Mozilla released a statement noting that they will only start accepting PoS cryptos as donations. This move is because PoW coins are highly energy-intensive, while PoS coins are more environmentally friendly. This could be one of the reasons driving GPU mining to its end.
Mozilla Only Accepts PoS Donations
Recent reports indicate that Mozilla has revised its donation policy and only accepts PoS crypto donations. Mozilla is a non-profit organization that created the Firefox browser. They recently announced that they would continue to receive only PoS crypto assets.
Mozilla has been accepting crypto donations since around 2014, with PoW cryptos like bitcoin being the mainly used ones. However, there was a backlash online earlier this year, with the community complaining that the crypto’s energy-intensive attribute is not good for the environment. The backlash forced Mozilla to stop accepting donations in crypto.
A while ago, Mozilla announced that they would start accepting cryptos again. But, in this case, Mozilla will only accept PoS cryptos as donations. The internet browsing mogul highlighted that PoS coins are more environmentally friendly. As per the statement, they will “develop and share a list of cryptocurrencies we accept by the end of Q2 2022.”
PoW and Mining is Energy Intensive
While Mozilla will accept PoS coins, PoW coins will not be accepted. The two largest cryptoassets today are Bitcoin and Ethereum, both high electricity consumers. According to reports, the main concern of Mozilla is the security and actual energy used in PoW mining.
In fact, in their statement, Mozilla mentioned that they are committed to reducing their greenhouse gas footprint every year. But, PoW crypto-assets can significantly “increase our GHG footprint due to their energy-intensive nature.” Mozilla believes that its fundraising should align with the carbon emission policies.
Mozilla is not the first network to drop Bitcoin because of environmental issues. Last year, Tesla, a top car company owned by Elon Musk, started accepting bitcoin as a means of payment. A few months later, Tesla removed bitcoin from their payment options. Tesla noted that Bitcoin is energy-intensive, hence concern for the environment. The main problem in bitcoin is not the transactions but rather the mining process.
Its already clear that energy-intensive mining techniques can hinder the adoption of cryptos, like in the case of Mozilla. Ethereum is already planning a move to ETH2, which uses PoS as its consensus algorithm. Most other blockchains launch using consensus algorithms that are more energy-efficient than PoW. As bitcoin continues to face the adoption problems, the network could decide to work on reducing the high energy use.
End of GPU Mining?
Of course, there are three main known types of mining starting CPU, GPU, and ASIC. ASIC mining is often considered the most efficient mining system. GPU mining, however, has been criticized on multiple occasions because its the most energy-intensive ming system.
Since ASIC is more efficient and uses less energy, more miners could move from GPU to ASIC for mining. Continuous issues like removing PoW assets from Mozilla support could trigger blockchain networks to encourage miners to use ASIC and leave GPU. Also, with the move of Ethereum to PoS, it’s safe to say that GPU mining could surely be coming to an end.
Source: https://crypto.news/mozilla-pos-crypto-donations/