It follows a three-month discussion within the Wikimedia Foundation's community, which included a poll that asked whether support for crypto donations should be withdrawn.
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The Wikimedia Foundation has announced that it will no longer accept crypto donations.
Wikipedia's parent company had first started accepting Bitcoin all the way back in 2014 — as well as Ether and Bitcoin Cash in later years.
But in a new statement, the organization said it was pulling the plug after receiving feedback from volunteers and donors… and closing its BitPay account.
It follows a three-month discussion within the Wikimedia Foundation's community, which included a poll that asked whether support for crypto donations should be withdrawn.
Although just 326 people took part, 71% voted yes — indicating there was "strong support" to ditch crypto altogether.
A Big Deal?
The pressure that the Wikimedia Foundation came under is likely linked to concerns over Bitcoin's impact on the environment.
It seems that the ban is more of a symbolic gesture than one that will hit the organization in the pocket.
Data suggests that, over the whole of 2021, just 0.08% of the foundation's revenues actually came from crypto donations — and in any case, the digital assets it received were immediately converted into cash.
Earlier this year, Mozilla also announced that it would no longer accept crypto donations after facing a backlash on Twitter.
One of the nonprofit organization's own co-founders, Jamie Zawinski, had tweeted:
"Hi, I'm sure that whoever runs this account has no idea who I am, but I founded @mozilla and I'm here to say f*** you and f*** this. Everyone involved in the project should be witheringly ashamed of this decision to partner with planet-incinerating Ponzi grifters."
