Earlier this month, the Heartbleed bug sent a chill of terror across the entire internet. As IT managers across the globe raced to update their servers with the patched version of OpenSSL to keep passwords and user data safe, the terror in the bitcoin world was particularly intense as billions of dollars in bitcoins were at stake. Not surprisingly, Bitcoin Core was among the first systems to implement a patch.
As more details about the Heartbleedd bug became known, it also became clear that the OpenSSL Project itself was understaffed and running on limited resources. The bitcoin community is hardly shy when it comes to donations, handing over nearly 48 BTC ($23,000) to Dorian Nakamoto after Newsweek claimed, almost certainly incorrectly, that he was bitcoin’s mysterious creator. Donating to a cause that might actually help keep their bitcoin safe seemed to many like a good idea. There was only one problem: The OpenSSL Project didn’t accept bitcoin.
Late last week, the OpenSSL community fixed this issue, adding a bitcoin donation option powered by Coinbase on the project’s homepage. The project also accepts PayPal and corporate-level sponsorships. Donations are not tax-deductible, which isn’t likely to be a problem given bitcoin’s still-murky tax status.
