Wikipedia suspends cryptocurrency donation payments after 8 years of service

The Wikimedia Foundation (WMF), the non-profit company that operates Wikipedia, has stated that it will no longer accept cryptocurrency donations.

As part of the end of support for accepting donations in cryptocurrencies, WMF informed that it will close its Bitpay account and that it will not have any account with any cryptocurrency service.

Wikipedia suspends cryptocurrency donation

“We have decided to discontinue direct acceptance of cryptocurrency as a means of donation and will close our Bitpay account. Therefore, it will no longer be possible to donate to the WMF with cryptocurrencies”, highlighted the organization.

According to the WMF, after a prolonged debate with over 300 community members, the majority voted 234 to 94 to eliminate crypto donations. The Wikimedia Foundation has been accepting cryptocurrency donations since 2014.

According to the Wikimedia Foundation, some of the most persuasive reasons were around BTC’s ecological impacts, the possibility of fraud, and the fact that WMF receives so little amount of cryptocurrency contributions when compared to traditional payment methods.

As the WMF reported, $130,100.94 was raised in BTC donations in 2021, representing just 0.08% of the total value of contributions received.

As the longtime editor of Wikipedia and creator of Web3 Is Going Just Great, Molly White suggested in January that the WMF discontinue accepting cryptocurrency donations.

She argued that accepting cryptocurrencies contradicts the organization’s commitment to environmental sustainability. At the same time, it signals that the Wikimedia Foundation supports a certain type of “investment”

Among the other points raised by White (who goes by the nickname GorillaWarfare on Wikipedia) was Mozilla’s reassessment of its involvement in the crypto space.

As reported, Mozilla finally chose to discontinue cryptocurrency payments in April after receiving negative feedback from customers, developers and one of the company’s founders.

“I am delighted that the Wikimedia Foundation has implemented their community’s request, and I am very proud of my community for making what I consider to be an ethical decision after much thoughtful discussion,” White said in a statement.

Finally, the WMF concluded its statement by saying that it would continue to monitor the issue and remain flexible and responsive to the needs of volunteers and donors.

“There are too many issues with cryptocurrencies for any potential donation income to be worth the cost of helping to legitimize it,” White added.