Wikipedia Will No Longer Accept Cryptocurrency

Wikimedia Foundation which is the parent organization of Wikipedia has announced that it will no longer accept donations in Cryptocurrency citing the cryptocurrency’s impact on the environment. Alongside, the foundation has also mentioned that it will close its Bitpay account in order to avoid any future donations in cryptocurrency.

The foundation has been accepting donations in cryptocurrency since 2014. However, it has decided to take a back step on the practice considering the feedback and requests from the community of its donors. The final decision is the result of a series of requests and discussions.

Wikimedia said in a statement, 

The Wikimedia Foundation has decided to discontinue direct acceptance of cryptocurrency as a means of donating. We began our direct acceptance of cryptocurrency in 2014 based on requests from our volunteers and donor communities. We are making this decision based on recent feedback from those same communities.

Reportedly over 400 members of the Wikimedia Foundation had been involved in the discussion and the majority of the members voted in favor of doing away with the Cryptocurrency donations. The argument that remained prominent throughout the discussion was the implications of cryptocurrencies on the environment.

Notably, the foundation receives lesser donations through cryptocurrency donations in comparison with other methods of payment. Reports mention that Wikimedia received over $130,100.94 worth of cryptocurrency donations in the year 2021 which sits around over 0.08 percent of overall donations that it received in the year.

Considerably, the foundation had begun accepting cryptocurrency as donations in 2014, however, several issues were promoted that led the organization to relook at the policy. In alignment with this, Molly White who is a Wikipedia editor and the creator of Web3 Is Going Just Great, had prominently initiated the debate in January with arguments such as the foundation’s contradictory steps that go against its commitment to environmental sustainability. The decision wrapped up in April resulting in the announcement that the foundation has made.

What is Wikipedia?

Wikipedia is an open collaboration and a wiki-based (hypertext publication system that is managed and maintained by the users of the platform) editing system. It is a multilingual open online encyclopedia that is entirely written and maintained through open collaboration by a community of volunteers (Writers).