You might ask your self if you are establishing your online business, Can I Buy a Domain Anonymously with Bitcoin?
Many organizations are moving to establish or enhance their online presence. The recent pandemic has affected organizations by closing or severely restricting access to their bricks and mortar presence, and they are moving to an e-commerce platform to continue to offer goods and services.
Activists are using domains to deliver content on Social Media and their websites to promote their causes. For some, they need to cover their tracks, so they need to establish their domain anonymously and pay in Bitcoin.
They need to use a domain registrar, often a managed service provider, that supports payment in cybercurrency, usually Bitcoin.
HostSailor is a managed service provider that offers these services.
Best Anonymous Hosting Solutions
The best anonymous hosting solution depends on whether you intend to host the domain in-house or use a managed service provider as a host.
If you intend to host the website in-house, that may work against having an anonymous domain, since, without stringent security protocols, it may be possible to find out the domain location and owner from the Internet connection that is used to reach the domain.
A similar restriction can apply to domains hosted on public and private clouds.
Cloud and Managed Service Provider Hosting Requirements
A service provider offering you the ability to buy a domain name anonymously and anonymous hosting for the domain needs to offer as a minimum:
- Cybercurrency payment options;
Payment in cybercurrency, usually Bitcoin, is necessary to hide the paper trail formed by using traditional currency payments through banks or other payment services. The need for bank transfers and possible currency exchange leaves trackable footprints leading to the source and destination of payments. Using Bitcoin removes the need for currency exchange in the payment process.
- Anonymity;
The domain registration process requires the domain owner’s details. These will include name, address and contact details. There is a registration fee, which if paid in fiat currency can be traced. That obviously blows a hole through anonymity. A managed service provider offering anonymity will accept Bitcoin as payment and replace your details with theirs.
- Privacy; and
Privacy goes without saying. The managed service provider must guarantee anonymity, both in online and offline enquiries. In some cases, the domain owner must be hidden from the managed service provider staff.
- Infrastructure security and reliability.
Over and above privacy, the managed service provider must guarantee the highest levels of data confidentiality and security. They must also provide service level guarantees to maximize the availability of the domain.
There are several lists on the Internet showing “The Best Anonymous Domain Hosting Solutions”. Evaluate each site against the criteria set out above.
Why Should I Use Bitcoin ?
If You need anonymity, then Bitcoin is the way to go. As mentioned above, using normal (fiat) currencies leaves a trail through which you could be identified.
There are several other advantages:
- Bitcoin transactions are instantaneous. You can pay anyone, anywhere in the world at any time and without permission or restrictions imposed by fiat currency regulations.
- Lower transaction fees. There are no intermediaries in the payment chain, converting currencies and applying their fees. You deal directly with the domain registrar.
- No bank account is needed. If you expose your bank account details in a payment transaction, you are potentially losing anonymity. A Bitcoin payment is simply a transfer of Bitcoin from your electronic wallet to theirs. No paperwork and no personal information is required.
- Records of Bitcoin transactions are usually held in a Blockchain. It is virtually impossible to extract personal information from a Blockchain transaction. In any event, the transaction may not include any information other than that of the two Bitcoin wallets involved.
Simply put, paying by Bitcoin is faster, cheaper and a more secure method of making anonymous payments.
Buy Cheap Domain Name with Bitcoin
If you want to buy a domain name yourself, anonymously or not, you will need the services of a domain registrar. If you are adopting a hosting solution, then your managed service provider will usually offer a range of domain hosting solutions, some of which will include the domain registration fee.
HostSailor is included in a list of the top 7 managed service providers that accept Bitcoin.
Go here for more details on our domain registration and hosting services. If you just want an informal chat, please don’t hesitate to contact us.