After heavy criticism: Mozilla Foundation no longer accepts donations in crypto money

By: MRT Desk

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After heavy criticism: Mozilla Foundation no longer accepts donations in crypto money

The Mozilla Foundation will no longer accept donations in cryptocurrency until further notice. Recently the foundation, which develops the free internet programs Firefox and Thunderbird, publicly reminded us that donations are also accepted in crypto money. There was then strong criticism from many quarters that the generation of cryptocurrencies is climate-hostile and wastes energy.

The Mozilla project explains on Twitter that the criticism has been received and the discussion about the impact of cryptocurrencies on the environment is being heard. Mozilla now wants to examine in detail whether crypto money is compatible with its own climate goals. This process is carried out transparently in the sense of open source.

After the organization had reminded people at the turn of the year that donations were also accepted in crypto money, one of its founders sharply criticized it. Jamie Zawinski, former Netscape developer and co-founder of the Mozilla project, did not hold back: “Fuck yourselves and give a shit. Everyone involved in the project should be deeply shamed by the decision to work with planet-burning Ponzi crooks.”

With his crude criticism, he takes up, among other things, the debate about energy waste and climate hostility in cryptocurrency mining. The point of contention is the power-hungry proof-of-work procedure, with which numerous cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin SV and Ethereum grant the right to new “coins”.

Zawinski received approval from the former Mozilla developer Jannis Leidel, currently a member of the board of the Python Software Foundation. Leidel urged Mozilla to withdraw the donation tweet and explain how “Mozilla’s mission to the current climate crisis” fits. On the other hand, there were also donation pledges, amazement at the rising mood against cryptocurrencies and references to the fact that mining is promoting the expansion of renewable energies.

Peter Linss, developer of the Gecko engine on which Firefox is based, also criticized on Twitter: “What. The. Actual. Fuck. They should be better than that.” After Mozilla’s decision to suspend donations in crypto money, Linss showed himself opposite to The Verge Delighted: “Mozilla plays an important role in keeping the web open and free.”

Mozilla accepts Donations in cryptocurrency since 2014, but the energy consumption for the generation of crypto money has multiplied since then. In some countries with low electricity prices, this has even led to energy crises, which recently led to the ban on crypto mining in Kosovo and Iran.