Peter D. Gray, Founder & CTO of Coinkite, talked to CoinFox about using the Tor network for cryptocurrency transactions. The bitcoin wallet and software provider has recently announced the launch of its BitKit API, available over Tor.
Gray acknowledged the potential of the anonymous network as a possible solution for bitcoin users and developers in certain countries with restrictive regulatory environments, such as Russia or China.
“Yes, I do think Tor might help Russian citizens access Bitcoin safely and with complete privacy. We have offered Tor for login and all user functions at Coinkite since summer of 2014, and we do have many users who use Tor daily. However, it's very hard to know what countries they are coming from (impossible really) so we don't know if they are from China or Russia or could be anywhere. I like to think of Tor as a feature for citizens of the world, not a specific country.”
The Coinkite CTO also emphasized that the BitKit API makes it possible to build bitcoin businesses operating through Tor exclusively.
Peter Gray expressed his confidence that Tor is immune against deep packet inspection or other large countries’ attempts to block the network.
“At this point, as far as I know, it is likely possible to tell that a computer is using Tor, but not what it is doing. I know that the great firewall of China is unable to block it and they work the hardest at doing that sort of thing.”
In January 2015, Roger Ver also mentioned the Tor network as a means to avoid unwanted attention from law enforcement during his talk at BitcoinExpo in London. He warned people in countries with unfavourable regulatory climates, such as Russia, to use Tor and to be careful of “the men with guns”, stressing that whether to speak out or not on bitcoin issues is a personal decision.
