The DePIN project’s name switch signals a transition from darkness into light.

ATOR, one of the leading privacy protocols has commenced its rebrand to Anyone (anyone.io). The transition sees one of the largest DEX migrations in the history of crypto, with the ATOR pool being in the top 15 Uniswap pools on Ethereum by value. 

Having initially started life as an incentive layer built upon The Onion Router (Tor), ATOR (now rebranding to Anyone) pivoted to their own fully decentralised layer in February 2023 and has rapidly scaled to over 1,800 relays… and thedemand has outstripped their supply. ATOR DePIN hardware relays are so sought after that they are selling on secondary marketplaces for up to 400%-500% of their original price.

A Move to the Mainstream

ATOR Protocol’s rebrand to Anyone finally severs its ties with Tor, and establishes a critical moment for the company in driving privacy forth as a fundamental human right.

The requirement for a truly decentralised privacy network is dire. Only a handful of companies control the growing pie of VPN market share, and remain a honeypot of centralized single points-of-failure, with a reliance by customers on opaque no-log policies that are consistently broken. 

The Tor network remains an option, but continues to be synonymous with darkness and criminality. Regardless of such connotations, accessing and using Tor’s browser is not an out-of-the box solution for average internet users.

To enable true digital privacy, we need a solution that anyone can use.

Source: https://www.anyone.io

Alt text: Flowchart demonstrating the routing of encrypted traffic through the Anyone Network

Anyone’s mission is to build and scale a robust and vibrant privacy ecosystem: not a fringe solution for hackers and criminals, but a reliable foundation for digital privacy that literally anyone can use. 

Anyone’s physical relay units are an affordable low barrier to entry, enabling users of all skill levels to plug into the private web, in a manner as straightforward as connecting to a home internet modem. Meanwhile, Anyone’s enterprise-grade solutions will soon provide pathways for companies and institutions to onboard into the same privacy ecosystem.

A flourishing ecosystem of partnerships

The Anyone protocol’s design brings multiple levels of composability, enabling a playground for developers and projects to build their applications in a secure and private fashion. Integrating an app can be as simple as 2 lines of code.

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Projects adding richness to this ecosystem include peaq network, a layer 1 blockchain home to numerous DePIN projects, io.net, a decentralized GPU network, and Tectum, a lightning fast, high throughput blockchain positioning itself for the future of crypto payments.

Anyone is well supported by a strong board of advisors and investors including Sean Carey, co-founder and CTO of Helium; EnigmaFund Venture Capital and Advisory; GoldHawks, a team of seasoned experts in the DePIN space; JDI, the leading manufacturer of DePIN equipment; the Hotspotty team, who has played a crucial role in the successful rollout of Anyone’s hardware relays. As passionate advocates of Anyone, Hotspotty also leverages their DePIN Hub brand to further spread awareness of Anyone’s mission. 

Token upgrade

As the project marches forth, a new token emerges. The new $ANYONE tokens will be fully redeemable for the original $ATOR tokens, and come with revised tokenomics. Austin Seiberlich, CEO at CoinCraft, has worked alongside Max Gold from GoldHawks to improve value accrual for the protocol and its contributors. For more information on the updated tokenomics and migration procedure, follow Anyone Protocol on X (Twitter) or visit the project website at anyone.io.

Successful hardware deployment as a sign of things to come

Following up on the successful initial relay deployment, phase 4 of global shipping has recently begun. At over 1,800 relays since February 2024, Anyone’s rapid pace of deployment is quite significant, especially considering Tor’s upper-bound size of 8,000 relays after 20 years of operation.

Source: ATOR Art Resources

Alt text: Illustration of a man holding an Anyone hardware relay

To consider Anyone’s further growth potential, we can look at some more established DePIN networks. Helium’s IoT coverage took several years to roll out, and is currently supported by over 375,000 nodes. More recently, DIMO’s connected vehicle network, whose mainnet launched at the end of 2022, has just surpassed 85,000 vehicles. While decentralized mapping service Hivemapper has grown to over 140,000 contributors.

The Anyone Network is emerging, developing utility, and getting ready for anyone to use.

This post is commissioned by Lunar Strategy and does not serve as a testimonial or endorsement by The Block. This post is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment, tax, legal or other advice. You should conduct your own research and consult independent counsel and advisors on the matters discussed within this post. Past performance of any asset is not indicative of future results.