Wikimedia Community Votes Against Crypto Donations Citing Environmental Concerns

The matter closed with 232 out of 326 contributors downvoting crypto donations.

By Radhika Parashar | Updated: 14 April 2022 18:01 IST

Wikimedia Community Votes Against Crypto Donations Citing Environmental Concerns

Photo Credit: Pixabay/ Sergei Tokmakov

The Wikimedia Foundation is the non-profit organisation that hosts Wikipedia

Highlights

Wikimedia may or may not accept the decision of its community
Wikimedia Foundation tries to keep carbon footprint in check
Cryptocurrency mining consumes loads of power, adds to carbon emission

The community of Wikimedia Foundation contributors have asked the organisation to not accept crypto donations. The non-profit organisation that hosts Wikipedia had opened a discussion on the subject in January. The matter closed with 232 out of 326 contributors downvoting crypto donations. That makes up for roughly 71 percent of contributors who participated in this round. The environmental concerns linked to cryptocurrencies emerged as one of the main reasons for the Wikimedia community to take its decision.

“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,” the Wikimedia community said in a blog post.

The Wikimedia Foundation supports a “sustainable world” and tries to keep its carbon footprint in check.

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Mining cryptocurrencies, however, does not have a good reputation in terms of being environment friendly.

Industry players are working to make the crypto industry become more power and environment friendly. Intel, for instance, has announced a new bitcoin mining chip, designed to improve the energy efficiency of proof-of-work (PoW) crypto mining.

It is however, noteworthy, that some Wikimedia members did support crypto donations highlighting that fiat currencies are also not so environment-friendly.

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“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,” the blog post noted.

The Wikimedia Foundation had earlier said that it received roughly $130,000 worth of crypto donations in the last financial year.

This is not the first time that people associated with the Wikimedia community have shown reservation against crypto-related subjects.

In January, a group of Wikipedia editors voted against categorising non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as works of art.

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Further reading: Cryptocurrency, Wikimedia, Wikipedia, Crypto Donations

Radhika Parashar

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Radhika Parashar is a senior correspondent for Gadgets 360. She has been reporting on tech and telecom for the last three years now and will be focussing on writing about all things crypto. Besides this, she is a major sitcom nerd and often replies in Chandler Bing and Michael Scott references. For tips or queries you could reach out to her at RadhikaP@ndtv.com. More