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The tor network relies on volunteers providing bandwidth. This is a limiting factor of that system, since there is currently no direct benefit by operating a tor relay.
As I understood, TorCoins are altcoins that can be mined by providing bandwidth to the system. But how would a Proof-of-Work mechanism work for such a system?
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TorCoin is an alternative cryptocurrency, or altcoin, based on the Bitcoin protocol [8]. Unlike Bitcoin, its proof-of-work scheme is based on bandwidth rather than computation. To \mine" a TorCoin, a relay transfers bandwidth over the Tor network. Since relays can sell TorCoin on any existing altcoin exchange, TorCoin e ectively compensates them for contributing bandwidth to the network, and does not require clients to pay for access to it.
For more info, see the white paper on TorCoin.
I know nothing of TorCoin, but reading your question it sounds that it doesn't use PoW at all, but some Proof-of-Bandwidth. How they do that without it being gameable, I have no idea. – Jannes – 2016-02-28T21:45:20.747
I try to understand this paper. The difference between PoW and PoB (Proof-of-Bandwith) is that there is more than one entity needed to bring that Proof. Thats my limited understanding of the concept so far.
– wuza – 2016-03-01T08:11:16.347