Mozilla is backtracking on crypto donations after being called out by co-founder

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Crypto is an extremely divisive subject. You most likely love it or you hate it. In 2022, we’ve seen a growing number of companies looking to implement crypto and NFT projects into their existing stuff and quite a bit of it has been met with backlash.

Now, Mozilla is backtracking on its crypto donations after meeting backlash from people, including one of the founders of the Mozilla Foundation. Mozilla is responsible for the Firefox browser.

First announced in a tweet on December 31, Mozilla announced it was using BitPay to accept crypto donations. Not long after, Jamie Zawinski, one of the original founders responded, 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.”

So, starting today we are reviewing if and how our current policy on crypto donations fits with our climate goals. And as we conduct our review, we will pause the ability to donate cryptocurrency. 3/4

— Mozilla (@mozilla) January 6, 2022

As you can see in the tweet above, the company has now paused crypto donations to see how “current policy on crypto donations fits with [their] clime goals.”

One of the main reasons crypto is so divisive is the impact it has on the environment. Powering crypto applications through the blockchain uses a large amount of power to complete transactions. Some Bitcoin transactions use the same amount of power a typical American household uses in a month.

Mozilla isn’t the only company to announce a crypto policy before quickly pulling back the reins. One of the more memorable examples is Tesla accepting Bitcoin for its EVs before canceling that initiative.

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