The Wiki Community has voted against accepting cryptocurrency donations and unveiled at least three reasons to take such a decision. According to The Register, the proposal was made by Wikipedia administrator checkuser, who encouraged to Wikimedia Foundation to stop accepting crypto donations.
The vote was based on three points, the media outlet noted: it could be seen as an endorsement of cryptocurrency by the organization; the tech is not environmentally sustainable; and, last of all, accepting crypto could damage the Foundation’s reputation.
As of press time, the Wikimedia Foundation accepts donations in Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Ether (ETH), among other traditional payment methods in fiat currencies. However, crypto donations only represent a small amount in terms of revenues, only having a 0.08% of 2021 revenue, which is $130,100. Total revenue for the Foundation during that period was around $162 million.
“We never should have started accepting them in the first place. Many years later, they represent not even 1 percent of annual donations. Wikimedia is legitimizing a series of environmentally unfriendly Ponzi schemes by accepting Bitcoin and is getting almost nothing back financially in return,” one community member commented at the time of voting.
According to the Foundation’s policy, it converts crypto to US dollars immediately through the bitcoin payment service provider BitPay, a practice that has raised concerns since it may be interpreted as an endorsement of the vendor.
71% (232) of the 326 votes cast between January 10 and April 12 this year supported the proposal to stop accepting cryptocurrency, while roughly 29% wanted to continue. However, the results are not binding.
Republican Congressional Committee and Cryptos
Last year, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) decided to accept cryptocurrency donations to support its candidates for the next year’s elections. The committee has become the first national party to take contributions in digital assets such as Bitcoin (BTC) in the midst of growing adoption in different sectors.
