Tor Undertaking’s crypto donations elevated 23% in 2020

The cryptocurrency neighborhood has been doubling down on its assist to privacy-centric functions like Tor Browser in 2020, in accordance with new knowledge.

The Tor Undertaking, a non-profit group behind the nameless Tor Browser, noticed a 23% enhance in cryptocurrency donations in 2020. A spokesperson on the Tor Undertaking instructed Cointelegraph that crypto-powered donations surged from $189,637 in 2019 to $233,019 in 2020.

In keeping with a Jan. 25 announcement by the undertaking, crypto donations made up almost 26% of whole particular person donations, which amounted to $913,110. In keeping with a Tor Undertaking consultant, Bitcoin (BTC) was the most well-liked cryptocurrency for his or her donors in 2020, adopted by Ether (ETH) and privacy-focused altcoins like Monero (XMR):

“We have now seen that Bitcoin stays the most well-liked cryptocurrency for our donors, adopted by Ethereum and Monero — these two currencies are about evenly break up for second hottest. Subsequent hottest is Zcash.”

The Tor Undertaking has emerged as a serious Bitcoin-friendly nonprofit, having began accepting BTC donations again in 2013. In March 2019, the Tor Undertaking expanded the variety of supported cryptocurrencies for donations, including eight altcoins together with Ether, Bitcoin Money (BCH), Litecoin (LTC) Sprint (DASH), Stellar Lumens (XLM) and others.

The undertaking’s transfer to assist extra cryptocurrencies for donations was apparently extensively appreciated within the crypto neighborhood as Bitcoin holders received a chance to maintain their BTC and donate in different digital currencies as an alternative. In September 2019, Matt Odell, a Bitcoin maximalist and co-host of the Tales from the Crypt podcast, urged the neighborhood to assist the Tor Undertaking with altcoins, not Bitcoin. “Donate shitcoins. stack sats,” Odell wrote in his XLM transaction to the Tor Undertaking.

Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin had been turning into more and more fashionable as a instrument for donations in 2020. Dave Portnoy’s Barstool Fund — an initiative to assist small companies impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic — began accepting crypto donations by way of The Giving Block in late 2020.