Wikipedia's co-founder called the addition of cryptographic madness.

   Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales sees no practical way to use cryptographic software that would convince him to add crypto assets to the platform.

Speaking at a CoinGeek conference in London, Jimmy Wales said that crypto-currencies would not add any useful features to Wikipedia. He believes that adding cryptocurrencies to the site will damage its concept and ultimately change the unique way the platform works.

Wales said it was trying to distinguish between the ideological and practical nature of cryptocurrencies. He already rejected proposals from lawyers who asked him to consider the option of allowing content creators and editors to be directly rewarded with crypto assets.

"This is a really bad idea that doesn't really work," — Wales said. "If you take something that's bad in itself and put it in a blockchain, it doesn't necessarily become a good idea.

Wikipedia relies on experts and enthusiastic volunteers to add and edit new content, verify facts and remove inaccurate or irrelevant material, Wales said. By integrating cryptovials, Wikipedia "takes a step back", making it easier for people and companies to pay for the content they want to see on the platform.

"Creating a mechanism where you encourage this type of behavior … will not benefit the quality of Wikipedia at all," said Wales.

In his opinion, if you force authors and editors to use cryptographic software, it will "cause serious harm" to Wikipedia.

"Offering them to pay or risk money to edit Wikipedia is completely insane," — he said.

If the platform were to force people to deposit, some experts and enthusiasts who contribute out of interest in their chosen topic might leave the site. They would be replaced by people who effectively compete with each other to create and edit content for money, he said.

While Wales opposes creating incentives for Wikipedia editors, he said it's not against accepting donations in various crypto-activities. Recall that Wikipedia has been accepting donations to BTC since 2014. In addition, during the crypto rally in late 2017, the Bitcoin page on Wikipedia was in the top 3 popular pages for two days.