Is using a VPN to connect to a wallet good for privacy?

[Lucius]

Honestly, I was also surprised that so few people use Tor, which on the other hand might be bad because it's easier to identify those who use it, right?

I believe speed or stability is the main issue for that, hence why the average joe prefers to use VPNs. On the other hand, I'm surprised that my country is included in the top 10 countries that use TOR regularly. Still, the number is abysmal compared to the number of daily internet users.
~snip~

I personally don't have too many complaints about speed when it comes to Tor, but from time to time it is necessary to change the Tor circuit to make things work - so even though it's something very simple and fast, I think people just don't know about that option or are too lazy to do it.

My conclusion is that too few people understand online privacy at all, because of the slightly more than 5 billion internet users, less than 50% use VPN or Tor, while most of the former are not even aware that they have software that is spying on them.

[Freemind]

Could you share example guide or tutorial without needing much knowledge? All guide i saw always involve terminal or linux.

I'm also interested in finding out how to set up my own VPN server without using any command/terminal etc. I do realize that OpenVPN offers 2 free VPN servers with their Access Server product, and tons of websites offer downloadable OpenVPN configs that people can use freely. I can't trust the latter though.

I don't know how it can be configured in Windows (for example) since I haven't used that operating system for quite a few years. But in any case, when you ask yourself how to configure OpenVPN without interacting with a terminal, you should not be afraid or think that the necessary knowledge is very high. The terminal is easy to use and is learned relatively quickly as long as we follow the instructions on what we want to configure.

There are many guides on how to do the installation, the most basic and simplest (other parameters must be configured later) is this one: OpenVPN Terminal setup guide.

Installation for Windows systems should be much easier, here is more information: Community Downloads.

[laijsica]

Honestly, I was also surprised that so few people use Tor, which on the other hand might be bad because it's easier to identify those who use it, right?

I believe speed or stability is the main issue for that, hence why the average joe prefers to use VPNs. On the other hand, I'm surprised that my country is included in the top 10 countries that use TOR regularly. Still, the number is abysmal compared to the number of daily internet users.
~snip~

I personally don't have too many complaints about speed when it comes to Tor, but from time to time it is necessary to change the Tor circuit to make things work - so even though it's something very simple and fast, I think people just don't know about that option or are too lazy to do it.

My conclusion is that too few people understand online privacy at all, because of the slightly more than 5 billion internet users, less than 50% use VPN or Tor, while most of the former are not even aware that they have software that is spying on them.

Internet speed is almost normal when using Tor. People are becoming more aware of the use of tor and it is spreading very quickly. I think if the use of Tor continues to grow, the number of piracy will decrease as it is almost impossible to identify its users.

[Freemind]

Internet speed is almost normal when using Tor. People are becoming more aware of the use of tor and it is spreading very quickly. I think if the use of Tor continues to grow, the number of piracy will decrease as it is almost impossible to identify its users.

I don't know to what extent the piracy you refer to has a place in everything related to Tor. While it is true that many Tor users use it to hide their tracks after committing illegal activities, we cannot put all users in the same bag. There are also users who use it mostly due to restrictions in their countries and also users who simply want to safeguard their privacy as much as possible.

We can't accuse a knife manufacturer that their product was used to commit a crime, we can't blame Tor developers for how users use it.

[bitmover]

Various researches show that around 30-40% of internet users use a VPN, and we are talking about 1.5 to 2 billion people - while on the other hand, the number of Tor users is on average around 2 million people, and that is a really huge difference. It just proves that very few people value their privacy, or what's worse, they understand it in a completely wrong way.

I think 30-40% is a huge number! I thought that number would be like 3% lol

I believe most users do not use vpn for privacy, but to access blocked content.. the main use of vpn

[Asiska02]

Privacy is something that is very important in the crypto space and it’s something you should always go after when interacting in the space. I have seen a lot of people using VPN in the past and always don’t know why they use it often, maybe just to make their location not known which i reasoned to be awkward. After getting to know more about crypto, I found it very necessary to use VPN when accessing some certain sites where your location is most vulnerable or your activity there become vulnerable to scammers or people alike. Anything that engage privacy is always welcomed and encouraged in the crypto world.

[dkbit98]

I believe most users do not use vpn for privacy, but to access blocked content.. the main use of vpn

Yeah, that is true, but this is a type of privacy and protection from government and their restrictions.
Just including two countries China and Russia and you already have millions of people using VPN everyday to visit blocked and restricted websites.
I think number of VPN users is smaller in other countries and they don't use it all the time and every day.

[bitmover]

I believe most users do not use vpn for privacy, but to access blocked content.. the main use of vpn

Yeah, that is true, but this is a type of privacy and protection from government and their restrictions.
Just including two countries China and Russia and you already have millions of people using VPN everyday to visit blocked and restricted websites.
I think number of VPN users is smaller in other countries and they don't use it all the time and every day.

It think most vpn doesn't really enhance privacy. You are just being spied by someone else 

Only few vpn do not keep logs, if any...

