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For long, Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) have been a viable solution for preserving one's privacy and anonymity. In today's world, there are many VPN services which rely on a middleman (or a central operator) that could be paid with Fiat or crypto. But what if we'd eliminate the middleman from the system, and bring a self-autonomous VPN service to the world using Blockchain technology? In this model, people would pay for a VPN service that will last for "x" amount of days using a crypto of their choice. Everything will be settled on-chain in a completely decentralized way. Node operators would serve as "gateways" that would constitute the whole VPN.

So far, I'm aware of two Blockchain-based VPN services (Mysterium and Tachyon Protocol) which aim to further decentralize the Internet by eliminating the need to rely on a middleman or third parties for complete privacy/anonymity. But compared with traditional VPN service providers, Blockchain-based VPN services are a "needle in a haystack".

Do you think that VPNs using Blockchain technology are worth it? Is it still too early too tell? Do you happen to know about other alternatives to Mysterium or Tachyon Protocol within the Blockchain industry? What are your thoughts? ???

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Hmm. An interesting take on using block chain technology for  VPN . The usage of VPN'S are getting increased everyday with the millineals preferring to stay anonymous. But there have also been cases of VPN servers getting hacked or having backdoor and getting exploited. If block chain is getting used in VPN , it might get famous.

There already is a decentralized network for privacy, it's called TOR - and it doesn't use blockchain, because it predates blockchain. Blockchain isn't some amazing fundamental technology like its promoters often say, in fact it's not needed for most cases and can't be applied, because it was created to solve very specific problem - a problem of trust for money transactions on the Internet.

I have not used a totally block chain based VPN service (but I'll be looking up those two later). I've paid for VPN subscription using Bitcoin, but that was in a service that also allows fiat payment.

Both the blockchain and VPN are both privacy centered and gives a bit of autonomy to the users. Merging both services is a venture that could take off if done right. Users would not have to reveal their identity to the VPN providers in order to use the service.

Tor works with the same principal except for the users don't have to pay for the connection while the reward for running nodes are very small and rare.
The idea is good but it all comes down to the execution. Users would want better facility, security and speed in a cheaper price to switch to blockchain based service from a traditional one.

I still can't understand why many keep bringing up TOR network when it comes to anonymity, every time I try using TOR my location is easily leaked compare to other VPN services like IPSEC and OVPN, as for blockchain no idea

A useful technology really needs to be discussed and acted upon, what's wrong if it is useful and easy, not to forget that the technology protects. This has become one of the breakthroughs to prevent unwanted cases

For me this is a unique niche. Moreover, VPN is quite popular in the development of technology and the internet which is increasingly popular with different background needs. The basis of its integration with the blockchain is to create a decentralized system, such as giving full opportunity that all control is in you, your data is yours. Regardless of whether this is effective or not, this clearly has a plus in the midst of the VPN war. All compete to create unique innovations to provide maximum service, and blockchain is a strong attraction.
I once read briefly about Orchid and Tor, this is one reference that I read that compares it with new innovations from Tachyon: VPN Protocol Wars in the Blockchain World (https://blokt.com/blockchain/vpn-protocol-wars-in-the-blockchain-world)

Yes, I'm aware. While Tor works as a privacy solution for the web, it lacks a proper incentive mechanism that would compensate node operators. I believe that a Blockchain-based VPN system will be much more sustainable in the long run because of the attractive rewards it'll provide to nodes themselves. While I agree that Blockchain isn't meant to be used for everything, it can be used as a separate financial layer for a decentralized VPN system. In other words, there will be two layers: the main layer will be the one in charge of encrypting and relaying traffic while the other layer will rely on Blockchain technology to reward node operators. This could become a truly decentralized VPN service that's completely P2P with no logging, etc. After all, traditional VPN services are attached to a company which brings the risk of a single point of failure.

So far, the are only two projects working on a decentralized VPN service which relies on Blockchain technology for true anonymity. Both Mysterium and the Tachyon Protocol are nice initiatives that could take the world by storm if widely adopted in the mainstream world. If they become a success, you could expect many other decentralized VPN solutions to emerge on top of the Blockchain. Otherwise, traditional VPN services and the Tor network will be the norm for privacy/anonymity in cyberspace for a very long time. Just my thoughts ;D

When I've tried to access TOR using Brave Browser, my computer notified me that there's a Trojan and that made me worried about it. did a few search and saw that I'm not the only person that experienced it. But I have cleaned it already.

