Tor launches Web3 crypto drive to fund internet freedom

On May 19, the Tor Project and Funding the Commons launched a Web3 cryptocurrency crowdfunding campaign to raise money for 10 nonprofit projects that build censorship‑resistant internet tools. The drive accepts Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Zcash (ZEC), Monero (XMR) and Golem (GLM) and will run a matching phase through June 18.

The campaign will fund projects working on privacy tools, censorship circumvention, secure communications and public‑interest digital infrastructure. Donations made during the matching period will be amplified by a participatory matching pool that rewards broad donor participation rather than large single contributions.

An initial $115,000 matching pool has been pledged by Cake Wallet, Zcash Community Grants, Logos and Octant to increase the impact of donations during the matching window. The campaign uses quadratic funding, a formula that increases support for projects with many small donors; under that model, multiple small contributions can generate a larger share of matching funds than a single large gift.

David Casey, director of Funding the Commons, described quadratic funding as a mechanism that lets institutional resources follow community signals rather than the reverse.

Contributions are accepted in the five cryptocurrencies noted above. Funds collected by the campaign will be distributed to the ten nonprofit teams selected to develop tools and services intended to help people maintain access to a free and open internet in places with censorship and surveillance.

The organizers framed the campaign in the context of a long decline in global internet freedom. Freedom House’s 2025 Freedom on the Net study found internet freedom has fallen for 15 consecutive years and that conditions worsened in nearly 40% of the 72 countries the organization assessed. The study flagged a rise in digital restrictions in Asia, where governments in 10 countries imposed more than 50 new limits affecting roughly 2 billion people.

Governments worldwide have increased controls on technologies used to access online information. More than a dozen countries actively restrict or criminalize virtual private network use, and many others impose partial limits. In January, Iran implemented a nationwide internet blackout during protests; the shutdown coincided with increased use of decentralized peer‑to‑peer communication apps.

The Tor Project is a nonprofit that develops the Tor Browser and other privacy software to encrypt internet traffic. Funding the Commons is managing the Web3 funding mechanism and the matching process for the campaign.