Tools: Building a Privacy-First URL Shortener on Blockchain

Why Traditional URL Shorteners Are a Privacy Nightmare ## Introducing Cryptly ## How It Works ## Architecture ## Try It ## privacy #blockchain #webdev #opensource When you click a bit.ly link, here's what happens: Even if you trust the shortener, their database can be hacked. I built cryptly to solve this problem using blockchain and encryption. Live demo: cryptly.workers.dev GitHub: Still in early stages but feedback welcome! Templates let you quickly answer FAQs or store snippets for re-use. Are you sure you want to ? It will become hidden in your post, but will still be visible via the comment's permalink. as well , this person and/or CODE_BLOCK: const encrypted = await crypto.subtle.encrypt( { name: "AES-GCM", iv: iv }, key, urlBuffer ); CODE_BLOCK: const encrypted = await crypto.subtle.encrypt( { name: "AES-GCM", iv: iv }, key, urlBuffer ); CODE_BLOCK: const encrypted = await crypto.subtle.encrypt( { name: "AES-GCM", iv: iv }, key, urlBuffer ); - Bit.ly logs your IP, timestamp, user agent - They see the destination URL - They track your browsing patterns - They sell this data to advertisers - Encryption (Client-Side) - Blockchain Storage Encrypted URL stored on Cronos blockchain Immutable, decentralized No centralized database to hack - Encrypted URL stored on Cronos blockchain - Immutable, decentralized - No centralized database to hack - Decryption (Browser) Browser fetches from blockchain Decrypts locally using Web Crypto API Server never sees destination - Browser fetches from blockchain - Decrypts locally using Web Crypto API - Server never sees destination - Encrypted URL stored on Cronos blockchain - Immutable, decentralized - No centralized database to hack - Browser fetches from blockchain - Decrypts locally using Web Crypto API - Server never sees destination - Cloudflare Workers (serverless, edge deployment) - Web Crypto API (native browser encryption) - Cronos blockchain (decentralized storage) - ✅ Server never sees destination URLs - ✅ No tracking, no analytics - ✅ No database to leak - ✅ Censorship-resistant (blockchain)