The Logbook: A brief history of Tor, the anonymity network

As an anonymity network built using open-source software, Tor has played and continues to play an essential role in the Bitcoin ecosystem. Silk Road, the darknet market that arguably brought Bitcoin to the mainstream, was essentially built on Tor and Bitcoin. Privacy-enhancing services built on Bitcoin like Wasabi Wallet and Samourai Wallet all leverage Tor to reduce information leakage.

This week we will take a brief look into the history of Tor. What started out as a government-funded project has grown to become the backbone of the digital privacy economy.