The parent company of the world’s largest open-source online encyclopedia is closing the book on accepting crypto assets as donations. In a lengthy page documenting the process of debate and voting among its community, Wikipedia announces that it is requesting the Wikimedia Foundation to stop accepting donations in the form of cryptocurrencies. Wikipedia says nearly […]
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Wikipedia has decided to stop accepting cryptocurrency donations after eight years of doing so. The decision is based on the request by the Wikimedia community citing “issues of environmental sustainability” as a key reason. Wikipedia Discontinues Accepting Bitcoin, Crypto Donations Wikimedia Foundation has announced its decision to “discontinue direct acceptance of cryptocurrency as a means […]
The arguments in favor included environmental concerns surrounding Bitcoin transactions and “the risk to the movement’s reputation for accepting cryptocurrencies."
Requests for comments on a proposal urging the Wikimedia Foundation to stop accepting donations in cryptocurrency have closed, with the majority of users voting in favor.
According to a Tuesday update on the proposal, roughly 71%, or 232 out of 326, Wikimedia contributors who responded requested that the Wikimedia Foundation — the nonprofit that hosts Wikipedia — stop accepting cryptocurrency donations. The arguments in favor of the proposition included environmental concerns surrounding Bitcoin (BTC) transactions and “the risk to the movement’s reputation for accepting cryptocurrencies.”
The community first opened the proposal to comment on Jan. 10, expanding the discussion to include topics like El Salvador adopting BTC as legal tender, crypto as a tool for illicit financial activities, and digital assets’ role in financial inclusion. However, the majority of the topics seemed to focus on the energy usage and potential environmental impact of cryptocurrencies.
“Cryptocurrencies may not align with the Wikimedia Foundation's commitment to environmental sustainability,” said the original proposal. “Bitcoin and Ethereum are the two most highly-used cryptocurrencies, and are both proof-of-work, using an enormous amount of energy [...] the current models continue to be extremely damaging to the environment. While there are eco-friendlier cryptocurrencies, they are less widely-used.”
Among those arguments in opposition of the proposal included proof-of-stake cryptocurrencies that are “way less energy-intensive” and using tokens to provide “safer ways to donate and engage in finance for people in oppressive countries.” One user cited the Ukrainian government accepting crypto donations as an argument against the technology carrying a bad reputation.
“Crypto should remain an option for Wikimedia to accept donation,” said user C933103 on March 14. “Wikimedia is accepting donations in crypto not giving crypto out. If a country's law banned donation to [the Wikimedia Foundation, or WMF] through banks then it is the country in the wrong not WMF. Accepting donations instead of giving them out also mean it won't be used to facilitate any new economic activities that could be target of sanction or be funding other illegal activities, as all the received currency will immediately be converted to fiat currency in WMF's account.”
what's that rumbling noise in the distance, slowly growing louder, you ask?
— Molly White (@molly0xFFF) April 13, 2022
it is the stampede of crypto zealots who have never once donated to the wikimedia foundation, shouting "guess i'll take my money elsewhere!"
However, Wikimedia contributor TrueAnonyman supported the proposition, adding:
“The financial effect of no longer accepting crypto donations would be minimal, and far outweighed by the reputational harm to the Wikimedia project of being seen to endorse a technology so strongly tied to various environmental and social harms.”
Related: Wiki continues to accept crypto donations despite pressure to stop
The foundation reported in January it received roughly $130,000 worth of crypto donations in the last financial year, roughly 0.08% of its revenue. Bitcoin was the most used cryptocurrency among the 347 individuals who donated, but the nonprofit also accepts Ether (ETH) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH).
Crypto donations will still be accepted at Wikimedia Foundation as the foundation wishes to be “as inclusive as possible.”
Following a proposal from users to stop accepting crypto donations to Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit confirmed that it would proceed with crypto donations.
Contributors banded together to urge the foundation to disable the option to donate in crypto because of environmental concerns. However, while the organization will continuously monitor the conversations around crypto within its communities, it will not budge on accepting crypto donations.
Elise Flick from the Wikimedia team told Cointelegraph that Wikimedia’s fundraising approach is meeting donors where they are. Flick mentioned that the foundation aims to “provide the most desired payment options in different parts of the world.” This includes catering to the requests that the foundation received from donors requesting to be able to donate in cryptocurrency.
"We want to be as inclusive as possible, and allow people to contribute with the method they feel most comfortable with."
Julia Brungs, the Senior Community Relations Specialist from Wikimedia Foundation, also responded to Molly White’s (GorillaWarfare) questions in the original proposal. According to Brungs, the most used crypto for donations was Bitcoin (BTC). However, the organization immediately converts it into fiat. “We have never held cryptocurrency, and spot-convert donations daily into fiat currency (USD), which doesn’t have a significant environmental impact,” wrote Brungs.
The response also cited data from Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index that says that there is very little evidence that connects Bitcoin directly as a contributor to climate change. The data “shows that even in the worst-case (i.e., mining powered exclusively by coal), Bitcoin’s environmental footprint currently remains marginal at best.”
Related: ‘Emergency’: Wikipedia editors vote against classifying NFTs as art
Meanwhile, not all organizations are willing to continue crypto donations after receiving anti-crypto community feedback. Earlier this January, Mozilla paused its acceptance of crypto donations after receiving a reaction from a co-founder. Because of this decision, the creator of Dogecoin slammed Mozilla saying “thank you for succumbing to an ignorant, reactionary internet mob.”
Following Mozilla’s decision to pause crypto donations due to environmental concerns, a number of Wikimedia Foundation community members have submitted a proposal that asks the foundation to stop accepting digital currency donations. The proposal explains that crypto donations “signals [an] endorsement of the cryptocurrency space,” and also says that “Cryptocurrencies may not align with the […]