What VPN’s Accept Bitcoin
You can take your anonymity one step further by paying for your service using a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin. The advantage of using Bitcoin is you don’t have to give a credit card or link a bank account to your service. Many people use Bitcoin because they think it will make them truly anonymous online.
Bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency invented under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008 and has taken the world by storm.
It is a new form of money which uses Peer 2 Peer money transfer to create a more secure type of currency.
It allow money to become , decentralised, anonymous and limited by a fixed amount of coin. These coins are mined and then transferred using actual money to buy currency and exchanged between wallets. People love Bitcoin because they feel it allow you to be anonymous.
Is Bitcoin Anonymous?
No. This is a common misconception. Bitcoin is pseudo-anonymous. Meaning that the identity that you provide is as anonymous as the information you give to it.
Anonymity is based on 3 key ideas:
- Your Bitcoin address cannot be traced to your real identity
- Transactions with Bitcoin do not contain any personal information
- Your IP address is not exposed (particularly if you are already using a VPN or Tor for your transactions)
But there are several weaknesses with Bitcoin anonymity, admittedly they require a specialist for many of them, but we provide them for you to understand that Bitcoin is not truly anonymous, as this is incredibly difficult for any type of currency transactions for the following 5 reasons:
- Your account uses a real name authentication system to find deposit and withdrawal addresses
- Your Bitcoin address can be tracked to your real IP address if you do not mask your IP
- Every Bitcoin transaction is transparent and traceable by design
- It is possible to gather some or all inputs when sending Bitcoins which means you can be tracked
- Change of address transactions can be tracked
This sounds and is quite complicated. But Bitcoin is significantly more anonymous than paying using a Credit Card. You can also increase your anonymity by registering multiple wallets, sending from different addresses and using mixers, but that level of complexity deserves an article of its own. There are several anonymised wallet providers built on technology pioneered by Dark Wallet who provide a high level of anonymity and security using a system of random addresses and coin mixing.
By its nature. Transactions require that the sender and receiver of a form of currency have some security that what they send and receive will not be lost. Meaning there needs to be a certain level of traceability.
5 VPN Providers That Accept Bitcoin
Here are our top 5 VPN providers, who we have thoroughly tested for quality, speed, anonymity and accept Bitcoin.
IPVanish
IPVanish ranks as one of the fastest VPN Providers around. With a solid ‘Zero Logs’ policy meaning that you can trust that your browsing history and logs will remain anonymous.
With access to shared IP browsing on 40,000+ IP’s across on over 1,200+ servers and 60+ countries. You are going to be able to find the fastest server anywhere in the world. Whether you just want to use IPVanish to browse anonymously, torrent, watch Netflix or use Kodi.
The more servers you can access the better, as it offers you better speed and geographic availability depending on where you are in the world. The bonus of a shared IP means it’s almost impossible to attribute a user to one IP.
Onto of this unlike many other VPN providers, IPVanish manages all its own servers and general infrastructure. Relatively unheard of, this gives IPVanish much more of a say over the data that its servers stored and therefore your privacy. Private DNS servers are crucial to persevering your IP address, and making sure there are no IP leaks.
IPVanish have long accepted Bitcoin along with a host of major credit cards and PayPal. What’s more their 7-day money back guarantee on their service extends to Bitcoin payments.
ExpressVPN
ExpressVPN have been accepting Bitcoin payments since 2014. This will come to no surprise for fans of the one of the best and most stable VPN providers around the world. The fact that ExpressVPN is one of the most used VPN’s in China is a testament to their stability, security and anonymity.
They even have an in-depth guide of how to use Linux’s anonymous browser Tails to use Bitcoin wallets and ExpressVPN which you can find here.
With access to 3,000+ servers over 94 countries and a zero logs policy that has been tested in a court of law and not been found wanting. Express has a built a stellar reputation as one of the most reliable VPN providers around, serving as a bastion for user privacy and anonymity.
Using Bit pay you can pay for your subscription using Bitcoin and get a 30-day money back guarantee.
Cyberghost
Cyberghost use PayBilla to fulfil all their Bitcoin payments, which in term means you can convert 150 of the most used cryptocurrencies into fiat currency which can be used to pay for your subscription. Plus, you get a massive 45-day money back guarantee when buying a yearly plan.
Located in Romania, they operate outside of the jurisdiction of the 14 eyes policy and have a zero logs policy that has stood the test of an official investigation by a countries law enforcement agency. Cyberghost were not found wanting and had a solid reputation for privacy and user data safety.
With 3,000+ servers across 60+ countries they offer a massive number of servers, with over 1,000 of these specifically tailored for P2P file sharing. Meaning they are a user’s paradise for torrenting and Kodi.
