Wikipedia has said it will no longer be accepting donations in crypto, closing its Bitpay account following a three month debate by the Wikimedia Foundation.
The initial proposition by Wikipedia editor Molly White for Wikipedia to stop accepting cryptocurrency donations by the Wikimedia community took place between January 10th and April 12th 2022. The Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) has now released a statement that outlines that they will no longer accept cryptocurrency donations.
“The Wikimedia Foundation has decided to stop accepting cryptocurrency donations. The decision was made based on a community request that the WMF no longer accept crypto donations, which came out of a three-month-long discussion that wrapped up earlier this month.” the statement read.
According to the community request, the request for comments (Rfc) included input from around 400 users, who participated in the voting and discussion concerning the proposition.
Some of the arguments outlined in support of the proposition to stop accepting cryptocurrency included “issues of environmental sustainability, that accepting cryptocurrencies constitutes implicit endorsement of the issues surrounding cryptocurrencies, and community issues with the risk to the movement’s reputation for accepting cryptocurrencies”.
Arguments in opposition to the proposal included “the existence of less energy-intensive cryptocurrencies (proof-of-stake), that cryptocurrencies provide safer ways to donate and engage in finance for people in oppressive countries, and that fiat currencies also have issues with environmental sustainability”.
Prior to the recent decision by Wikipedia to halt crypto donations, Wikipedia received $130,100.94 worth of donations in cryptocurrencies (0.08% of their revenue).
The decision by Wikipedia to close down their cryptocurrency option for donors has resulted in the closure of their Bitpay account, with the online encyclopedia referring to the issue at hand as an “increasingly complex and shifting topic”, noting that they will remain responsive to the “needs of volunteers and donors”
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