The Russian communications watchdog has launched an offensive on censorship resistant platforms, including the Telegram Open Network (TON) and privacy browser Tor. Russia’s Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media — better known as Roskomnadzor — published a notice on March 3 seeking to engage contractors to research and block “anonymous darknet networks” hosting content deemed “extremist” or “restricted”. The Russian-language crypto news outlet Forklog first reported the call for contractors, after it was published by Russia’s General Radio Frequency Center. Roskomnadzor cracks down on anonymous networks Official documents list anonymous protocols, mesh networks, and Internet-of-Things …

The Tor Project, the nonprofit organization behind the anonymous network Tor, announced that it now accepts Bitcoin (BTC) donations via the Lightning Network. The organization announced on Nov. 19 that it will accept Lightning Network donations as part of Bitcoin Tuesday, a fundraising initiative led by the crypto-for-charity organization The Giving Block. Tor recommended the BottlePay wallet for donations, which allows users to search for The Tor Project inside it and send crypto without copying and pasting addresses. The Lightning Network is a layer-2 payment protocol for the Bitcoin network that aims to expedite payments and address the network’s scalability …

Major antivirus software supplier ESET has discovered a trojanized Tor Browser designed to steal Bitcoin (BTC) from buyers in the darknet. Fake browser distributed via 2 websites Targeting users in Russia, the fake Tor Browser was distributed via two websites and has been stealing crypto from darknet shoppers by swapping the original crypto addresses since 2017, ESET’s editorial division WeLiveSecurity reported Oct. 18. Created back in 2014, the two fake Tor Browser websites — tor-browser[.]org and torproect[.]org — are mimicking the real website of the anonymous browser, torproject.org. According to the Slovakian software security firm, these websites display a message …

Finnish peer-to-peer crypto exchange LocalBitcoins has warned users about alleged security risks associated with anonymous browser Tor Browser. On Sept. 9, transactional compliance expert Richard Bensberg tweeted a screenshot of a LocalBitcoins banner warning Tor users about the risk of losing their Bitcoins (BTC), which stated: “Warning to all Tor users: A Tor browser exposes you to the risk of having your bitcoins stolen.” LocalBitcoins then responded to Bensberg, saying that while using Tor Browser is not against its terms of service, it does not recommend it for security reasons. LocalBitcoins did not specify why the browser makes users more …

Tor Project’s new Bitcoin (BTC)-based crowdfunding campaign has reached the softcap of $10,000 in 25 hours after the launch. The new crowdfunding program, known as BitcoinForTor, was launched on July 15 in collaboration with open-source payment processor BTCPay Server. By July 16, the project has raised the minimum amount expected to be secured, BTCPay announced. Having reached the softcap, Tor Project has not halted the fundraising campaign. It is inviting cryptocurrency users to continue donating with Bitcoin within the next 13 days, claiming that protecting privacy online “requires financial support beyond 10k.” At press time, the amount raised within BitcoinForTor …

Cryptocurrency mixing service Bitcoin Blender has reportedly willingly shut down after issuing a short notice asking its users to withdraw their funds, tech news outlet BleepingComputer reports on May 30. Per the report, the message describing the service that appeared on the homepage of the website present both on the Tor network (often referred to as the darknet, dark web or deep web) and on clearnet before it shut down was the following: “We are a hidden service that mixes your bitcoins to remove the link between you and your transactions. This adds an essential layer of anonymity to your …

Israeli police and the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have arrested at least two men and reported others in a takedown of a bitcoin-enabled dark web listings site, the Israeli police force announced in two official tweets on May 7. The police revealed that a cross-border investigation successfully traced several suspects who allegedly founded and administered a darknet site — identified as Deep Dot Web in local media reports — which was reportedly a resource for finding illegal dark web marketplaces. Such listed sites hawk illicit goods, such as drugs, weapons, or stolen credit cards, the police alleged. …

Tor digital privacy software is now accepting donations in various cryptocurrencies, as a new crypto donational portal appeared on the project’s website on March 18. The site now accepts nine major cryptocurrencies, namely Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Dash (DASH), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Monero (XMR), Stellar Lumen (XLM), Augur (REP) and Zcash (ZEC). Tor’s crypto donation page encourages users to “stand up for the universal human rights to privacy and freedom and help keep Tor robust and secure.” The page also specifies that users can contact the project if they would prefer to donate in a cryptocurrency not listed …

XMRWallet.com, an open-source, client-side Monero wallet provider, has released a new web-based wallet for the Tor web browser, the company announced in a Reddit post on Aug. 28. The post notes that there had been a high demand for such a wallet from XMR users. Now they can send and receive the private and untraceable cryptocurrency through what claims to be the first Monero web wallet for the distributed and anonymous Tor network. Within the Tor network, Monero (XMR) is the cryptocurrency of choice among many users. For the advocates of a truly decentralized future and financial anonymity, the pairing …

Cryptostorm, the VPN (virtual private network) service providers, revealed to Cointelegraph that they’ve been using Bitcoin and Namecoin to power their portal to the Darknet for months, announcing native access to Tor, I2P and .bit websites. The company, also known as “Cstorm,” has been providing VPN services since 2006. In an interview with CT, they said they have been looking into blockchain technologies since 2012, around the time they began accepting Bitcoin as payment. During our conversation, they officially announced their native integration of Namecoin’s .bit domains into their services, alongside their tunnels to .onion and .i2p websites, which allows …