Wikipedia’s parent company, the Wikimedia Foundation, has announced that it will no longer accept donations in Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), or Ethereum (ETH) after some community members sparked a discussion about the pros and cons of cryptocurrency. Here are the details…
Wikipedia no longer accepts cryptocurrency donations
The news came after a survey of the foundation said that over 70 percent of respondents said they wanted to stop donations of all cryptocurrencies. “The Wikimedia Foundation has decided to stop the direct acceptance of cryptocurrency as a donation tool,” the foundation said in a statement. As we reported as Kriptokoin.com, Wikipedia started to accept Bitcoin in 2014. At the time, he felt that adding Bitcoin as a donation option would help contribute to the Wikimedia Foundation in “as simple and inclusive as possible”.
The foundation initially worked with Coinbase to accept Bitcoin donations before moving to BitPay to facilitate donations as additional cryptocurrencies. In 2021, the Wikimedia Foundation received crypto from just 347 different donors. Wikimedia Foundation Public Affairs Specialist Julia Brungs wrote that crypto donations made up only 0.08 percent of the foundation’s revenue last year, and the foundation has never “held cryptocurrencies.”
Wikimedia’s decision may change
When discussions about crypto donations began in January, software engineer and Wikipedia editor Molly White stated that only 400 community members participated in the discussion. However, White observed that most of the accounts appear to be “single-purpose accounts created for discussion only” to persuade the foundation against crypto. According to the report, the biggest argument against cryptocurrency was “environmental sustainability issues.” But there are more energy efficient Blockchains that do not use proof-of-stake mining such as Avalanche, Tezos, Solana, and Cardano.
Proponents of crypto donations noted the need for pseudonymous donations in countries where Wikipedia may be illegal or censored. It was also discussed that since Bitcoin is legal tender in El Salvador and the Central African Republic, the foundation should allow people to donate in their country’s official currencies. In the latest case, Wikimedia reported that it will monitor the situation and the crypto decision may change.
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