Mozilla has joined the ranks of companies and organisations backtracking on embracing cryptocurrency after a user backlash, saying it will temporarily stop accepting donations to the Mozilla Foundation via the BitPay platform.
Last week, the software developer behind the Firefox browser attracted the ire of influential members of its open-source community when it posted an appeal on Twitter soliciting donations in cryptocurrency.
Jamie Zawinski, who co-founded Mozilla and Netscape as well as several core Internet technologies, replied to the original solicitation noting his involvement in the organization’s creation and adding, “Everyone involved in the project should be witheringly ashamed of this decision to partner with planet-incinerating Ponzi grifters.”
Zawinski’s focus on the environmental concerns around crypto was typical of the of the tenor of the replies. In their follow-up Twitter thread, Mozilla highlighted the need to evaluate how crypto donations align with their stance on climate.
Last January, Mozilla’s “sustainability steward” Cathleen Berger published a list of climate commitments that argued “the most effective climate mitigation strategy is avoiding emissions”.
In recent months, companies ranging from Kickstarter to Discord to Ubisoft to Square Enix have had to navigate blowback from their core digital constituencies after announcing plans related to cryptocurrencies, NFTs or the blockchain. – Bloomberg
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