Wikipedia Ends Crypto Donations as Environmental Concerns Swirl
(Bloomberg) -- The Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit organization behind Wikipedia, will stop accepting cryptocurrencies donations amid concern about their negative impact on the environment.Â
“We began our direct acceptance of cryptocurrency in 2014 based on requests from our volunteers and donor communities,” the organization said in a statement Sunday. “We are making this decision based on recent feedback from those same community.”
The WMF will close its account on Bitpay, a crypto payment service provider, as well as its direct methods to accept cryptocurrencies as donations.
A proposal centered at this issue was made earlier this year and a little under 400 users participated in the voting and discussing whether the WMF should stop accepting cryptocurrency donations. The majority voted yes to the proposal 232 to 94. Users who support halting the process are mostly concerned about the energy-intensive mechanisms of the digital currency space.
Some members in the Wikipedia community opposed the proposal cited that there are less energy-intensive cryptocurrency options and crypto has shown its advantages to provide safer ways of donations for people in oppressive countries.
Bloomberg previously reported that the impact of the voting result would be minor in the context of the WMF's funding. Total crypto donations in crypto to the WMF in the last financial year made up only 0.08% of overall revenue.
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.
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