The Wikimedia Foundation and cryptocurrency donations

The Wikimedia Foundation began accepting cryptocurrency payments through BitPay in 2019, but three years later, the nonprofit behind Wikipedia was pressured by members to remove the option for environmental reasons.

Wikipedia editor Molly White, widely known as GorillaWarfare, proposed that the nonprofit organization Wikimedia Foundation discontinue accepting cryptocurrency donations. As a reminder, the Wikimedia Foundation is sustaining Wikipedia with the help of unreimbursed monetary donations from anybody who desires to do so. Molly White defends this idea by citing the detrimental environmental effect of cryptocurrency. At the present, the platform accepts Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Bitcoin Cash donations.

By the way, the issue of refusing to deal with cryptocurrencies has lately gained traction. In particular, the Mozilla browser’s developers were able to stop the acceptance of digital assets in January, after adding support for Dogecoin to take donations but then facing opposition from the community. According to their remarks, their public is unfamiliar with the concepts of blockchain, decentralization, and mining. They only claim that the enormous electricity costs necessary to maintain cryptocurrencies and their networks are not worthwhile. Furthermore, some consider mining damaging the environment. However, Elon Musk announced on his Twitter that all Tesla merchandise is already available for DOGE.

Wikipedia is attempting to adopt is the use of unique NFT-tokens

However, the proof-of-work model has been frequently chastised for its harmful environmental effect. The United States Congress said last week that it would convene hearings on the environmental effect of cryptocurrency mining. Miners are also reacting to the condition of environmental devastation. Compute North and Marathon Digital expanded an arrangement in early December last year to host more than 100,000 computers for cryptocurrency mining in the United States using energy generated by the sun and wind. The firms promised to host 73,000 miners in May.

Another innovation that Wikipedia is attempting to adopt is the use of unique NFT-tokens. The portal’s editors decided against comparing NFTs with the art. The debate began in late December, however even after addressing the problem, the editors have opted to postpone the conclusion.

A reluctance to understand the matter

Although the foundation will continue to monitor crypto talks in its forums, it will not cease taking cryptocurrency donations. The Wikimedia Foundation’s senior communications officer, Julia Brungs, likewise answered that the organization promptly converts bitcoin into fiat currency and never holds them. The flexibility to allow people to contribute in the way that is most convenient for them is also an argument in favor of crypto donations.

Nevertheless, cryptocurrency enthusiasts believe that ignoring involvement with digital assets is a huge mistake. Nonetheless, platform representatives might begin accepting cryptocurrencies based on the Proof-of-Stake consensus algorithm. The present behaviors appear to be a reluctance to understand the matter, as well as a wish to protect oneself from the crowd’s perspective censure. Anyway, this is far from the strongest reason for avoiding dealing with digital assets.

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Valentyna Bereza, Team bit4you.