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@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