[TokenTactician24]

Is using a VPN as a proxy in a wallet (that has the configuration for this) a good idea to get more privacy?

What about using a VPN over Tor or vice versa? Where you connect to a VPN and configure the wallet to connect to nodes via the Tor network. Has anyone tried this?

Using a VPN as a proxy in a wallet can enhance your privacy, but the quality of the VPN is crucial. Choose one that doesn’t keep logs to minimize risks.

Regarding VPN over Tor, it can improve anonymity but often slows down the connection. Conversely, using Tor over a VPN is generally recommended, as it maintains Tor's security while benefiting from VPN protection.

In summary, these setups can enhance your privacy, but ensure you choose reliable tools.

[Freemind]

Using a VPN as a proxy in a wallet can enhance your privacy, but the quality of the VPN is crucial. Choose one that doesn’t keep logs to minimize risks.

Regarding VPN over Tor, it can improve anonymity but often slows down the connection. Conversely, using Tor over a VPN is generally recommended, as it maintains Tor's security while benefiting from VPN protection.

In summary, these setups can enhance your privacy, but ensure you choose reliable tools.

The problem with the first thing you say is that all VPN companies keep user logs. And it doesn't matter that they say otherwise on their website, if they didn't save the logs they could have serious legal problems. That Tor is slow is something that I have been reading for many years in many places, but I think it is an urban legend, since personally, in all the years that I have been using Tor I have never had serious problems. It is true that sometimes connections can slow down, but it is as simple as changing the circuit to solve it.

[Lucius]

Various researches show that around 30-40% of internet users use a VPN, and we are talking about 1.5 to 2 billion people - while on the other hand, the number of Tor users is on average around 2 million people, and that is a really huge difference. It just proves that very few people value their privacy, or what's worse, they understand it in a completely wrong way.

I think 30-40% is a huge number! I thought that number would be like 3% lol
I believe most users do not use vpn for privacy, but to access blocked content.. the main use of vpn

In most cases, VPN is advertised as a tool to avoid restrictions that may be the cause of not being able to access some services. I think that the vast majority of people who use the internet are not interested in privacy as such at all, but that is unfortunately a consequence of the world in which we live.

~snip~
Regarding VPN over Tor, it can improve anonymity but often slows down the connection. Conversely, using Tor over a VPN is generally recommended, as it maintains Tor's security while benefiting from VPN protection.

I tested the second option and I can say that Tor over VPN has almost no difference in surfing speed compared to using Tor itself. People agree that this is an extra security in terms of protection against malicious exit nodes, and at the same time prevents the ISP from seeing that someone is using Tor. However, good luck if you try to explain to someone who uses a VPN that it would not be bad to use Tor as well.

+1

[dkbit98]

It think most vpn doesn't really enhance privacy. You are just being spied by someone else 

True, but there are some VPN services that are doing better job than others, like Mullvad for example.
However, I am not expecting from any VPN to give me total privacy online.
If VPN or any other service would gave real privacy than governments and controllers wouldn't allow mass adoption and they would make it illegal.

[examplens]

It think most vpn doesn't really enhance privacy. You are just being spied by someone else 

True, but there are some VPN services that are doing better job than others, like Mullvad for example.
However, I am not expecting from any VPN to give me total privacy online.
If VPN or any other service would gave real privacy than governments and controllers wouldn't allow mass adoption and they would make it illegal.

A VPN is only good when you want to hide information from the service you are visiting. All expectations beyond that are mostly unrealistic, especially the idea of ​​anonymity according to the government.

Regarding the OP's question, I am not sure that access to the wallet itself can reduce privacy, of course, I assume that exchanges and similar custodial centralised services do not belong to the wallets category.

[dkbit98]

A VPN is only good when you want to hide information from the service you are visiting. All expectations beyond that are mostly unrealistic, especially the idea of ​​anonymity according to the government.

It's doing a very nice job for many citizens in China, Russia, Brazil and other governments who try to put many restrictions on internet use.
Even the ''great firewall of china'' can be defeated with using VPN, but there is always a risk they can get arrested, fined and sent to jail for using this tools.
In that case it's probably much safer and better to use Linux Whonix OS instead of wind0ws of regular linux OS (including Tails OS).

[Freemind]

It's doing a very nice job for many citizens in China, Russia, Brazil and other governments who try to put many restrictions on internet use.
Even the ''great firewall of china'' can be defeated with using VPN, but there is always a risk they can get arrested, fined and sent to jail for using this tools.
In that case it's probably much safer and better to use Linux Whonix OS instead of wind0ws of regular linux OS (including Tails OS).

I have never used Whonix, but Linux Kodachi and Linux Qubes OS are also privacy focused distributions that, along with tools like OpenVPN or WireGuard (and others) help a lot for users who want to have another type of profile for whatever reason. As I said, I haven't used Windows in a while and I don't know what (external) tools it may have available, but I have never liked proprietary software precisely for privacy and security reasons.