June 2026 - tor-relays - lists.torproject.org

PSA: 0.4.8.x is EOL now, please upgrade!
by Georg Koppen 03 Jun '26

03 Jun '26

Hello! As a reminder for those of you still running any 0.4.8.x Tor version (be it as a relay or a bridge): please upgrade! The 0.4.8.x series is end-of-life since 2 days ago and you should see a respective warning in your Tor log since yesterday. There's currently still 1598 relays on 0.4.8.x, which means roughly 19% of the advertised bandwidth of the network (and 990 bridges). Supported releases in general can be found on the network team wiki.[1] As for the timeline, we plan to reach out to operators still not having upgraded by start of August, and 0.4.8.x is on track to get blocked from the network early September.[2] To follow along the EOL process for 0.4.8.x you can track our work in Gitlab as well.[3] Thanks, Georg [1] https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/core/team/-/wikis/NetworkTeam/CoreTorRele… [2] We have a ticket for blocking clients by then: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/network-health/team/-/work_items/460 [3] https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/network-health/team/-/work_items/453

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[Proposal] OnionCoin: Economic Incentives for Tor Relay Operators
by Gabx 01 Jun '26

01 Jun '26

Hello Tor relay operators, I'm Gab Virebent, a privacy infrastructure developer, and I've been working on an experimental cryptocurrency called OnionCoin that rewards Tor relay operators through a unique consensus mechanism. ## The Problem Running Tor relays costs money (bandwidth, electricity, VPS) but provides no economic return. This leads to: - High node churn (operators drop out) - Centralization risk (40%+ relays on Amazon/OVH/Hetzner) - Difficulty scaling the network sustainably ## OnionCoin's Approach: Proof-of-Relay OnionCoin uses "Proof-of-Contribution" consensus where block rewards are distributed based on: - 40% Stake (anti-Sybil, but logarithmic to reduce whale advantage) - 30% Tor Relay Work (bandwidth relayed for OnionCoin traffic) - 15% Bandwidth contribution - 10% Uptime - 5% Storage Key innovation: **30% of block rewards go directly to relay operators** who route OnionCoin P2P traffic through Tor. ## Node Identity via .onion Addresses Every OnionCoin node runs as a Tor hidden service: - Persistent cryptographic identity (Ed25519) - No IP exposure - Reputation tied to .onion address, not location - Economic stake provides Sybil resistance (min 10 ONC ≈ $100 at launch) ## Verifiable Relay Operator Identity (Critical Security Feature) Current Tor problem: relay operators are pseudonymous with no accountability mechanism. Bad actors can: - Run malicious exit nodes - Disappear and reappear under new identity - Sybil attack the network with multiple relays OnionCoin solution: **Blockchain-based operator identity** - Each relay operator stakes tokens (economic skin in the game) - .onion address = permanent on-chain identity - Reputation history is immutable and public - Bad behavior → stake slashing (Ethereum-style) - Good operators build long-term reputation → earn more rewards This creates: - **Accountability**: Exit node operators can be identified by their blockchain identity - **Sybil resistance**: Running 100 relays requires 100x stake (expensive) - **Quality incentive**: Good operators earn compound rewards over time - **Traceable history**: Community can see how long an operator has been active The .onion address becomes both your Tor identity AND your blockchain wallet. This solves the "who runs this relay?" problem without breaking anonymity (no real names, no IP addresses). ## Current Status - Prototype complete (Rust, MIT license) - Consensus logic implemented with passing tests - Tor integration (arti) planned Q3 2026 - Testnet launch planned Q4 2026 **Repository**: https://git.virebent.art/virebent/onioncoin **Release v0.1.0**: https://git.virebent.art/virebent/onioncoin/releases/tag/v0.1.0 (Signed with YubiKey Ed25519) ## What I'm Looking For 1. **Technical feedback**: Does this approach make sense? What are the risks? 2. **Pilot participants**: 10-50 relay operators interested in testing economic incentives 3. **Research collaboration**: Measure impact on relay uptime/bandwidth/churn ## Key Questions - Would economic incentives improve your relay operation sustainability? - What concerns do you have about mixing crypto with Tor? - What metrics would convince you this improves the Tor network? ## Contact **Email**: gabriel1(a)virebent.art **Website**: https://contact.virebent.art I'm happy to answer technical questions, discuss the consensus design, or hear why this is a terrible idea. All feedback is valuable. Thanks for running relays and keeping Tor alive. Best, Gab Virebent --- P.S. This is NOT an official Tor Project initiative. OnionCoin is an independent experiment to test whether cryptocurrency incentives can improve volunteer network sustainability. -- https://contact.virebent.art https://www.virebent.art https://archives.virebent.art

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Tor Metrics Country Error
by Diyar Ciftci 01 Jun '26

01 Jun '26

Good evening, One of my relays (azadisrvbasic) is being listed on tor metrics as being in the United States of America but it is in the United Kingdom of Gread Britain and Northern Ireland. Could this be corrected please. Kind regards, Diyar Ciftci https://diyarciftci.xyz

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relay not working 100%
by torgnole-relayed 01 Jun '26

01 Jun '26

Hi, I'm convinced that tor allows the needed strong anonymity on internet, and I want to contribute. I set up, as a newbie, a middle relay, in february 2026. I rode that a new relay needs to wait something like 80 days before running 100%, the time for the network to check it's liable. It is now running for months, and it is still not running 100%. I have rate-limited the traffic to 500KB/s as for the moment I'm using a low cost VPS. But it appears that it doesn't even reach 70KB/s (it is the best pike in the last days), and even more regrettable, it fell down to 10KB/s or worse since 2-3 days. It used to have 4 flags (Running, Stable, Valid, Fast) but I'm afraid it lose the Rapid flag in the last days. I really don't understand what's going on. Tor logs seem not to show anything helping. Nyx used to show thousand of "inbound" and thousands of "outbound", but rarely "circuits" or anything else (I have to say I understand nearly nothing in Nyx, as I can't find any tutorial explaining it deeply). Nowadays, Nyx shows thousands of inbound, but only a very few outbound, something like 20-30. Server dosen't seem to have failings. Tor version is 0.4.9.8. on linux relay is minotor (B438F0D3E2281C307B459DB2ABDDB48871D06C18) at https://metrics.torproject.org/rs.html#details/B438F0D3E2281C307B459DB2ABDD… VPS is on interserver.net (2TB/month). I can send logs or torrc if needed. So my questions are : - what's going on with my relay ? How is it possible it is still not running 100% ? - is the bandwidth enough for a middle relay, or should I opt for a bridge ? All the best,

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