Foundation/Cryptocurrency Donations

Summary: this wiki page provides an overview of activities related to Mozilla Foundation’s 2022 review of its cryptocurrency donations policy.

About

Mozilla Foundation has been accepting cryptocurrency donations since 2014. In Q4 2021, Mozilla Foundation released a tweet requesting cryptocurrency donations as part of the regular end-of-year donation drive. This sparked a discussion online and internally regarding the environmental impact of cryptocurrencies, whether that fits within Mozilla’s mission and ethos, and the future of cryptocurrency donation at Mozilla. This conversation highlighted Mozilla’s need to assess the environmental impact of its cryptocurrency donations, especially in light of our climate commitments.

On January 6, 2022 Mozilla paused the ability to donate cryptocurrency and announced on Twitter that it will conduct a review and commit to a transparent process with regular updates. The Mozilla Foundation plans to complete the review by the end of Q1 2022. See timeline below. This wiki provides a summary of the review so far and next steps.

Last edited: March 23, 2022

Decision Options

Decision Options (PDF), includes:

• Overview and orientation for the review
• Facts and Figures on cryptocurrency donations to Mozilla
• Decision options for the policy going forward

Based on the data from the review, a set of decision options were presented in the Mozilla Foundation monthly call on March 22, 2022 and in Slack channels on March 23.

Scope

The cryptocurrency donation review is an internal process within Mozilla. We also are making the documentation of the process open and transparent to the public.

The scope of the review is to inform a decision, to be made by the Mozilla Foundation’s Executive Director, about Mozilla’s cryptocurrency donations policy in light of our climate commitments. If significant deliberation is needed, then it will be discussed with the Board. We plan to publish the findings from our research as well as a summary of our analysis so that others may better understand the decision and build upon this work.

This cryptocurrency donation review is not scoped to cover other topics related to Mozilla product developments or policy decisions. Similarly, it is not intended to cover broader questions about what Mozilla may or may not explore in relation to decentralized web technology.

Creating a Brief

To inform the review, the Mozilla Foundation created a brief in January. These questions were developed in collaboration with Mozilla’s Environmental Champions, fundraising, and communications teams with input from other experts and stakeholders in our network and approved by the Foundation’s Executive Director.

Specifically, the Foundation is looking into:

• How much carbon has been emitted from the cryptocurrency donations we received so far?
• What are the projected cryptocurrency donations for Mozilla over the next 3 years, and how much would be emitted from them?
• How do the different types of cryptocurrencies we receive vary in terms of climate and environmental impacts?
• How do these historic and projected emissions affect our overall GHG accounting and Mozilla’s pledge for carbon neutrality and net zero emissions (Climate Commitment #1 and #2)?
• In addition to carbon emissions, what other climate and environmental factors should be considered in this policy?

Further Questions

The Foundation identified further questions to learn more about landscape and how to better incorporate our climate commitments into our decision-making process:

• How do other organizations of a comparable profile to Mozilla determine and evaluate their cryptocurrency donation policies?
• How should Mozilla openly share materials, tools, and methodologies for this accounting and review (Climate Commitment #3)?
• What other products and players at the intersection of climate and cryptocurrencies that Mozilla should review more closely (Climate Commitment #4)?

Timeline

• 2014-2018: Mozilla accepts Bitcoin through Coinbase.
• 2018: Mozilla switched from Coinbase to Bitpay and expanded the number of cryptocurrencies accepted as outlined on our wiki.
• December 27, 2021: Mozilla tweets about cryptocurrency donations as part of the regular end-of-year donation drive.
• January 6, 2022: Mozilla paused the ability to donate cryptocurrency and announced on Twitter that it will conduct a review and commit to a transparent process with regular updates.
• January 6: Mozilla Environmental Champions drafted a brief and process for a cryptocurrency review with input from Mozilla Fundraising and Communications.
• January 11: Approval of the brief by Mozilla’s ED.
• January 13: Request sent to sustainability consultants for expertise on cryptocurrency emissions calculations.
• January 13 - February 4: Desk research and structured conversations with experts and stakeholders on our staff and in our network.
• February 7: Refined brief based on initial findings and supporting documentation in development.
• February 17: Further research into cryptocurrency landscape and organizational benchmarking.
• February 24: Outreach to other sustainability consultants for support on emissions calculations.
• March 2: Interim presentation to Mozilla’s Executive Director.
• March 8: Update published to Mozilla wiki and in Slack.
• March 22: Present decision options at MoFo Monthly Meeting]], noting that options may be limited if we don't yet have calculations from sustainability consultants.
• March 23: MoCo Fortnightlier Meeting including agenda item on decentralization.
• March 24: Cryptocurrency Donation Office Hours (LDAP’ed Mozillians)
• March 31: Assuming enough information is available, Mozilla Executive Director makes a decision based on options and publishes on this wiki.
• Q2 2022: Evaluation process in place to keep the policy current. Publish supporting documentation and findings as appropriate.

Discussion and Questions

If you would like to participate in this review or have questions, we invite you to use the Slack channel #environment or to attend the office hours and internal meetings.