On October 16, 2025, Jack Dorsey publicly criticized Tether's $250,000 donation to OpenSats, a nonprofit organization dedicated to funding free and open-source Bitcoin software development. Dorsey questioned the amount in a reply to Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino on X, asking "Why only $250K?" and sparking a broader debate on corporate responsibility in the cryptocurrency industry.
Dorsey highlighted his own substantial contributions, having donated over $21 million to OpenSats in 2024 through his Start Small initiative. This sets a high benchmark for industry support, with Dorsey's total Bitcoin-related donations exceeding $22 million. In contrast, Tether, which reported a $13 billion profit in the previous year and is seeking a $500 billion valuation, faced scrutiny over the scale of its donation aimed at supporting privacy projects, research, and educational programs within the Bitcoin ecosystem.
The criticism drew mixed reactions from the Bitcoin community. Udi Wertheimer, creator of the Taproots Wizards Ordinals project, initially sided with Dorsey but later turned on him, lambasting Dorsey's investment in Ocean, a Bitcoin mining pool that has discouraged non-financial transactions like Ordinals. Wertheimer suggested that Dorsey's philanthropic efforts should be offset by his Ocean investment, which he claimed "is being actively deployed to slow down development." The event underscores ongoing discussions about the adequacy of corporate funding for open-source blockchain initiatives.
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