Published: 14.04.2022
Article reading time:
2 minutes.
The community of the Wikimedia Foundation, which maintains the infrastructure of Wikipedia, has voted by a majority against accepting donations in cryptocurrencies due to the unsustainable nature of mining.
Wikipedia administrator Molly White, known under the pseudonym GorillaWarfare, proposed to stop accepting contributions in cryptocurrencies at the beginning of the year. She is concerned that large amounts of electricity are required to mine bitcoin and ether, which can be bad for the environment, which goes against the Fund’s commitment to environmental sustainability.
The voting and request for comments on this issue began on January 10 and ended on April 12. It was attended by 326 users, 232 (71%) of which supported White’s proposal. Those who spoke in favor of further adoption of cryptocurrencies proposed to focus on cryptocurrencies with the Proof-of-Stake consensus method, which consume little electricity. Another argument in favor of accepting cryptocurrencies was the ability to make donations to people in countries under martial law.
“Cryptocurrencies are extremely risky investments that have recently become especially popular among retail investors. I don’t think we should approve of their use. By accepting them, we support the use of predatory investments and technologies,” White said.
The Wikimedia Foundation said it received $130,000 worth of crypto donations from 347 people in its last fiscal year, representing less than 0.1% of its income. Last year, the majority of donations in cryptocurrencies were in bitcoin.
In January, Internet browser Mozilla also announced a suspension of accepting donations in BTC, ETH and DOGE after developers criticized cryptocurrencies for their large carbon footprint. However, Mozilla recently said it would soon publish a list of less energy-intensive cryptoassets whose acceptance would not violate the company’s environmental policy.
Source: Bits
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