Tor Network (The Onion Router)
Web3 / privacy technology
The Tor Network is a decentralized communication infrastructure that enables anonymous internet browsing and data transmission by routing traffic through multiple volunteer-operated nodes, each layer encrypting data in successive "onion" layers. When a user sends data through Tor, it passes through at least three randomly selected nodes, with each node removing one encryption layer, knowing only the previous and next node in the path. This architecture prevents any single node from knowing both the user's identity and their destination simultaneously, making traffic analysis and surveillance extremely difficult for external observers, ISPs, and even the Tor exit nodes themselves. Example: Edward Snowden used the Tor Network to anonymously communicate with journalist Glenn Greenwald before leaking classified NSA documents in 2013, demonstrating Tor's critical role in protecting whistleblowers and journalists from government surveillance and identification. Why it matters for privacy technology: Tor remains foundational for privacy-conscious users in crypto, enabling anonymous wallet interactions, private node operations, and secure communication without revealing IP addresses or transaction metadata to network observers.
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