By Alicia Maher
Mozilla, the tech company behind the prominent computer browser Firefox has reportedly suspended crypto donations after being criticized by its online community. Mozilla has been accepting donations in crypto for the past eight years. It first started with BTC, ETH, and the popular meme coin Dogecoin.
Its decision to back out now stemmed from the backlash it received this week regarding the reminder tweet. Twitter users were astonished to find out that Mozilla has been accepting crypto donations for almost a decade.
Reasons For The Backlash
While announcing its decision to back away from crypto donations on Thursday, the Mozilla team stated that the wave of criticism from its community centered on the negative impact of virtual currency on the environment. Mozilla said that its tweet reminding its followers to make crypto donations on the last day of December agitated the community, and they were at the receiving end of it.
“We are listening and taking action,” the company tweeted. Mozilla is working towards adopting some policies that will keep it in line with the global climate goals at the moment. Suspending crypto donations for its hundreds of millions of users became the first step to achieving its climate objectives.
The uproar on Twitter also involved Mozilla co-founder Jamie Zawinski. Zawinski was quick to voice his discontent, uttering his disappointment in those associated with the project. He wasn’t alone. Software designer and the man who designed Gecko Peter Linss shared his displeasure with Mozilla’s clandestine project.
However, Zawinski’s harsh criticism didn’t go too well with Blockstream Executive Adam Black. The Bitcoiner cheekily advised some people to bring Zawinski up to speed with what’s happening in the crypto world since he has been “living under the rock” about it. The Mozilla co-founder eventually blocked him.
Despite the backlash, Mozilla acknowledges the importance of decentralized web techs, adding that it is a crucial area to explore. The company said that the world has advanced since it started its crypto donation project eight years ago. The company promised to continue to update the community about the changes it will be making from now on.
Tech Companies Facing Crypto Backlashes
Mozilla isn’t the only company that was heavily criticized for its crypto project. There has been some crypto backlashes lately involving game companies.
Last December, GSC Game World halted plans to add NFTs into its popular game STALKER 2 after receiving backlashes from its gaming community. Within that same period, UbiSoft was criticized by gamers for proposing to integrate NFTs into its game “Ghost Recon Breakpoint.” Even Discord was bashed for suggesting the addition of MetaMask ETH wallet.
While Mozilla has made a U-turn in its crypto policy, fellow browser Brave has completely embraced cryptocurrency. Thanks to crypto, its user base jumped to 50M users last year.