Many users in the bitcoin community support Wikipedia, and wish to donate to Wikipedia.
Wikipedia accepts many types of cash and non-cash donations, but they do not yet accept bitcoin. Wikipedia reaches 450 million people around the world and is funded entirely by donations.
While we share the community's enthusiasm about having bitcoin accepted everywhere, not every business is comfortable accepting bitcoin at this time. Some members of the community have suggested to us that we manage an escrow fund for Wikipedia donations. BitPay believes that Wikipedia provides an incredibly valuable service to society, and they deserve people's support regardless of what payment methods they choose to accept.
The advancements in bitcoin payment processing over the past year have been quite remarkable, and many corporate finance managers and legal advisors are seeing the risks diminish to the point where accepting bitcoin is actually less risky and more beneficial than accepting other forms of payment. A great example is the recent announcement from Wordpress.
In order to support Wikipedia and provide the Bitcoin community a way to express themselves, BitPay has setup a merchant account that will accept and forward donations to Wikipedia on behalf of the Bitcoin community. BitPay will automatically convert these into US dollars and deposit US dollars into Wikipedia's bank account every day. BitPay will offer this service at no charge to the donors or to Wikipedia.
A unique bitcoin address is created for each transaction, and the current exchange rate is captured, so that each individual donor has a receipt for their donation with the value in their local currency. Wikipedia can also get a report showing the USD value of every donation, as well as the daily batch total.
You can donate to Wikipedia using the form below:
