The parent organization of Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation has finally decided to completely stop accepting cryptocurrency for donations.
“The Wikimedia Foundation has decided to discontinue direct acceptance of cryptocurrency as a means of donating”, states an update from the organization.
A proposal to stop accepting crypto donations was put forward by Molly White aka GorillaWarfare on January 10. The following months saw a heated debate among the members of the community.
The proposal based its demand on grounds of the highly damaging impact of these cryptocurrencies on the environment.
Pro-crypto arguments, on the other hand, pointed out the benefits of the proof-of-stake mechanism and the global acceptance of tokens without a third party involvement.
A vote among the Wikipedia contributors saw 232 out of 326 people voting against the use of crypto donations, which explains the decision taken by Wikimedia Foundation.
Wikimedia Foundation started accepting cryptocurrency donations back in 2014 on user demand.
The update said, “We began our direct acceptance of cryptocurrency in 2014 based on requests from our volunteers and donor communities. We are making this decision based on recent feedback from those same communities.”
Wikipedia until now accepted Bitpay transactions of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Bitcoin Cash. Following this decision, the foundation will be closing its Bitpay account, disabling them from accepting direct crypto donations further.
The Wikimedia Foundation also states that they will closely monitor the situation and leaves open the possibility of overturning this decision in the future, based on the demands of the volunteers and donors.
The foundation ultimately thanks all the community members for their participation in this complex decision.
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