During the first week of January, the software community Mozilla revealed it was pausing cryptocurrency donations after citing environmental concerns. 14 weeks later, Mozilla decided last week it will accept crypto donations again, but only from digital assets that leverage a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus model.
Mozilla Plans to Accept PoS Crypto Assets Only, Executive Says PoW Cryptos ‘Significantly Increase Our GHG Footprint’
On April 7, Mark Surman, the executive director at the Mozilla Foundation, published an update about the software community pausing crypto donations. Surman said that it was after Mozilla released its climate commitments, and after Mozilla staff and supporters complained, that the foundation decided to pause crypto donations. Mozilla decided to review the environmental impact of cryptocurrencies more closely, and Surman’s blog post reports back on the results of Mozilla’s review.
“Starting today, we are updating our donation policy,” Surman’s update explains. “Mozilla will no longer accept ‘proof-of-work’ cryptocurrencies, which are more energy-intensive. Mozilla will accept ‘proof-of-stake’ cryptocurrencies, which are less energy-intensive. Mozilla will develop and share a list of cryptocurrencies we accept by the end of Q2 2022,” the Mozilla Foundation executive director added.
Surman detailed that the decision is mainly based on the organization’s climate commitments that aim to “exceed the net-zero emissions commitment of the Paris Climate Agreement.” The Mozilla Foundation believes that proof-of-work (PoW) digital assets “significantly increase our GHG footprint.” By stopping the acceptance of PoW cryptos, Surman stressed that the decision remains “aligned” with Mozilla’s emissions commitment.
“In our climate commitments, we also promised to help develop, design, and improve products from a sustainability perspective,” Mozilla’s executive director concluded. “We believe that Mozilla can play a positive role in the industry by encouraging those cryptocurrencies that we do accept to be transparent about their energy consumption patterns.”
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