Following strong outcry sparked in part by a Mozilla founder, Jamie Zawinski, Mozilla, the nonprofit company that provides the Firefox web browser, said Thursday that it would be stopping the ability to receive bitcoin payments (via Business Insider).
Zawinski, who left Mozilla in 1999, posted a harsh response to a December 31st Mozilla tweet announcing the company’s acceptance of bitcoin donations. In 2014, Mozilla began taking bitcoin donations.
On January 3rd, Zawinski remarked, “Everyone participating with the initiative should be witheringly embarrassed of this decision to cooperate with planet-incinerating Ponzi grifters.” (Cryptocurrencies have come under fire for their environmental effect and the fact that the majority of alleged crypto wealth appears to be concentrated in the hands of a small number of people.)
Peter Linss, the creator of the Gecko engine that powers Firefox, also expressed his displeasure on Twitter. He said, “What. The. Actual. Fuck.” “You were supposed to be better than this,” says the narrator. And it’s not just them: several of the quotes from Mozilla’s December 31st article have been brutally retweeted.
Mozilla responded to the matter in a Twitter thread on Thursday. Mozilla stated, “Last week, we tweeted a reminder that Mozilla supports bitcoin donations.” “This sparked a lively debate on cryptocurrency’s environmental impact.” Mozilla said it will “examine if and how our existing policy on bitcoin donations aligns with our climate goals,” and it will pause crypto donations while it conducts the study. It further stated that the review will be “transparent” and that “frequent updates” will be provided.
Mozilla, on the other hand, isn’t fully dismissing decentralized technologies like cryptocurrencies, noting that “decentralized web technology remains an essential area for us to research.”
Linss replied in a Twitter DM to The Verge after we initially published this item, “I’m delighted Mozilla switched direction here.” “They are critical to keeping the internet open and free.” I’m also grateful for the support of all Mozilla fans, who assist to hold the company responsible to the ideas on which it was built.”
Mozilla is the most recent corporation to come under fire for its participation with cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. Tesla was chastised for accepting bitcoin as payment last year, and it quickly changed its decision. And gaming businesses have lately come under fire for their NFT attempts, with the creator of the forthcoming game STALKER 2: Heart of Chernobyl canceling its NFT plans altogether in reaction to the backlash.