With over 3,000+ servers in 30+ countries, they have a reputation for speed, ease of use and excellent security and integrity. Passing all their leak tests with flying colours.
They accept Bitcoin with a 7-day money back guarantee.
NordVPN
NordVPN offer a whopping 5,000+ servers in 60+ countries. Which means you get speed, selection and server choice. Whether that be P2P, browsing or just optimal location. Their range and depth mean they will always make any review sites top 5 across the board.
Nord is also one of the few companies that has publicly been tested with privacy laws and asked to hand over their logs in a criminal investigation. They handed over what they had. Nothing. NordVPN goes into detail to state it keeps no logs of your activity outside of issues required for server optimisation and user experience. Like number of users online, total data used in aggregate and any crashes in performance.
They go one step further than a lot of another VPN provider. You can use cryptocurrency to pay for your VPN using Coin Payments. Which allows you to pay in 1,300+ recognised cryptocurrency. So, you can use your Bitcoin, Ethereum or whatever you have on hand.
Their awesome double VPN connection system acts like VPN over TOR allowing you double the security (well, just making something very secure more secure actually) Routing your connection through two separate VPN servers. Along with a host of functions including ad and malware blocking.
Join of the cheapest VPN provider online using Bitcoin with a 30-day money back guarantee.
Private Internet Access (PIA)
PIA has one of the highest reputations for privacy in the VPN industry. They have gone through 2 high profile cases with the FBI where they handed over logs which basically showed nothing. PIA demonstrated that they are a true zero logs provider. They also one of the few providers who provides full transparency about the number of requests they have for information from law enforcement agencies. Along with the times they have handed over incriminating evidence. Zero.
It is always impressive to find a company who does exactly what they say, even in the face of enormous pressure from an enormous law enforcement agency like the FBI. PIA proved they will not bow to them, unlike many other companies before them.
How to Avoid VAT in The EU By Paying With Bitcoin
You are subject to pay VAT in most EU countries and the US. That’s an added 20% on top of your existing fee. With multi year subscriptions this can add up. The solution?
Use a VPN provider to circumvent the country restrictions.
A payment provider will check what your country you are in before administering VAT. So, start off by using a free trial of one of our reputed VPN providers. Or simply buy a 1-month programme and then get a refund.
Set your VPN to a non-EU country. You can then go back and pay for your VPN service while getting out of VAT, and then finish off by paying with your Bitcoin from your anonymous wallet.
Other Way’s You Can Increase Your Privacy
Though we said Bitcoin is not anonymous, it is certainly much better than a credit card. There are several steps you can take to make yourself even more anonymous online.
- Burner email: Using a free service like Mailinator, you can use public randomly generated email inboxes where you can receive confirmation emails for your subscriptions. Leaving no information even if your provider keeps your email address. Or you simply give an address like [email protected] , get your email and openly check the public inbox
- Use an Anonymous Browser: Specifically designed operating systems like Tails in conjunction with an anonymous browser like Tor (The Onion Router) will keep your data safe behind Tor nodes, randomly rotating IP’s and a lack of data left behind. Every time your rebot tails OS it wipes all its data. Meaning you also have a fresh system when you log in, with nothing to track back to you.
- Create a Fake Identity: Admittedly this needs a lot more work, but if you aren’t bothered about falsifying employment and education records, it is surprisingly easy to create a fake identity. Which you can use for your Bitcoin wallets. This gives you the maximum level of anonymity, by creating an identity someone can track, but ultimately doesn’t exist. Even with existing and regularly used social media accounts.
What are the Drawbacks of Paying With Bitcoin?
The only big drawback with using Bitcoin to pay for your service, is it makes it difficult to pay for a monthly subscription. You will need to keep resending payments. Of course, this isn’t a problem if you are always forgetting pay monthly plans and like the fact you must manually pay for everything.
In some respects, automation can be our own worse enemy, as we leave ourselves open to recurring payments that we can’t even remember what we paid for.
Plus, you can just pay for a VPN like IPVanish in one lump sum if you want to buy an annual plan, make massive savings and save yourself the hassle of having to log in every month to remember the payment.
Best VPN Provider for Bitcoin?
We know that Bitcoin won’t keep you completely anonymous but it’s a damn good start. Throw in a burner email, Tails OS and a Dark Wallet and you are going to be as anonymous as you would want to be. Unless you plan on buying plutonium in which case we doubt any cryptocurrency is going to hide you.
Our top pick for the best VPN provider who accepts Bitcoin is IPVanish. With its wide array of servers across multiple locations, IP sharing and its completely managed in house servers and infrastructure.
We feel they are the best choice for complete anonymity and safety for browsing online. You are going to get the best, service, speeds and security with IPVanish.