Jack Dorsey’s ‘start small’ initiative pours $21m into OpenSats for Bitcoin development

Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has made a staggering $21 million donation to OpenSats, a platform dedicated to funding Bitcoin (BTC) development. 

The nonprofit announced Dorsey’s donation in a May 4 blog post, where it indicated the funds would be used to bolster the resources available for open-source projects, providing crucial funding to innovators across the globe.

Dorsey, who led Twitter (now known as X) from 2015 to 2021, later confirmed the contribution while responding to a post by technology specialist and whistleblower Edward Snowden, who was warning Bitcoin developers regarding the need to incorporate privacy measures at the protocol level.

Along with supporting open-source projects, Dorsey’s contribution includes earmarked funds for a legal defense for Bitcoin developers, reflecting the Square CEO’s continued backing of the Bitcoin community and his belief in its potential to revolutionize finance and technology.

OpenSats also stated that it is putting $15 million into its General Fund, $5 million into the Nostr Fund, and $1 million into operational budgets.

The General Fund is a pool of money made up of donations from individuals and organizations that is used to support Bitcoin-related free and open source projects and contributors.

The Nostr fund supports the development of Nostr, a decentralized social network that uses relays to send and receive messages. The platform has exploded in popularity and now has a whopping 16 million users, with half a million reportedly logging in every single day.

OpenSats has a history of backing different ideas to help expand the Bitcoin world and other open-source projects. They’ve supported 21 teams before, like BTCPay Server, which lets users process payments on their own server, and the Bitcoin Policy Institute.

“If you are an open-source developer in need of funding, don’t hesitate to apply,” urged OpenSats in the blog post. The organization is inviting developers from all corners of the world to take advantage of this opportunity by visiting opensats.org/apply.