Finance

Tether’s Bitcoin Donation Sparks Debate: Did Dorsey’s Criticism Miss the Mark?

Jack Dorsey criticized Tether’s $250K donation to Bitcoin devs, citing its profits, and donated $21M.

October 18, 2025, 11:33 AM

A promotional photo shows a Bitcoin workshop with instructors teaching skills in front of a trending poster background.

Enthusiastic learners gather at a Bitcoin workshop, eager to expand their knowledge of the trending cryptocurrency. By MDL.

Executive Summary

Tether’s $250,000 donation to OpenSats drew public criticism from Jack Dorsey, who questioned its size given Tether’s substantial profitability.

Jack Dorsey revealed his Start Small initiative donated over $21 million to OpenSats in 2024, highlighting his significant personal contributions to Bitcoin open-source development.

The Bitcoin community, including Udi Wertheimer, criticized Dorsey’s investment in the Ocean mining pool, suggesting it hinders Bitcoin development due to its stance on non-financial transactions.

The Story So Far

The public debate surrounding Tether’s $250,000 donation to OpenSats is rooted in Tether’s status as an exceptionally profitable cryptocurrency company with ambitious valuation targets, which prominent Bitcoin advocate Jack Dorsey highlights as disproportionate to its contributions to open-source Bitcoin development, an area he personally supports with significant funding.

Why This Matters

Jack Dorsey’s public critique of Tether’s modest $250,000 donation to Bitcoin development, juxtaposed with Tether’s substantial profits and Dorsey’s own much larger contributions, highlights a significant debate within the crypto community regarding the responsibility of highly profitable entities to fund foundational open-source projects. This exchange, which also saw scrutiny directed at Dorsey’s investments in Bitcoin mining, exposes underlying tensions and differing philosophies on how best to support and guide Bitcoin’s evolution, potentially pressuring major industry players to re-evaluate their philanthropic commitments to the ecosystem they profit from.

Who Thinks What?

Jack Dorsey believes Tether’s $250,000 donation to OpenSats is inadequate given its substantial profits, advocating for significant funding towards open-source Bitcoin development, which he supports through his own large contributions.

Tether made a $250,000 donation to OpenSats for operational and grant-making efforts, signaling its support for Bitcoin developers.

Udi Wertheimer initially supported the call for more funding for open-source Bitcoin development but later criticized Jack Dorsey’s investment in Ocean, suggesting it actively hinders Bitcoin development.

Tether, the issuer of the USDT stablecoin, recently announced a $250,000 donation to OpenSats, a non-profit organization supporting Bitcoin developers. This contribution, intended for OpenSats’ operational and grant-making efforts, quickly drew public criticism from Twitter co-founder and Square CEO Jack Dorsey, who questioned the size of the donation given Tether’s substantial profitability.

Dorsey’s Criticism and Personal Contribution

On October 16, 2025, Jack Dorsey publicly challenged Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino on X, asking, “Why only $250K?” This comment highlighted the perceived disparity between Tether’s reported $13 billion profit last year and its $500 billion valuation goal, versus the amount donated to Bitcoin open-source development.

When pressed by another X user about his own contributions, Dorsey revealed that his Start Small initiative had donated over $21 million to OpenSats in 2024. Dorsey has long been a vocal advocate for decentralized technology and censorship resistance, establishing himself as a prominent Bitcoin backer.

Community Reaction and Further Scrutiny

The exchange sparked varied reactions within the Bitcoin community. Udi Wertheimer, creator of the Bitcoin Ordinals project Taproots Wizards, initially supported Dorsey’s stance on funding open-source Bitcoin development.

However, Wertheimer subsequently criticized Dorsey for his investments in Ocean, a Bitcoin mining pool. Ocean had previously faced controversy for discouraging the processing of non-financial transactions, such as Ordinals, on the Bitcoin blockchain. Wertheimer suggested that Dorsey’s investment in Ocean actively hindered Bitcoin development.

Tether’s Financial Standing

Tether is recognized as one of the cryptocurrency industry’s most profitable companies. The company’s significant profits and ambitious valuation targets underscore the context of Dorsey’s critique regarding the scale of its philanthropic efforts in the Bitcoin ecosystem.