The wiki community voted in favor of stopping crypto donations.
Wikimedia, the nonprofit behind Wikipedia, began reassessing its crypto policy at the beginning of 2022.
Molly White of Wikimedia made a proposal to stop crypto adoption in January. She stated that cryptos are “extremely risky” investments and Wikipedia has helped push crypto to mainstream acceptance. Being associated with crypto poses a reputational risk to the Wikimedia Foundation, according to the proposal.
White also emphasized that the proof-of-work consensus algorithm is quite harmful to the environment.
This should not hurt Wikimedia financially as crypto donations made up only 0.08% of Wikimedia’s revenues last year.
71% of the community members voted in favor of the proposal.
It is not yet clear whether the crypto donations will be removed, as the result of the vote is not binding.
The Wikimedia Foundation first began accepting donations in Bitcoin through Coinbase in 2014. Later, support for Ethereum and Bitcoin Cash was also added.
Wikimedia, which does not hold crypto, converts incoming donations into fiat money through BitPay.
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