So I think the idea of VPN with blockchain technology, that looks good after reading the thoughts of Abiky. I don't think it's still early, people are becoming conservative with their privacy these days so it's a good topic to discuss.

I don't even think so. When you are using VPN and your location can be leaked too. In my opinion of all of these kind of private connection service are not yet needed in the crypto. I'm using tachyon right now and the service is looks very similar with what already offered in non crypto based VPN service.

Tor exists for 17 years already, and blockchain technology is still just vaporware, so how can you say that blockchain is more sustainable? And you don't need any financial incentives for Tor, it's been working great even without it, and financial incentives can even cause centralization, because it will bring bigger companies into the game. Plus blockchain's main goal it to store the data forever and without any changes, so it's inherently a risk for privacy.

Well, I'm not referring to use Blockchain technology for storing data. Rather, it'll be used as a financial layer to incentivize nodes on the VPN network. As I've said before, there will be two layers. One layer will be used for encrypting and relaying traffic (VPN), while the other layer will work separately from the first one with its own cryptocurrency which rewards anyone who runs a node by supporting the VPN (Blockchain technology).

Of course, Tor has been tried-and-tested for many years now as a hardened privacy solution for the paranoid person. But I believe that Blockchain technology will aim to revolutionize the way we browse the web privately, as it eliminates the need for people to depend on companies or a middleman for VPN services. Everything will be done at a protocol level. Think of some sort of a "DAO" where the service acts autonomously with Blockchain technology. It's not required to pay with crypto in order to use the decentralized VPN service except if the user wants more speed or bandwidth. Since there's no central operator or company behind the VPN service, there's no logs to keep and risks of single points of failure will be a thing of the past. I'll be something like Tor, except that it will have an incentivized mechanism with the power of Blockchain technology. Perhaps, this may be unnecessary in the long run. We'll have to wait and see how successful both the Mysterium Network and Tachyon Protocol will be in the mainstream world with their reliance on Blockchain technology for node incentivization. Just my thoughts ;D

Probably there doesn't seem to be much interest from shitposting bounty hunters to this topic as they would have a minimal knowledge on bitcoin and cryptocurrency as a whole and would just hunt for bounties.

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I would never speak in favor of creating a new currency in the form of implementing blockchain and making them list of exchanges. Rather, we could just use the blockchain tech and pay from the scale of "Highest contributor - Low contributor" in bitcoins itself. The primary goal of VPN is to anonymize users and to improve the privacy of users. Mysterium Network has never reached the limelight still and they are still in the testing phase.


I would be having a grasp on Tachyon Protocol by tomorrow and would discuss more on the same. But if the node operators are to be paid through bitcoin, it would deter the privacy issues of the customer and the data would be stored on some centralized servers as well. I have been going through a read on Orchid protocol and they do seem to solve the same case in an advanced manner. But for the node operators to get paid, we need to introduce a smart contract kind of stuff for them to get paid through ethereum or bitcoin based on the contributions they have done in operating the node for a particular period of time.

New projects aiming to use Blockchain technology for providing decentralized VPN services can easily rely on a sort of token standard to create a self-sustainable economic model. It doesn't necessarily have to be an existent cryptocurrency like Bitcoin or Ethereum. The Tachyon Protocol has an interesting concept for delivering VPN services to the world using Blockchain technology. It has its own internal token (IPX) that rewards node operators on the VPN network. One interesting fact is that the "IPX" token lives on the V Systems public blockchain network. It could bring greater demand into the VSYS blockchain if successful.

I've looked into the Orchid protocol recently, and I'd have to say that it's also a promising Blockchain project which aims to provide VPN services to the world. Now, the competition will be fierce as the Mysterium Network, the Tachyon Protocol, and the Orchid Protocol battle their way towards becoming the leader in Blockchain-based VPN services. If they'd want to "tackle" traditional VPN services that are centralized, they would need provide an attractive price model with the purpose of gaining the attention of everyday people.

Of course, many of these projects are still in testing phase. The Mysterium Network has been an experimental platform for quite some time. But I believe that once a stable version is released, the Blockchain-based VPN industry will rise like never before. Considering that this is still an idea/concept, it may take a couple of years from now before we'll get to use truly decentralized VPN services for our own benefit. Combining a Blockchain-based VPN service like Mysterium or Tachyon Protocol with the Tor network might bring a whole new level of privacy to the end user. Still, people don't care about decentralization or privacy these days. Which is why, Blockchain-based VPN services might never reach the level of adoption as traditional VPNs we know and love today. Just my opinion :)

It depends on how Blockchain can make it different. If no different than the usual, I think no worth. But if the VPNs can be safer and simpler for the users, then it is worth to try.

