Software engineer Molly White has been the author of Wikipedia since 2006 (she has also served several terms on the site's Arbitration Committee). White is now the administrator of Wikipedia - and has just published an article opposing the continued acceptance of cryptocurrency donations to the Wikimedia Foundation.
The following is an excerpt from White's remarks on The Signpost, an online newspaper for (English) Wikipedia that has been published online since 2005 with contributions from its editors. Wikipedia:
When the Wikimedia Foundation for the first time he started accepting donations cryptocurrencies in 2014, was still a fairly emerging technology. Cryptocurrencies resonated with many free and open source software communities and the Wikimedia movement in particular, and cryptocurrency projects seemed to share similar ideals: privacy, anonymity, decentralization, freedom.
Today cryptocurrencies and blockchain-based technologies in general have become something very different from the ideals of their youth. Some advocates continue to talk about freedom and decentralization, but the space has overwhelmingly become an opportunity for self-enrichment at the expense of others and the environment.
Cryptomining businesses set up shop in locations with low energy costs — and by the end of 2021, most bitcoin mining was taking place in China, where they use coal. Some of China's miners have even moved to Kazakhstan, where they use lignite (an extremely harmful form of coal) to generate 18% of the global computing power behind bitcoin. Bitcoin mining alone competes with overall usage energyof countries such as the Netherlands or Finland.
In addition, in recent years, more and more friends of crypto πείθονται ότι και αυτοί μπορουν να γίνουν πλούσιοι αγοράζοντας bitcoin ή ethereum. Δυστυχώς, ο ανταγωνιστικός χώρος μοιάζει όλο και περισσότερο με ένα τοπίο με απατεώνες. Πολλοί είναι πεπεισμένοι ότι η αγορά αυτών των νομισμάτων είναι μια "επένδυση", παρά μια ριψοκίνδυνη κερδοσκοπία που θα περιγραφόταν με μεγαλύτερη ακρίβεια ως τζόγος, ή ακόμα καλύτερα μια καθαρή επενδυτική απάτη. Οι άνθρωποι εξαπατούνται τακτικά για τεράστια χρηματικά ποσά και η ανώνυμη, ονομαστικά αποκεντρωμένη και σε μεγάλο βαθμό ανεξέλεγκτη φύση του χώρου τους προσφέρει ελάχιστες λύσεις.
The supposed benefits of cryptocurrencies have not been realized to a large extent. Instead of empowering those who do not have bank accounts and distributing wealth to those in real need, as was once reported, money has accumulated in incredible amounts from very few - 0,01% of bitcoin holders collectively own 27% of the circulating bitcoin , and equates to about $ 232 billion.
The Wikimedia Foundation's acceptance of cryptocurrency donations has had minimal returns, and not accepting them is unlikely to have a significant impact on the Foundation's fundraising ability. In 2021, the Wikimedia Foundation only received about $130.000 in cryptocurrency donations, making it one of its smallest revenue channels (0,08% of total donations). The benefits for donors are also minimal: the anonymity usually afforded to those using cryptocurrencies is largely nullified by the processor payments WMF Cryptocurrencies, BitPay, which requires prospective donors to reveal their identity.
The most important result of the acceptance of cryptocurrencies by the WMF was the normalization of their use. As the technology world around blockchain has evolved over the years, so should we.
Cryptocurrencies coexist with a group of predatory, inherently harmful technologies that exploit humans and contribute to the destruction of our environment. It is no longer ethical for the Wikimedia Foundation to tacitly adopt technology that motivates cryptocurrency behavior that has become uncontrollable in recent years.
