Bye, Bye Bitcoin. The world’s largest cryptocurrency did see impeccable success. The adoption rate of the king coin soared over the last couple of years. However, several firms began viewing the coin as a threat to the environment. The Proof-of-Work [PoW] algorithm that the asset employs has been a concern to many. As a result, Bitcoin has been ousted from several platforms. Wikipedia is the latest to join this list.
Wikipedia was previously accepting donations in crypto. However, voting and a few discussions later, the Wikimedia Foundation decided to disable this payment channel. The platform noted that crypto was the lowest used medium as revenue around it summed up to only 0.08 percent over the last years. Apart from this, the environmental damage caused by Bitcoin was also highlighted.
Wikimedia first began accepting donations in crypto back in 2014. However, in the later years, the platform endured immense backlash from the community. Several were calling out the platform for accepting Bitcoin despite its environmental impact.
Mozilla, Reddit are among the companies that dropped support for Bitcoin
Mozilla’s long haul with Bitcoin came to an end last week. The firm withdrew support for the king coin. Once again, the platform emphasized the PoW mechanism. Mozilla noted that it would no longer accept PoW cryptocurrencies as they are energy-intensive. However, proof-of-stake [PoS] assets will still be accepted by the platform. Mozilla added,
“The first update to our donation policy targets that commitment: Proof-of-work cryptocurrencies can significantly increase our GHG footprint due to their energy intensive nature. Mozilla’s decision not to accept proof-of-work donations ensures that our fundraising activities remain aligned with our emissions commitment.”
With the onset of 2019, social media platform, Reddit bid adieu to Bitcoin. Reddit has time and again extended support towards crypto. As a result, it added the coin as a medium to pay for Reddit Gold, a premium membership program.
Additionally, the entire globe is aware of Tesla’s decision to drop support for Bitcoin.
While PoW can be hazardous, several mining platforms have been coming up with greener ways of mining Bitcoin.