What inspired me to write this article was a combination of things. But it started with a conversation with Let’s Talk Bitcoin! on Twitter. It made me realize that anonymity is great for customers – not so good for companies.
So this is how BitcoinWebHosting.net came to be…
I have worked with a few web hosting companies in the past. For the most part, my capacity has been marketing and consulting, but nevertheless I’ve learned a great deal on the technical side.
Enough, in fact, that I recently co-founded a web hosting company.
This might come as a shock considering barely six months ago I started this blog as a way to experiment with affiliate marketing in the web hosting space. Life is funny like that.
I do this…
…and now I am a part of this:Â BitcoinWebHosting.net.
First, The Background
BitcoinWebHosting.net is a company geared entirely towards offering anonymous web hosting and domain registration. The name says it all: BitcoinWebHosting.net. We aim to become the leading web hosting provider for anonymous web hosting for the Bitcoin community.
We quietly launched a few days ago, and I am really excited.
Why I Pushed To Make This Happen
I am no expert in Bitcoin. Indeed, you could say I am quite new to the world of crypto-currencies. When I first heard of Bitcoin it intrigued me. It grabbed my attention.
And not how you think.
Profit wasn’t the motive. I have always been someone who values privacy. It’s not that I have something to hide. I just value privacy. Call me old school, but that’s how I am. I’m sure there are a few silent nods of agreement out there, wherever you are.
Although you can find me on Twitter and Google+, I’m not too heavy into social media on a personal level.
But one thing I do hold dear is the internet. The internet is amazing in the sense that it effortlessly spans continents, and connects us more than ever before in our history as a species.
It is a bastion of knowledge and ideas. Information is available to anyone with an internet connection. People literally have the ability to educate themselves online and use that information to build a better life for themselves and their family, with little to no cost (comparatively speaking).
There has been more than one college dropout turned Billionaire who has changed the world. Universities  no longer hold the key to education. It is a mouse click away.
The longer you work online, the more you realize how powerful the internet really is. Five years ago, I would have never known anyone outside my small circle.
And now I talk to people from around the country everyday. I work with people in other countries. I have friends I have never even met.
It’s even more profound for people in India or the Philippines, places where the poverty levels are high. Simply plugging into the internet has the potential to change lives. Is it any wonder why both of these countries are represented well in the freelance economy? Those are but a few examples. Many turn to the internet because with knowledge, they can easily make a living that far exceeds what they would otherwise earn.
Knowledge and information (easily found online) give anyone without a chance, and without an opportunity, the ability to create one.
The internet is something to be protected.
Ideas can be stifled, but truth and great ideas will always prosper. They will prosper because the great majority of us are capable of making rational, intelligent decisions when given the chance. But how often are we given that chance?
Most ideas are kept quiet out of fear of being scrutinized or judged for one’s thoughts. I find it strange that in a world where the KKK can process credit cards, whistleblowers like Ed Snowden are wanted criminals and Wikileaks can’t get a PayPal address to save their life.
That is what I think about when I think about Bitcoin.
And that is why I feel good about being a part of this company.
Where I sit right now, my voice will only carry so far. But the internet allows the strength of a single idea to change the world.
And then there was Bitcoin…
In 2008 an unknown person, going by the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto released a white paper describing a peer to peer, digital crypto-currency. Five years later, people across the world use Bitcoins. This is monumental. I feel like we’re all a part of this epic moment in history that can very well shift the way the world works and how we use money – forever.
And for the naysayers: Even if Bitcoin fails, the seed has been planted. If it was possible to stop Bitcoin, I don’t think the Tor network would still be around. You know, the whole open-source, distributed thing. Just sayin.
Anyway, needless to say profit was not my first instinct upon entering into the world of crypto-currencies. I just thought the whole concept of Bitcoin was fucking awesome. I mean the whole Honey Badger meme was kind of.. meh.
But Bitcoin doesn’t give a shit.
An anonymous web hosting company was born…
When you learn about Bitcoins, of course you are curious how they are used. Search online or look through Reddit and you’ll find quite a bit. Anonymous web hosting is definitely one of the desired services people seem to be searching for, particularly providers that accept Bitcoin. While there are a few companies – even some big names, there are not too many providers with serious hosting capabilities. And there are even less that have built an entire company around protecting privacy by not requiring any details in the first place.
Considering I was working in the web hosting industry, I felt that it would be a small leap to form a company built exclusively for anonymous hosting. The infrastructure was there. We have servers housed in data centers in two continents. We have the ability to protect and mitigate against DDoS attacks. Why wouldn’t we do this?
Privacy is important. The internet should not be censored. We need to connect the world.
And that’s how BitcoinWebHosting.net came to be.
Rob Lons, Co-Founder / CEO