The Mozilla Foundation has halted cryptocurrency donations following community backlash following sharp criticism from co-founder Jamie Zawinsky.
Last week the development company behind the Firefox browser tweeted an appeal for donations in the cryptocurrency.
But earlier today, Mozilla halted crypto donations due to online discussions about the environmental impact of crypto.
Last week, we tweeted a reminder that Mozilla accepts cryptocurrency donations. This led to a significant discussion about the environmental impact of cryptocurrency. We are listening and taking action. 1/4
— mozilla (@mozilla) 6 January 2022
Mozilla said it will continue to explore decentralized web technology, but will resume crypto donations only if it is in line with their climate goals. It said that in the spirit of open source, Mozilla will be transparent in the review process and will share updates frequently.
The drama began on December 31st when the organization made a call for cryptocurrency donations through the BitPay platform.
The nonprofit’s designation attracted the disapproval of some members of its community, including Mozilla co-founder Jamie Zawinsky. Although he hasn’t been associated with Mozilla since 2000, he harshly criticized the organization:
“Everyone involved in the project should be completely ashamed of this decision to partner with planet-devouring Ponzi Grifters.”
In a blog published on his website on January 5, Zawinsky further spoke about the cryptocurrency industry and what he argues is an unrealistic business model. Zawinsky argues that industry creates pollution and turns it into money.
Some members of the community asked Mozilla to remove their calls for donations and explain how accepting crypto was in line with its mission to fight the ongoing climate crisis.
Twitter user Melissa (@mcbyrne) saidBad for bitcoin [the] Climate,” while @selegs questioned Why Mozilla was “enabling environmental catastrophe” by backing crypto.
Some community members pointed to a company blog about the organization’s climate commitments on January 21 last year, in which Mozilla’s CEO, Michelle Baker, spoke about her commitment to protecting the environment and combating the climate crisis. has been cited.
According to the New York Times, bitcoin mining consumes more than 91-terawatt-hours of electricity per year – roughly 0.5% of global electricity consumption annually.
Mozilla is just the latest high profile example to face the outrage of some users after making announcements related to crypto and NFTs. Ubisoft, Square Enix, Kickstarter and Discord have faced criticism in recent months for expressing concern over the environmental impacts of mining and crypto scams and fraud.
Popular video gaming company, Square Enix has faced criticism from gamers on social media after President Yosuke Matsuda showed praise for blockchain gaming, NFTs and the metaverse over the weekend. Again, money speaks louder than Keyboard Warriors and his comments led to an 8% increase in the share price.
related: New LGBTQ token aims for equity but raises red flags with community
Gaming giant Ubisoft faced harsh criticism from its users when it announced the launch of in-game NFTs on December 7. Despite a significant backlash, Ubisoft will continue its initiatives with Aleph.im in the form of dynamic NFTs.
Also in early December Kickstarter announced plans to develop a decentralized crowdfunding platform. Some users threatened to leave the platform due to the environmental impact of crypto.
On November 9, Jason Citron, CEO of Discord, shared a tweet, indicating the intention of the company to allow users to connect crypto wallets with their accounts. Users expressed their concerns and talked about the amount of energy required to process blockchain transactions and the potential for money laundering and scams in crypto and NFTs.
Just two days after publishing the tweet, Citroen backtracked, saying the company has no current plans to integrate Web 3.0 concepts and is committed to protecting its users from fraud, spam and scams.
