#wikipedia donations via #Bitcoin

Thank you for your email and your support for the Wikimedia Foundation. I apologize that we are unable to accept donations via your chosen payment method.

We accepted donations via direct cryptocurrency between 2014 and 2022 based on requests from our volunteer and donor communities. In January 2022, the Wikimedia volunteer community requested feedback from contributors about the Wikimedia Foundation’s acceptance of cryptocurrency donations. Nearly 400 users participated in the discussion and ultimately asked the Wikimedia Foundation to cease accepting #cryptocurrency donations. You can view the discussion here👇(included below).

Please note that this discussion was initiated and facilitated by Wikimedia volunteer community members.

In response to these Wikipedia editors and project contributors, the Wikimedia Foundation honored the majority community request to cease accepting direct cryptocurrency donations in May 2022.

You may also want to see our Ways to Give page for other options.

Again, we apologize for any inconvenience. Please feel free to contact us with any further questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Erich Brill

👇👇quoted discussion 👇👇

The following request for comments is closed.

This RfC was open to community input between January 10, 2022 and April 12, 2022. A little under 400 users participated in the voting and discussion concerning the proposition that the Wikimedia Foundation stop accepting cryptocurrency donations.

Common arguments in support include: issues of environmental sustainability, that accepting cryptocurrencies constitutes implicit endorsement of the issues surrounding cryptocurrencies, and community issues with the risk to the movement’s reputation for accepting cryptocurrencies.

Common arguments in opposition include: the existence of less energy-intensive cryptocurrencies (proof-of-stake), that cryptocurrencies provide safer ways to donate and engage in finance for people in oppressive countries, and that fiat currencies also have issues with environmental sustainability.

Excluding new accounts and unregistered users, the tally is 232 to 94, or 71.17% in support of the proposal. These results indicate overall community support, with a significant minority in opposition.

Thus, the Wikimedia community requests that the Wikimedia Foundation stop accepting cryptocurrency donations.

Happy editing, Vermont 🐿️ (talk) 22:56, 12 April 2022 (UTC)