Wikimedia Foundation Suspends Crypto Donations After 8 Years

The decision to discontinue the crypto donations was shared by the Wikimedia Foundation, ending an 8-year-long period in which Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) were used as a conduit to donate funds to the organization.

“The Wikimedia Foundation has decided to discontinue direct acceptance of cryptocurrency as a means of donating. We began our direct acceptance of cryptocurrency in 2014 based on requests from our volunteers and donor communities. We are making this decision based on recent feedback from those same communities,” the announcement from the foundation reads.

The objection to a select group of the Foundation’s community was centered on the supposed environmental hazard caused by Bitcoin with respect to its mining processes. The three-month-long debate saw proponents that wanted the ban and others who advocated for the continuation of the crypto donations on Wikipedia.

While the critics had their way, those who supported the continuation of the donations noted that there are other digital currencies that are much more energy-efficient. This includes Solana (SOL), Avalanche (AVAX), and Terra (LUNA), all of which work based on the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus model.

The supporters also argued that the crypto donation allowance should not be banned seeing BTC is now an official legal tender in El Salvador and the Central African Republic, and citizens from these countries should be allowed to back the efforts of the Wikimedia Foundation through their nation’s currency.

With the ban on donations, the Wikimedia Foundation said it will close down its account with Bitpay, its official partner through which the cryptocurrencies are channeled. However, the organization said it will continue to monitor the evolution of the digital currency ecosystem.

“We will continue to monitor this issue, and appreciate the feedback and consideration given to this evolving matter by people across the Wikimedia movement. We will remain flexible and responsive to the needs of volunteers and donors. Thank you again to everyone that has provided valuable input on this increasingly complex and shifting topic,” the organization said.

Two Sides of the Coin

The disdain for Proof-of-Work (PoW) mining is growing by the day, and with this scorn, a number of multinational organizations are beginning to rethink their stands as it relates to allowances for their ESG obligations.

In a move similar to those of the Wikimedia Foundation, the Mozilla Corporation also backtracked on its acceptance of cryptocurrency donations which it lend support to in partnership with Coinbase Global Inc (NASDAQ: COIN) as far back as 2014. While more organizations have continued to rethink the permissions to Bitcoin, a lot more are gradually embracing the digital asset as a means of payment, further opening the coin to a broad utility base across the board.