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> There just isn't the incentive to use cryptocurrency to donate to Wikipedia. Sure there is. A lot of people have lots of value tied up in crypto, a very liq

> There just isn't the incentive to use cryptocurrency to donate to Wikipedia. Sure there is. A lot of people have lots of value tied up in crypto, a very liquid asset. It’s also easy to send. I know nothing about wiring money to Ukraine, but I know how to donate to Ukraine organizations that accept crypto. If crypto is a small part of your revenue stream, maybe it’s because you haven’t nurtured it as a donation channel.

unicornmama 4y ago
> I know nothing about wiring money to Ukraine You go to your bank and ask them to start a wire transfer. The recipient’s bank will provide the instructions. You can even do this entirely online.
- devoutsalsa 4y ago
  My physical bank is in a different country. As a crypto enthusiast, I’m obligated to migrate to a remote tax haven full of like minded nut jobs.
  - unicornmama 4y ago
    So you chose to unbank yourself :) I have transacted millions in crypto and wire transfers. Banking with crypto is like the 1970s - exorbitant fees. To do anything useful with it I have to offramp to fiat which drum rolls ends with a wire transfer.
    - devoutsalsa 4y ago
      You said "go to your bank". I was thinking "walk into a bank branch" XD I don't think I've ever wired money in my life. I guess I never needed to. And the few occasions I needed to send some money internationally, I've simply sent crypto, used Western Union, or something like PayPal or Revolut.
      - unicornmama 4y ago
        Wiring isn’t that bad, you need to fill in some fields about the recipient account details and receiving bank. The annoying bit is that banks have inconsistent web portals with mediocre UX. So sometimes it can be frustrating to figure out how to enter the information. I’ll admit that the crypto UX is faster with just entering a destination wallet address. It would be good if banks could adopt QR codes to provide similar experienfe. Sometimes you get charged a fee, but many institutions will waive that (e.g. Schwab) if your balance is high enough.
      - cycomanic 4y ago
        I find that mind-boggling. How did/do you pay rent? How do you get paid? Coming from Europe people use wiretransfers for pretty much everything over e.g. credit cards (obviously there are differences between countries but wire transfers are very common everywhere).
        devoutsalsa 4y ago
        I send electronic payments all the time, just not payments big enough to exceed maximum transfer limits. For example, Coinbase might say max transfer for ACH of 5000 USD per day, for larger deposits use a wire transfer. I’ve never done the type of transfer that exceeds the maximum ACH limit.
    - GoblinSlayer 4y ago
      I once wanted to lend money to my brother only to discover that my bank imposes monthly caps on money transfers "for your safety". Cryptocurrencies never do such dumb shit.
      - tome 4y ago
        This seems unlikely, given that people buy houses with money transfers.
        thehappypm 4y ago
        You are correct. Banks have many mechanisms for sending money from A to B, on the low end there’s Zelle, then there’s free inter bank transfers, then good old wire transfers (unlimited amounts, usually cost $25).
      - stjohnswarts 4y ago
        That's a default limit. I'm sure they will raise if you walk in and tell them you're going to transfer x amount out.
  - riffraff 4y ago
    My physical banks are in 3 different countries, I have not been in an office in years, and I still can send money to UA based organizations easily. Why would being physically in a bank be needed?
  - sofixa 4y ago
    And as a crypto enthusiast you've chosen a bank stuck in the 1980s which doesn't have an app or website? Is that to validate your crypto enthusiasm? Interbank transfers work the same way regardless of country ( with the exception of sanctions - you can't wire money to Russia or Iran just like that), over the SWIFT protocol with an IBAN and BIC. Usually you pay a fee for the transfer and currency exchange - some banks abuse that, some are competitive.
- rvz 4y ago
  Seems like they [0] can't use that method and are using cryptocurrencies instead. [0] https://theintercept.com/2022/01/19/crypto-afghanistan-sanctions-taliban/ https://theintercept.com/2022/01/19/crypto-afghanistan-sanct...
- blacklion 4y ago
  Try to do this in Russian bank now. In Russia.
- px43 4y ago
  > You go to your bank and ask them to start a wire transfer. Haha, or, I can just click a single link from a donation page and send ETH from the wallet in my browser directly to the organization that I want to support, which I did in the case of Ukraine. No need to log in to any third party website, and the transaction was finalized in ~10 seconds with negligible fees.
  - devoutsalsa 4y ago
    I also did this for Ukraine with BTC.
  - Kbelicius 4y ago
    I scanned a qr code, entered an amount and clicked pay in my banking app. It automatically converted the amount from my local currency to UAH. Negligible or no fee (can't recall and can't check right now). Seems that crypto is just a technical solution to socio-political issues that plague parts of the world.
  - SwimSwimHungry 4y ago
    Sure. But one thing cryptocurrency is terrible at is requiring that you do your own op-sec. Maybe you're good at that sort of thing, but because of the inherent lack of controls to reverse transactions made by mistake or accidental fat-fingering other details, such as the address, it's pretty bad for the less tech-savvy. Did you ever bother to check that "single link from a donation page" to make sure it's really the correct one? I love being able to call a bank if my VISA card gets stolen and charged up to high heaven and get that all reversed. Meanwhile, good luck with that NFT that mysteriously landed in your wallet that has bad coding in it to wreck your day. But yes, mass adoption imminent!
topranks 4y ago
Doesn’t make sense really though. How do these people buy groceries or pay regular bills? Most places don’t accept crypto for payments. If and when the whole world has moved to crypto payments I’m sure they’ll review it again. Until then the argument there are lots of people who have crypto and have not heard of / don’t know how to use a Visa card stretches credulity.

