Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales Not Interested In An ICO
The founder of Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales made it clear that the free online encyclopedia will not participate in cryptocurrency.
Responding to whether Wikipedia has any cryptocurrency or ICO plans, he noted that the platform ha ‘zero interest’. Wales noted “We are absolutely never going to do that. Zero interest.”
The internet entrepreneur emphasized his opinion relating to blockchain technology.
“I have reservations about blockchain. It’s a super-interesting technology, but it’s clearly a bubble with a lot of mania and hype around it,” said Wales.
These comments were similar to what the founder not noted at the Blockshow Europe conference held back in May this year in Berlin.
“I think blockchain is a super interesting technology but there are a lot of fads going on right now … There are a lot of these initial coin offerings which are in my opinion are absolute scams and people should be very wary of things that are going on in that area,” Wales was reported as having said in a television interview.
Wales’ concerns regarding blockchain are quite different to that of the co-founder of Wikipedia, Larry Sanger, who is presently the chief information officer of Everipedia, an online encyclopedia, which flaunts itself as the ‘world’s first encyclopedia on the blockchain.’ Sanger noted that being on a blockchain will improve Everipedia.
“In an era of misinformation, the world stands to benefit enormously from a transparent, immutable and decentralized protocol for accessing and sharing knowledge,” Sanger said in a statement after being appointed CIO of Everipedia late last year. “We’ll not only make Everipedia more comprehensive than Wikipedia; in my role, I’ll help create a neutral framework enabling the world to find the best encyclopedia articles on every topic.”
Regardless of the concerns raised by Wales towards cryptocurrencies, the Wikimedia Foundation has been accepting donations in bitcoin since 2014. Yet, this will only become possible when nonprofit has shown a lot of reluctance as well as rejecting likely donors just because they intend on giving bitcoin.
