Salesforce’s aspirations to enter the non-fungible token (NFT) market have angered the company’s employees. 400 employees from the Thomson Reuters Foundation have signed an open letter expressing their worries about NFTs’ “unregulated, highly speculative” behaviour in the financial markets and their environmental impact. According to reports, NFT staff complained that they were overwhelmed with frauds and fraud in the industry.
Salesforce Employees Protest NFT
An announcement was made in early February to employees of the San Francisco cloud-based software firm, which owns Slack, about a number of NFT-related initiatives. Launching an NFT Cloud, which could aid in the creation and listing of new forms of currency, is one of these initiatives. Over the last year, NFTs have seen a surge in popularity, and large corporations have jumped on board to profit from the trend. In spite of the fact that not all attempts have been successful, Adidas’ initial NFT drop grossed $23 million.
NFTs, however, continue to be contentious for a variety of reasons, not the least of which being their influence on the environment. The blockchain operations related with tokens require a lot of energy to maintain. The carbon footprint of an average NFT is estimated to be around 200 kg, which is the equivalent of driving 500 kilometres in a gas-powered car. A Super Bowl ad starring Matthew McConaughey highlighting the company’s dedication to sustainability has led to concerns among Salesforce employees about the environmental impact of the tokens.
In a statement to Thomson Reuters, a Salesforce spokeswoman said the business is “proud to cultivate a culture of trust that encourages [workers] to raise varied points of view.” It was also mentioned that the corporation will be conducting an employee survey next week.