Mozilla pauses crypto donations in response to criticism of climate change


In the wake of criticism from many, including a Mozilla founder, the Mozilla Foundation halted digital currency donations last week after announcing they would accept cryptocurrency donations.
Mozilla Foundation, which
develops the Firefox web browser, acknowledged Thursday that cryptocurrencies
may potentially threaten the environment and said it will review its current
policy on crypto donations in light of its climate goals.
According to the series of
tweets by the company, "Starting today we are reviewing if and how our
current policy on crypto donations fits with our climate goals,"
In the meantime, they will
pause cryptocurrency donation functionality during the review process.
The backlash started after
the foundation announced people could donate via cryptocurrency tokens,
including bitcoin, to the American nonprofit firm.
In response to this,
Mozilla co-founder Jamie Zawinski tweeted, "Everyone involved in the
project should be witheringly ashamed of this decision to partner with
planet-incinerating Ponzi grifters."
Other major companies have
faced backlash - or distanced themselves from Bitcoin - over environmental
concerns.
Tesla, which had recently
introduced bitcoin as a form of payment for its vehicles, suspended accepting
the cryptocurrency just months after introducing the option, following the
backlash over environmental concerns.
Bitcoin's environmental
footprint has been questioned due to how its tokens are produced. Bitcoin and
Ethereum are powered by a mechanism called proof-of-work which mints new blocks
to power their networks.
148 terawatt-hours of
energy are consumed by Bitcoin mining annually, according to a study by the Cambridge
Centre for Alternative Finance. Mostly consumed by thousands of GPUs that are
run round the clock to solve the puzzle.
The organization said it
would continue to explore the cryptocurrency donation idea, but that it would
keep the community informed through a transparent process and provide regular
updates.

Pavan A
CBW - External Analyst
INDIA