The wiki members have decided to put a stop to crypto donations. Wikimedia, the non-profit organization that runs Wikipedia, began rethinking its cryptocurrency policy in early 2022.
Wiki Community crypto donations ban proposal
At that time, Molly White, a contributor, proposed to discontinue taking cryptocurrency donations. She claimed that cryptocurrencies are very dangerous investments, and receiving donations in crypto form, Wikipedia is indirectly helping to mainstream them. The proposal also argued that the Wikimedia Foundation would suffer a reputational risk as a result of its association with cryptocurrency.
The contributor, of course, also emphasised that the proof-of-work consensus mechanism is extremely harmful to the environment. Finally, prohibiting crypto donations will have no financial impact on the Wikimedia Foundation because they accounted for only 0.08 percent of total donations received last year.
Seventy-one percent of members of the Wiki community have voted in support of the idea of banning crypto donations.
Some of those community members who voted against the ban proposal did not necessarily support cryptography. One member said that although cryptocurrencies are dumb and malicious, just receiving contributions to those formats would not necessarily be an endorsement.
Since the vote’s results are non-binding, it’s unclear if the foundation would cease accepting cryptocurrency.
The Wikimedia Foundation began accepting Bitcoin payments through Coinbase in 2014. It later added support for Ethereum and Bitcoin Cash as well. It does not keep any cryptocurrency; instead, the BitPay payment processor converts it to USD automatically.
