Following the backlash from the open-source community and the co-founder of Mozilla citing environmental damage as a reason, the web browser company has announced a pause to all crypto donations.
Mozilla, the company behind the popular Firefox browser, stated on Thursday that it has suspended taking cryptocurrency donations, citing an “important discussion” about the environmental impact of digital assets, following a barrage of criticism from the open-source community this week.
Mozilla stated, “Last week, we tweeted a reminder that Mozilla allows cryptocurrency donations.” “This sparked a heated debate on cryptocurrency’s environmental impact. We’re paying attention and acting.”
Now, the organization says it’s assessing whether or not its existing policy on crypto donations aligns with its broader climate aims, and it’s putting a hold on the possibility for its 211 million active members to donate bitcoin.
Last week, we tweeted a reminder that Mozilla accepts cryptocurrency donations. This led to an important discussion about cryptocurrency’s environmental impact. We’re listening, and taking action. 1/4
— Mozilla (@mozilla) January 6, 2022
The commotion began on December 31, when Mozilla sent out a short tweet reminding followers that they can donate to the Mozilla Foundation using cryptocurrency. Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin were directly mentioned in Mozilla’s tweet.
Dabble in @dogecoin? HODLing some #Bitcoin & #Ethereum?
We’re using @BitPay to accept donations in #cryptocurrency https://t.co/EOsLD1Z88O
— Mozilla (@mozilla) December 31, 2021
Many Firefox users on Twitter expressed displeasure with the news that Mozilla now accepts Bitcoin, despite the fact that it has done so since 2014. Mozilla co-founder Jamie Zawinski joined the chorus of dissenters, and he wasn’t shy about expressing his displeasure.
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.
— j͕̠̦̪͕̓͛̊̾̄ͅw̧̧̳̪̘͊̋͗̾͢͠z̢̘̞͈̺̞̩̓̽̐̋͗̆̋̚͟͜ (@jwz) January 3, 2022
“Turns out some early devs have been living under a rock about #bitcoin,” tweeted Blockstream CEO Adam Back, one of many Bitcoiners who pushed back against Zawinski. Someone brain-dump @jwz, he’s already blocked me, and all I recommended was talking to some ex-Mozilla guys for a brain dump. For the infamous @jwz hacker person, that’s weak sauce.”
But Zawinski was far from alone in his dissatisfaction. Peter Linss, the creator of the Gecko browser engine that powers the Firefox browser and Thunderbird email client, took part in the discussion.
Hey @mozilla, I expect you don’t know me either, but I designed Gecko, the engine your browser is built on. And I’m 100% with @jwz on this.
What. The. Actual. Fuck.
You were meant to be better than this.
— Peter Linss (@plinss) January 3, 2022
While decentralized web technologies remain an essential subject to investigate, Mozilla claims that a lot has changed since they began collecting crypto payments in 2014.
“In the spirit of open-source,” Mozilla writes, “this will be a transparent process with regular updates.” “We’re excited to have this discussion and thank our community for bringing it to our attention.”
Criticism on crypto-related projects
Mozilla is the latest IT business to face controversy for adopting cryptocurrency, but it has been more common recently with gaming companies and non-financial institutions (NFTs).
When Ubisoft announced the debut of in-game NFTs on December 7th, it received a lot of backlash from its users. Despite the negative reaction, Ubisoft plans to continue with its dynamic NFTs strategy with Aleph.im.
Kickstarter also announced plans to create a decentralized crowdfunding platform in early December. Because of the environmental impact of cryptocurrency, some users have threatened to leave the network.