The Wikimedia Foundation (WMF), the organization behind Wikipedia, has announced that it will no longer accept cryptocurrency donations. The Foundation says it has "decided to stop accepting cryptocurrencies as a means of donation immediately" and will close the Bitpay account, preventing any future cryptocurrency contributions.
After a long discussion with the nearly 400 members of the WMF community, the majority (234 to 94) voted to stop cryptocurrency contributions. Some of the main arguments were about its environmental impact Bitcoin, the risk of fraud, as well as the fact that WMF receives such a low amount of cryptocurrency donations compared to other forms of payment.
The WMF reports that it received $ 130.100,94 in cryptocurrency donations in 2021, representing just 0,08 percent of the total contributions it received.
WMF first started accepting Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash and Ether donations in 2014, but some issues prompted the organization to re-evaluate this policy. THE Molly White, a longtime Wikipedia editor and creator of Web3 Is Going Just Great, suggested that the WMF stop cryptocurrency donations in January, arguing that it contradicts the organization's commitment to environmental sustainability and also signals that the Foundation Wikimedia supports "inherently predatory" investments.
White (GorillaWarfare on Wikipedia) also reported her reassessment Mozilla for its involvement in the crypto space. Mozilla finally decided to stop cryptocurrency donations in April after accepting reactions by many users, developers and one of its founders, Jamie Zawinski, for posting a tweet reminding users that it accepts donations in Bitcoin and Ethereum.
"I'm really happy that the Wikimedia Foundation has fulfilled its community's request, and I'm really proud of our community for making the ethical decision after so much discussion," White said.
The WMF is over his update saying that "it will continue to monitor this issue" and that "it will remain flexible to meet the needs of volunteers and donors".