Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales said that it would be “insane” to integrate blockchain or cryptocurrency into the encyclopedia platform.
Speaking at the CoinGeek Conference, Wales claimed that he has yet to see a single practical use-case for crypto that would convince him to integrate the technology into Wikipedia. Wales went on to say that adding bitcoin or blockchain to the world’s largest online encyclopedia could prove detrimental to its vision and damage how the platform currently operates.
He said,
This is a really bad idea. It's an idea that doesn't actually work. If you take something that is a bad idea and put it on the blockchain, that doesn't necessarily make it a good idea.
Wales made his comments opposite of Craig Wright, explaining that he has turned down several proposals for rewarding content contributors with digital currencies. The co-founder argued that Wikipedia benefits from volunteers and enthusiasts to curate content, as opposed to an incentivized structure that could be manipulated by companies.
Creating a mechanism where you effectively authenticate that type of behavior … isn't going to help with the quality of Wikipedia at all.
He concluded by saying that cryptocurrency could “seriously harm,” the platform,
To say to them, you're going to have to pay or put money at risk in order to edit Wikipedia is completely insane.
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