After Eight Years, Wikipedia Stops Accepting Bitcoin and Ethereum Donations

After a three-month debate regarding the benefits and drawbacks of cryptocurrency, the Wikimedia Foundation, Wikipedia’s parent organization, will no longer accept donations in Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, or Ethereum. The announcement comes after the charity conducted a poll in which more than 70% of respondents said they wanted to stop accepting bitcoin donations altogether. “The Wikimedia Foundation has decided to discontinue direct acceptance of cryptocurrency as a means of donating … we are making this decision based on recent feedback from [volunteers and donor] communities,” the foundation said in a statement. The Wikimedia Foundation has decided to stop accepting cryptocurrency donations. The decision was made based on a community request that the WMF no longer accept crypto donations, which came out of a three-month-long discussion that wrapped up earlier this month. pic.twitter.com/RHAD0FRA5W — Molly White (@molly0xFFF) May 1, 2022 In 2014, the foundation began taking Bitcoin. It was argued at the time that including Bitcoin as a donation option would make donating to the Wikimedia Foundation “as straightforward and inclusive as feasible.” Wikipedia has always placed a strong focus on being a worldwide platform, with information available in 326 languages. The nonprofit first accepted Bitcoin donations through Coinbase before switching to BitPay to accept donations in other cryptocurrencies. However, prior to the prohibiti...