The company behind the Firefox internet browser Mozilla is attempting to appease its environmentally-conscious community by accepting only proof-of-stake (PoS) crypto donations.
The company initially halted all crypto donations in January but has now opened them back up after a review period to assess community sentiments and conduct research on crypto energy usage.
PoS blockchains consume less than 1% as much electricity as Bitcoin, although they vary among themselves in efficiency as demonstrated by a February report.
Mozilla announced in a blog that after a review, it was changing its donations policies to come in line with its “climate commitments.” It said that: “Mozilla will no longer accept ‘proof-of-work’ cryptocurrencies, which are more energy intensive.”
By rejecting all non-PoS crypto, Mozilla is blocking both Bitcoin (BTC), the largest cryptocurrency by market cap, and Ether (ETH) — at least until the Merge occurs in the coming months and that blockchain adopts PoS.
Mozilla stated that it would release a list of accepted cryptocurrencies by the end of Q2, 2022. Some native coins from the most popular PoS chains include BNB (BNB), Solana (SOL) and Avalanche (AVAX).
Among the most vocal detractors of Mozilla’s new crypto donations policy was Mozilla’s own founder, Jamie Zawinski. He tweeted on Jan. 4 that those at Mozilla who are complicit with accepting Bitcoin “should be witheringly ashamed” to partner with the “planet-incinerating ponzi grifters.” Zawinski stopped working at Mozilla in 1999.
Gabor Gurbacs, director of digital strategy at American investment firm VanEck, had harsh criticism for Mozilla’s decision to block Bitcoin donations. In a Tuesday tweet, he called the move “misguided and virtue signaling in nature,” adding that “Bitcoin is one of the greenest industries out there.”
