VPN vs dVPN
What is a VPN?
VPN stands for "Virtual Private Network". VPNs encrypt your internet traffic and disguise your online identity. This makes it more difficult for third parties to track your activities online and steal data.
How does a VPN work?
A VPN hides your IP address by letting the network redirect it through a remote server run by a VPN host. This means that if you use a VPN while online, the VPN server becomes the source of your data. This means your Internet Service Provider (ISP) and other third parties cannot see which websites you visit or what data you send and receive online. I urge you all to use a VPN if you would like to keep your online identity private however there are 2 problems with standard VPNs.
Problems with standard VPNs
1) VPN servers are owned and maintained by centralized companys and although they say they don't it is possible for your VPN provider to see your data and then sell that data on to advertising companys.
2) The IP addresses of many VPN servers are public and some websites block these IPs.
This is where dVPNs come in to play.
What is a dVPN?
dVPN stands for "decentralized Virtual Private Network". It is nearly exactly the same as a standard VPN except instead of the servers being owned by a single company they are owned by the community. This solves the 2 problems outlined above. Each time you connect it will be a different server owned by a random person. There is no central location where the servers are run and no one company that has access to all of your incoming data. Also websites are less likely to go around blocking residential IP addresses. In this article we will be looking at the Mysterium Network and it's native token MYST. Mysteriums homepage is linked here but before you click on it keep reading to find out how to install the VPN for yourself and how to setup a node to earn yourself some passive income.
Mysterium VPN for users
You can install Mysterium VPN by going here and following the provided steps to finish the installation. Payments are made in Mysterium's native token MYST and unlike standard VPNs you only pay for how long you are connected and how many GBs of data you use.
Mysterium VPN for node runners
Anybody can setup a node on the Mysterium Network. All you need is an internet connection, a device that meets the (very low) minimum requirements (even a raspberry pi will do) and a very small amount of MYST token to cover registration fees. When users connect to your node they will pay you in MYST.
I will link the Mysterium Network documents here but before you click on it read on to find out some reasons why you might not want to run a VPN node in your home.
Disclaimer
It goes without saying that you should also conduct your own research and see if running a node is for you. Please check your countrys applicable laws for running nodes.
Reasons why you might not want to run a node.
- If you have a slow internet connection then running a VPN node will slow it down even more. You will also receive less earnings because of your slow connection.
- As explained above VPNs route your traffic through a remote server. If you run a node this server will be you. This means that if the user is conducting any illegal activitys it will look like the data is coming from your IP address. Please refer to your own countrys laws for running a node. To be fair Mysterium do have a 'whitelist' option when setting up a node and at the time of writing they are currently working on a Network Slicing feature that will hopefully solve this issue.
Future for Mysterium Network
I do believe that they are in the process of launching their tokenomics 2.0 where you will be able to stake MYST in return for rewards along with some other changes including introducing DAI stablecoin as the payment for node runners and requiring node runners to stake MYST in order to provide the service.
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Disclaimer:
This post is NOT financial advice.
