Hi! I'm sure that the WMF fundraising people are all aware of this, but this isn't exactly a well-known issue, so please excuse this short introduction.
For a few months now, there has been quite a strong push from the Bitcoin community to accept that currency as a donation method; the issue has been gaining more and more significance ever since the start of this years' fundraising campaign.
As far as I am aware, the only response so far from the Foundation is that they do not accept any currencies that are not backed by "by the full faith and credit of an issuing government." [1]
I'm sure those reading this list can Google the topic themselves, so I won't link to the many angry discussion that are taking place on the interwebs right now; instead, I'll ask this: does the Foundation intend to accept Bitcoin as a donation method any time soon? Does the Foundation realize that the payment processing company Bitpay has kindly set up a merchant account that is transferring money to the WMF every day? [2]
Can you let us know the reasons behind the decision of not accepting Bitcoin other than those mentioned on the FAQ page I linked? I'm not in any way related to the Bitcoin movement, but I'm sure that many people would appreciate hearing more about this.
I should also perhaps mention for those interested in donating in Bitcoin that Wikimedia New York City, the chapter for NYC, does accept Bitcoins: https://nyc.wikimedia.org/wiki/Donate.
Maybe there are other chapters or affiliates that allow this method of donating?
Tomasz
== References == * [1] https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/FAQ/en#Why_does_the_Wikimedia_Foundatio... * [2] http://blog.bitpay.com/2012/11/donate-to-wikipedia-with-bitcoin.html