Mozilla pauses crypto donations amid climate impact debate

SAN FRANCISCO: After facing a backlash, Mozilla, the nonprofit organisation behind the Firefox web browser, has announced to stop taking cryptocurrency donations.

Cryptocurrency mining has come under intense scrutiny for its climate impact globally.

"Starting today, we are reviewing if and how our current policy on crypto donations fits with our climate goals. And as we conduct our review, we will pause the ability to donate cryptocurrency," Mozilla said in a tweet late on Thursday.

Last week, Mozilla tweeted that it accepts cryptocurrency donations, which "led to an important discussion about cryptocurrency's environmental impact".

Mozilla began accepting Bitcoin for donations in 2014.

The organisation, however, kept its faith in decentralised, blockchain-based technology.

"Decentralised web technology continues to be an important area for us to explore, but a lot has changed since we started accepting crypto donations. In the spirit of open-source, this will be a transparent process and we'll share regular updates," said Mozilla.

The Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index indicates that Bitcoin uses 122.87 Terawatt-hours of electricity every year -- more than the electricity combustion in the Netherlands, Argentina, or the UAE.

According to Digiconomist, a cryptocurrency analytics site, a single Bitcoin transaction uses 2,106.37 kilowatt-hours of electricity, which equals the amount of power consumed by the average American household over 72.2 days.