The Mozilla Foundation’s back-tracking on crypto has earned a reaction from the creator of the world’s first meme cryptocurrency.
On Dec. 31, 2021, Mozilla, the developers of the Firefox internet browser, tweeted that the company was accepting cryptos like Dogecoin (DOGE), Ether (ETH), and Bitcoin (BTC) as donations, along with a Bitpay donation link.
However, less than a week later, the campaign was stopped after it received backlash from users and programmer Jamie Zawinski, a co-founder of Mozilla. According to Zawinski, everyone involved should be “ashamed of this decision to partner with planet-incinerating Ponzi grifters.”
Zawinski didn’t stop there. As a follow-up, he published a blog post on his website and wrote that the crypto industry’s business model is unrealistic. “They manufacture only pollution, nothing else, and they turn that into money,” wrote Zawinski.
Following this, Mozilla decided to pause crypto donations and have an internal discussion on cryptocurrency’s environmental impact. Mozilla said that it will review its policies on crypto donations and see if it works in line with its climate goals.
In response, Dogecoin creator Billy Markus tweeted his disapproval of the move, pointing out the impact of paper dollars and traditional banking infrastructure.
thank you for succumbing to an ignorant, reactionary internet mob
wait till them guys hear about the environmental cost of paper dollars and the entire banking infrastructure, i am sure they will have the same level of meltdown about their own constant environmental impact https://t.co/jInIaIA0DS
— Shibetoshi Nakamoto (@BillyM2k) January 7, 2022
Related: Samsung uses blockchain technology to address climate change
Earlier in 2021, Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk announced that the firm would stop accepting Bitcoin, citing environmental concerns as the main reason for the move. Following this, efforts to make crypto more environmentally friendly started to gain traction.
In an interview with Cointelegraph back in November, Alex Salnikov, co-founder and head of product at NFT marketplace Rarible, said that pressure to become more eco-friendly may be good for the industry. “Additional pressure is a good thing, as the space is accelerating its push to become energy efficient with proof-of-stake blockchains,” said Salnikov.