Wikimedia Foundation gets over $140,000 in bitcoin donations during first week

Wikimedia Foundation has received over $140,000 worth of bitcoins within a week of accepting them for donations. This represents one of the largest amounts amassed by any entity launching bitcoin acceptance within such a period.

Coinbase, which is providing the integration support, notes the appropriateness of the partnership. Wikimedia Foundation, primarily through its flagship online encyclopedia service Wikipedia, is in essence decentralizing the world of information by making it accessible to everyone over the web. Bitcoin too seeks to decentralize the world of finance, restoring the function of monetary transfer to individuals and cutting out the roles of centralized authority and financial institutions.

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This was the main argument in favor of their accepting of Bitcoin for donations during the months of debate that ensued on the issue. Opposed were those who felt that such a move would further fuel what they believed was a cryptocurrency price bubble, compromising the community’s ideal of neutrality. Some were also concerned about the costs of such an integration and how this would bite into net gains. This is most likely a non-issue now that they’ve partnered with a 3rd party providing a low cost, out-of-the box solution.

Some had threatened that they would only donate to Wikipedia with bitcoins. Perhaps the resounding success during the first week stems from what has been accumulating for months or even years.