unicornmama 4y ago

> I know nothing about wiring money to Ukraine You go to your bank and ask them to start a wire transfer. The recipient’s bank will provide the instructions. You can even do this entirely online.

devoutsalsa 4y ago
My physical bank is in a different country. As a crypto enthusiast, I’m obligated to migrate to a remote tax haven full of like minded nut jobs.
- unicornmama 4y ago
  So you chose to unbank yourself :) I have transacted millions in crypto and wire transfers. Banking with crypto is like the 1970s - exorbitant fees. To do anything useful with it I have to offramp to fiat which drum rolls ends with a wire transfer.
  - devoutsalsa 4y ago
    You said "go to your bank". I was thinking "walk into a bank branch" XD I don't think I've ever wired money in my life. I guess I never needed to. And the few occasions I needed to send some money internationally, I've simply sent crypto, used Western Union, or something like PayPal or Revolut.
    - unicornmama 4y ago
      Wiring isn’t that bad, you need to fill in some fields about the recipient account details and receiving bank. The annoying bit is that banks have inconsistent web portals with mediocre UX. So sometimes it can be frustrating to figure out how to enter the information. I’ll admit that the crypto UX is faster with just entering a destination wallet address. It would be good if banks could adopt QR codes to provide similar experienfe. Sometimes you get charged a fee, but many institutions will waive that (e.g. Schwab) if your balance is high enough.
    - cycomanic 4y ago
      I find that mind-boggling. How did/do you pay rent? How do you get paid? Coming from Europe people use wiretransfers for pretty much everything over e.g. credit cards (obviously there are differences between countries but wire transfers are very common everywhere).
      - devoutsalsa 4y ago
        I send electronic payments all the time, just not payments big enough to exceed maximum transfer limits. For example, Coinbase might say max transfer for ACH of 5000 USD per day, for larger deposits use a wire transfer. I’ve never done the type of transfer that exceeds the maximum ACH limit.
  - GoblinSlayer 4y ago
    I once wanted to lend money to my brother only to discover that my bank imposes monthly caps on money transfers "for your safety". Cryptocurrencies never do such dumb shit.
    - tome 4y ago
      This seems unlikely, given that people buy houses with money transfers.
      - thehappypm 4y ago
        You are correct. Banks have many mechanisms for sending money from A to B, on the low end there’s Zelle, then there’s free inter bank transfers, then good old wire transfers (unlimited amounts, usually cost $25).
    - stjohnswarts 4y ago
      That's a default limit. I'm sure they will raise if you walk in and tell them you're going to transfer x amount out.
- riffraff 4y ago
  My physical banks are in 3 different countries, I have not been in an office in years, and I still can send money to UA based organizations easily. Why would being physically in a bank be needed?
- sofixa 4y ago
  And as a crypto enthusiast you've chosen a bank stuck in the 1980s which doesn't have an app or website? Is that to validate your crypto enthusiasm? Interbank transfers work the same way regardless of country ( with the exception of sanctions - you can't wire money to Russia or Iran just like that), over the SWIFT protocol with an IBAN and BIC. Usually you pay a fee for the transfer and currency exchange - some banks abuse that, some are competitive.
rvz 4y ago
Seems like they [0] can't use that method and are using cryptocurrencies instead. [0] https://theintercept.com/2022/01/19/crypto-afghanistan-sanctions-taliban/ https://theintercept.com/2022/01/19/crypto-afghanistan-sanct...
blacklion 4y ago
Try to do this in Russian bank now. In Russia.
px43 4y ago
> You go to your bank and ask them to start a wire transfer. Haha, or, I can just click a single link from a donation page and send ETH from the wallet in my browser directly to the organization that I want to support, which I did in the case of Ukraine. No need to log in to any third party website, and the transaction was finalized in ~10 seconds with negligible fees.
- devoutsalsa 4y ago
  I also did this for Ukraine with BTC.
- Kbelicius 4y ago
  I scanned a qr code, entered an amount and clicked pay in my banking app. It automatically converted the amount from my local currency to UAH. Negligible or no fee (can't recall and can't check right now). Seems that crypto is just a technical solution to socio-political issues that plague parts of the world.
- SwimSwimHungry 4y ago
  Sure. But one thing cryptocurrency is terrible at is requiring that you do your own op-sec. Maybe you're good at that sort of thing, but because of the inherent lack of controls to reverse transactions made by mistake or accidental fat-fingering other details, such as the address, it's pretty bad for the less tech-savvy. Did you ever bother to check that "single link from a donation page" to make sure it's really the correct one? I love being able to call a bank if my VISA card gets stolen and charged up to high heaven and get that all reversed. Meanwhile, good luck with that NFT that mysteriously landed in your wallet that has bad coding in it to wreck your day. But yes, mass adoption imminent!

topranks 4y ago

Doesn’t make sense really though. How do these people buy groceries or pay regular bills? Most places don’t accept crypto for payments. If and when the whole world has moved to crypto payments I’m sure they’ll review it again. Until then the argument there are lots of people who have crypto and have not heard of / don’t know how to use a Visa card stretches credulity.