Orchid's dVPN is now live on Aurora on NEAR! That means anyone can use the Orchid dApp by funding it with ETH on Aurora.

Orchid is a decentralized bandwidth marketplace. Buyers use the Orchid app to get protection from snooping ISP's, unblock websites cutoff by firewalls, and for many other privacy benefits. Sellers receive payments in real-time as they provide service and stake OXT to compete for service requests.

Unlike most VPNs, Orchid is decentralized—meaning there is no server that stores your web browsing data or history. Orchid's VPN gives you more privacy than any other VPN in the market.

We invite all of you to check out how Orchid's L2 nanopayment system works when paying $0.06/GB for VPN service. Start by making an account, funding it with ETH on Aurora, and connecting to Orchid's VPN app.

After connecting a wallet on Aurora, you can specify an Orchid identity to fund. Aurora has low network fees, so moving funds in and out of each account costs effectively nothing. The initial deposit requirement to start using Orchid is also lower on Aurora—currently,  the total suggested balance and deposit is about 0.001 ETH, or $2.58 at the time of writing. Refer to our chart to see how the cost of using Orchid on Aurora compares to other blockchains.

Why Aurora?

Aurora is an Ethereum Virtual Machine created by the team at the NEAR Protocol. The EVM is attractive for Orchid users because the chain currently has low gas fees. So there is almost no fee when moving funds into or out of Orchid’s L2. That makes the chain an interesting option for users who are experimenting with Aurora.

The NEAR protocol is a proof of stake blockchain that is meant to be developer friendly, fast and scalable. Learn more about NEAR here. Ultimately Aurora allows the Orchid nanopayment smart contract to run ontop of NEAR and users funds are held on the NEAR protocol.
With greater activity on the Ethereum network, gas fees have risen and will likely continue to rise. Layer 2 scaling technologies—including Orchid's probabilistic nanopayments—have popped up to address this problem; as well as separate chains, some with compatibility with Ethereum dapps.

Orchid has adopted a multichain strategy to make its decentralized VPN marketplace affordable and accessible to all.

"We are excited to be working with cutting edge EVM blockchains, like Aurora running on the NEAR protocol. Orchid's L2 continues to expand support for L1 chains, giving our users more payment options for VPN service and providing probabilistic rollup support at the same time."

How to use the Orchid VPN on Aurora

The basic steps to use Orchid on Aurora are detailed here. In short:

• Connect your wallet to the Aurora chain and get enough ETH in that wallet for the balance + deposit + funding fee
• Download the Orchid app, add your funding wallet and then select and copy the Orchid identity you want to fund
• Open the dapp at account.orchid.com
• Connect your funding wallet and paste in the Orchid identity
• Add funds! The app will then have a connected, funded account

Click here for details on how to bridge using the Rainbow bridge to get ETH from Ethereum to Aurora.

About probabilistic nanopayments, Orchid's unique Layer 2 solution

Orchid's unique system of probabilistic nanopayments is an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatible Layer 2 solution that enables tiny amounts of money to be sent as off-chain probabilities. The technology is emerging as a new form of rollup, differentiated from zero-knowledge rollups or more traditional rollups. A "probabilistic rollup" allows for many off-chain transactions to be sent that eventually settle using probability. When users buy VPN bandwidth on Orchid, transactions are sent as nanopayments, each of which is worth approximately one one-thousandth (1/1,000) of a penny, depending upon how the account is configured. Probabilistic nanopayments allow Orchid users access to a unique pay-as-you-go model for VPN service. Orchid never charges fixed fees or monthly subscriptions (as many centralized VPNs do), making its bandwidth market truly trustless and decentralized.

Privacy is Orchid's mission. Probabilistic nanopayments, along with this integration with Aurora, are two critical components of Orchid's goal of making online privacy accessible to people everywhere—restoring the Internet as a place of freedom and exploration in the process.

Click here to download Orchid today.
You can also join the Orchid community on Twitter, Telegram, and Discord.