The best VPN project I trust on blockchain presently is only Tachyon protocol, Tachyon Protocol is building an alternate stack to disrupt traditional communication protocols over the internet in order to eliminate drawbacks in TCP/IP. It is a collaboration between X-VPN and V Systems. I'm positive that this project will be more demanding

How secured can one get when using VPN based Blockchain service compare to other VPN apps? I don't see any difference here, many developers just want to make every thing available on blockchain, most of the projects don't count, no one needs them

Good Post.

The problems which we still face in blockchain and its implementation is that they almost all the projects and the team behind the projects are being treated as a trading commodity or stock market kind of stuff instead of going through the technology which governs them. Decentralized nodes has been in study right from the age of introduction of TOR based routing services and similarly VSys are becoming the new kind of platform for the building of completely decentralized applications which is quite similar to Ethereum. For VSys to be successful, there needs to be deployment of various dapps in the blockchain and those dapps shouldn't simply rely on the trading commodity as majority of the ERC-20 tokens does. I would wholeheartedly say that not all projects are outright scams but identifying a legit project has become too difficult nowadays as most of the ICO run away with investors money.

These projects still have a long way to go in realizing their ideas in real world. Lightning Network was one of the proposed brilliant solutions to scale bitcoin in the likeness of Visa transactions and can help in processing over 1 million transactions per second. But as of today, there have been meagre in terms of usability among the general bitcoiners. Today, the bitcoiners need a far more effective solution like SEGWIT to make the scalability to work on a practical scale. Even the whole idea behind bitcoin is too good to be brought into the practical real world but these newer concepts needs time to mature over the years.

At one point of time in future, if the developers are able to scale bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to an equivalent of Visa payment systems we would see decentralization becoming favorable among the global citizens and banks tending to diminish over the period of time. Time should have an answer for these queries as either of them are not really in the hands either developers or bankers to be true. Global citizens are the one to use them.

I  know of Mysterium but the project never rely gained any traction, was able to raise huge amount of money in the ICO boom of 2017, recently Tachyon Protocol is making moves to make waves in the space  but the issue I see is getting users to their network, if they can they this would be huge for them, another thing is speed, if their network is not slow as compared to the centralized VPN it would be a good selling point

The difference is that Blockchain-based VPNs will offer an incentive for running a node, whereas traditionally-centralized VPN services do not. Since Blockchain is not meant to be used for everything (especially at handling loads of data at an ever-growing rate), it could serve as a financial layer for the innovative VPN system. Decentralized VPN solutions could adopt innovative cryptographic techniques (ZKPs perhaps?) to stay ahead in the game. Of course, the number of VPNs using Blockchain technology are still experimental and not proven for widespread use. It may take a couple of years from now before we'll be able to grasp the true power of a decentralized VPN service backed by the Blockchain. We already have the Mysterium Network and the Tachyon Protocol, so I'd expect new projects to emerge over time that would make use of Bitcoin's innovative technology for their own benefit.

With many alternative networks available today (such as Tor, Zeronet, i2p, etc.), it's doubtful that a VPN service relying on Blockchain technology will ever succeed in the future. But who knows? Technology is known to evolve over time. As people become aware of the need for privacy, they'll resort to anonymity networks or other privacy solutions to protect themselves against government surveillance. Rest assured, that a decentralized VPN service with an incentive mechanism will surely attract the likes of tech gurus, investors, and everyday people. All in all, I'd recommend anyone to use tried-and-tested privacy solutions like Tor or i2p instead of Blockchain-based VPNs until they become mature for mainstream use. Time will tell us whenever this was just crazy idea (of a VPN using Blockchain technology) or not. Just my opinion :)

I would love to use blockchain based VPN. I think, it would be more secure than normal vpn.

This summer the Mysterium team is going to migrate from testnet to mainnet, where MYST token is applicated in user applications.

So, tor on blockchain steroid? It's nice to be a note operator and talking about autonomous but once CIA knocks on your door, you will sing a different song. If you don't trust the VPN service provider, will you trust a stranger hosting your private information?