Wondering what a decentralised VPN and network is? You’re not alone. A normal VPN routes all your traffic through one company’s services. You’re essentially trusting that one company not to log what you do, not to get hacked, and not to hand your data over if asked. A decentralised VPN removes that single point of trust by routing traffic through a network of independent nodes instead run by ordinary people rather than one company’s own infrastructure.
Those node operators then get paid in crypto for the bandwidth they contribute, and in exchange no one single entity ever sees a user’s full journey from start to finish. If this sounds like something you want to know more about, here are five projects built around this model.
MystNodes
MystNodes is part of the Mysterium Network ecosystem, and how it works is that it lets users run a node on a device of their choice, be it a phone, computer, router, or a Raspberry Pi. From here, the node allows them to share unused internet bandwidth. That bandwidth then becomes part of Mysterium’s decentralized network of residential IPs, and node runners get paid in MYST, the network’s native crypto token, for it.
The platform is currently active across 135 countries with 31,547 participating IPs and $568,019 in total network earnings paid out so far. And there is no minimum balance to hit before being able to cash out, meaning you can withdraw then whenever you want and swap them into other crypto or straight to cash, which removes the usual waiting period you find on other platforms.
One standout aspect of the platform is the level of control you get over what type of traffic you’re willing to carry, be it VPN traffic, data streams, public access, or scraping.
It’s worth being clear here about exactly what MystNodes actually is. It’s the one infrastructure layer and is separate from Mysterium VPN, which is a different product for people paying to route traffic through the network rather than contributing to it.
Node runners and VPN users do, however, both use the same underlying network even if they’re vastly different.
Orchid
Orchid runs as a decentralised marketplace for bandwidth, storage and AI tools built on OXT, its native token. It’s not a flat subscription; instead, users pay only for the bandwidth they actually use through a system of tiny off-chain “nanopayments”. Providers stake OXT to compete for user traffic with a stake-weighted algorithm randomly connecting users to providers. The more a provider stakes, the higher the chance they’re selected. This removes the flat monthly cost most VPNs charge, but it also means costs scale directly with usage rather than being predictable month to month.
NymVPN
NymVPN is built by Nym Technologies on the Nym mixnet. It offers two distinct modes in one app: a 2-hop decentralised mode for everyday browsing and streaming, and a 5-hop “Noise Generating Mixnet” mode designed for maximum anonymity, which is aimed at messaging, email and crypto transactions.
The 5-hop mode adds cover traffic and packet reordering specifically to defeat traffic analysis. It does more than most VPNs, decentralised or not, typically attempt. No single node in the network ever sees both where traffic started and where it’s going, and there’s no email required to sign up.
Sentinel
Sentinel is a layer one blockchain built on the Cosmos SDK. It operates as a peer-to-peer bandwidth marketplace that powers multiple decentralised VPN apps rather than a single consumer product. Anyone can run a node and sell bandwidth to real-world users. The network currently spans 1,786 nodes across 97 countries, secured by more than 80 validators. Sentinel operates as underlying infrastructure rather than a single branded app, with several different dVPN apps, including Sentinel Shield, Ryn VPN, and Independent VPN. They are all built on top of the same network, giving users a choice of front end without needing to understand the infrastructure underneath.
Deeper Network
Deeper Network takes a hardware-first approach that none of the others on this list use. Rather than an app, it sells a physical device, Deeper Connect, that plugs into a home network and provides decentralised VPN protection at the router level, covering every connected device without installing anything. There’s no subscription fee after the one-time device purchase, and owners can also mine DPR tokens by contributing spare bandwidth to the network using a system called Proof of Credit. The device supports up to 16 simultaneous tunnel connections to nodes worldwide, though the upfront hardware cost is a real difference from the free download-based apps most competitors offer.
How to Choose
The word decentralised covers a fairly wide range of actual setups here. Some projects are consumer VPN apps with a decentralised network underneath. Others are infrastructure layers that other apps get built on top of, invisible to the end user. A few take a hardware-first route. But what they share is the basic trade-off worth understanding before using any of them: no single company controls or can log your full traffic, but you’re relying on a distributed network of independent node operators instead.
Final Words
Every project on this list solves the same core problem in a different way. They remove the single point of trust a normal VPN asks you to accept. Which one fits depends less on which is “best” outright and more on whether you want a ready-made consumer app, infrastructure you can build on, or physical hardware you own outright.
FAQs
Is a decentralised VPN actually more private than a normal VPN?
It can be since no single company can see and log your full traffic the way a centralised VPN provider technically can. But it can depend on the specific network design, and it’s worth checking whether a project has been independently audited before relying on privacy claims.
Do I need to understand crypto to use these projects?
Not necessarily for basic use since most apps handle the token side automatically in the background. Actually earning or withdrawing crypto rewards for node running requires at least a basic wallet, though.
What happens if a node operator goes offline?
Decentralized networks are genuinely designed to route around individual node failures automatically since traffic isn’t dependent on any single node staying online like a centralised VPN server going down.
