Mozilla Halts Crypto Donations Over Climate Impact Concerns
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Mozilla Temporarily Halts Crypto Donations
On December 31, Mozilla, the nonprofit organization that makes the Firefox web browser announced that donations in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoins are now accepted via BitPay. The company has been accepting donations in Bitcoin since 2014.
In response to the tweet, Jamie Zawinski, co-founder of Mozilla expressed his disappointment at the foundation’s move, saying:
"Hi, I'm sure that whoever runs this account has no idea who I am, but I founded Mozilla and I'm here to say fuck you and fuck this. Everyone involved in the project should be witheringly ashamed of this decision to partner with planet-incinerating Ponzi grifters."
Joining along the lines of Zawinski was Peter Linss, the founder of Gecko that powers Firefox, who said 'You were meant to be better than this.'
On Thursday, Mozilla addressed the situation saying the donations in crypto are now on hold concerning its environmental impact. For now, the company will be 'reviewing if and how our current policy on crypto donations fits with our climate goals' and has also promised that the review will be 'a transparent process' and that it will 'share regular updates.'
This isn’t the first time a major firm has faced backlash for involving Bitcoin citing environmental impact. In May 2021, Tesla suspended accepting bitcoin as payment for its electric vehicles, just months after accepting it as a payment option.