Wikipedia's editorial community voted to stop accepting cryptocurrency donations after months of intense debate.
The vote (232 for, 94 against) means that the proposal is now sent to the Wikimedia Foundation for review, which is under no obligation to accept it.
The discussion was started by Wikipedia user Molly White, known as GorillaWarfare, who runs the excellent Web3 blog, which highlights common oddities in the crypto space.
extremely risky
"Cryptocurrencies are extremely risky investments that are only growing in popularity among retail investors," White wrote in January 2022. "I don't think we should condone their use in this way."
One of the main reasons was that Bitcoin and Ether, the two most popular coins, use a proof-of-work model that requires a lot of computing power.
One of the biggest debates within the web3 space right now is about proof-of-work versus proof-of-stake, a newer, less energy-intensive model that, if all goes to plan, Ethereum will eventually switch to. .
In an email to Ars Technica, the Wikimedia Foundation said: "We are aware of the request from the community that the Foundation consider ending our acceptance of cryptocurrency donations. Our fundraising team is reviewing the request and related discussions, and we will provide additional information once this process is complete."
hungry hippos
A popular estimate, which, it should be noted, is disputed, shows that Bitcoin uses around 200 TWh of energy per year, or up to 70 million people in Thailand.
As the climate crisis worsens, so much energy consumed by an asset that it's pretty useless outside of speculation is highly debatable.
Proponents of accepting cryptocurrencies on Wikipedia have argued that the energy consumption comes from mining, not from using the currency.
Similar debates raged at Mozilla, another independent web darling, which received widespread criticism after a tweet made reference to accepting crypto donations.
The browser maker has since backed out, saying it won't accept such donations in the future.