Wikipedia to Stop Accepting Crypto Donations on Environmental, Other Grounds

The announcement follows a vote by the Wikimedia community in which 71.2% voted in favor of a proposal to stop accepting cryptocurrency.

AccessTimeIconMay 1, 2022 at 6:38 p.m. UTC
Updated May 11, 2023 at 5:33 p.m. UTC
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Wikimedia, the non-profit foundation that runs Wikipedia, has decided to stop accepting cryptocurrency donations following a three-month debate in which the environmental impact of bitcoin (BTC) was a major discussion point.

  • The decision came in response to a community vote on a proposal to the foundation from contributor Molly White, who goes by the user name GorillaWarfare, argued that accepting donations in cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, bitcoin cash (BCH) and ether (ETH) signals endorsement of digital coins, which are “inherently predatory” as investments and don’t align with the foundation's commitment to environmental sustainability.
  • Excluding new accounts and unregistered users, of the fewer than 400 users who voted, 232 to 94, or 71.17%, supported no longer accepting crypto.

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Aoyon Ashraf

Aoyon Ashraf is managing editor with more than a decade of experience in covering equity markets

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Kevin Reynolds is Editor in Chief at CoinDesk. He owns bitcoin, ether, polygon and solana.


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