion last year, would be in talks with potential investors seeking a market valuation of around $500 billion.
The company reported that the donation to OpenSats — an initiative that supports the development of free and open-source Bitcoin software — will aim to strengthen the operations of the nonprofit organization and support its scholarship programs.
A spokesperson for Tether did not comment to Decrypt on Jack Dorsey's statement, and CTO Paolo Ardoino also did not speak publicly.
Shortly after the comment, another user on X questioned Dorsey about his own financial contribution to the protection of Bitcoin developers, asking how much he had donated. The entrepreneur promptly replied: “Over $21 million. And you?”
In fact, in 2024, OpenSats received a donation of $21 million from the Start Small initiative, created by Jack Dorsey. The technology billionaire has been known for years for his support of decentralized technology and resistance to censorship, being one of the most notable advocates of Bitcoin.
Even so, Dorsey was not immune to criticism. Udi Wertheimer, creator of the popular Ordinals project on Bitcoin, Taproot Wizards, initially sided with Dorsey at the beginning of the discussion but later began to question the Twitter founder.
“No one should compete with Jack on who does more for the cause when it comes to funding the open-source development of Bitcoin,” Wertheimer stated.
However, the Bitcoin enthusiast continued, criticizing Dorsey for his investments in Ocean, a Bitcoin mining pool that had already faced criticism for discouraging the processing of non-financial transactions on the blockchain, including the creation of Ordinals, NFT-like assets.
“You should subtract from that total the amount invested in Ocean,” commented Wertheimer about Dorsey's philanthropic donations. “Unfortunately, that capital is being used to slow down development.”
