Tor Project Bitcoin Donation Fund Raises 65% on First Day

The group behind internet privacy project, Tor, has launched a bitcoin donation fund as part of their fight against web censorship and surveillance.

Tor Teams Up With BTCPay

The web privacy advocates aim to raise $10,000 in a two-week crowdfunding campaign which will go towards the fight against internet censorship. The Tor project enables users to access the internet privately and anonymously while circumventing government censors and firewalls. This is facilitated through the Tor Browser which is a modified version of Firefox that can bypass ISP filters and access an unfettered internet.

Crypto twitter personality ‘hodlonaut’ tweeted about the project;

I will always remember how @BtcpayServer facilitated the #weareallhodlonaut fundraiser.
Now they are powering a super important fundraiser for @torproject
If you value privacy and online freedom, please consider donating!

The official website states that funds received from the campaign, go directly to The Tor Project Ledger Nano S wallet, with no fees or intermediaries. There is also a video on the campaign page which explains how Tor works and why it should be used to safeguard users on the internet.

The advantage of donating in BTC is that there are no rounded up figures and a few satoshis may be all that one can afford. Additionally, there are no banks or PayPal like intermediaries taking a cut along the way.

Over Halfway There On Day One

At the time of writing the team was well on the way to their target with $6,500 from just 215 contributors already raised. Two of those had donated over a thousand dollars in bitcoin each. The increased awareness through media exposure should also help the campaign along. There is clear compassion for this project as raising 65% of the target in the first day has demonstrated.

A few hours ago BTCPay tweeted that over a third of the donations already received have arrived over the Lightning Network.

36% of donation amount via lightning network. Quake sounds played in the crowdfunding is making 10 donations of 5 USD via lightning way more satisfying than making 1 donation of 50 USD. Only possible via lightning!

The group relies completely on donations and is completely non-profit. On its Twitter feed is a pinned tweet stating the project ethos:

Freedom is a human right. We realized we needed to up our game to outpace the censors blocking people from enjoying freedom of expression and access to information on the internet.

Clearly, the bitcoin community shares that sentiment.

Would you contribute towards a free and uncensored internet? Add your comments below.

Images courtesy of Twitter @Hodlonaut, @BtcpayServer, Shutterstock