The Tor Project announced on Monday that it had removed many relays due to the high risk they posed to the integrity of the network and users.
A blog post published by the anonymity network maintainers reveals that directory authorities voted to remove the relay associated with a for-profit system involving the payment of cryptocurrency tokens.
“We consider these relays to be harmful to the Tor network for a number of reasons, including because some of them do not meet our requirements and because such financial schemes present a significant threat to the integrity of the network and the reputation of our project as they may attract individuals with malicious intent, put users at risk, or disrupt the spirit of volunteerism that supports the Tor community,” Tor Project.
He added: “As part of our assessment and due diligence on this matter, we have engaged with relay operators and have often encountered scenarios where relay operators associated with this project put themselves at risk. not knowing what project they were really on. contribute to or operate relays in dangerous or high-risk regions. It has become clear to us that this project does not benefit either the Tor network or the Tor project.
Although the cryptocurrency project in question has not been named, it appears to be ATOR, which claims its goal is to improve the Tor network through rewards paid in cryptocurrency ATOR to relay operators.
The value of ATOR collapsed Monday after the Tor project announcement, falling below $1 after hitting an all-time high of $2 just days before the relays were removed. More than 1,000 nodes were reportedly shut down.
Following the Tor Project’s decision, ATOR officials said they plan to develop their own decentralized peer-to-peer routing network.
The Tor Project released a financial report for the period between July 1, 2021 and June 30, 2022, revealing that he had a total of almost $7 million in income and support.
The U.S. government continues to account for the largest share of revenue, contributing more than 50% of the total ($3.2 million), followed by individual donations ($1.7 million) and governments other than the United States ($450,000).
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