If you've arrived on this page after seeing BLNWX, BL Networks, or AS399629 in a WHOIS lookup or report, here's the short answer: BL Networks is BitLaunch. Or, at least, a part of what we do at BitLaunch.

These three names can cause confusion, so let's be clear:

  • BitLaunch is our brand. A privacy-focused VPS server that you can pay for with your favorite crypto.
  • BL Networks is our network operator entity. It's the name we registered with the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) and the one attached to our IP allocations.
  • BLNWX is our autonomous system handle (ASN). This is the number that identifies us as an independent network on the internet so that IP ranges can be routed directly rather than borrowed from someone else. If you've poked around in your dashboard, you may have also seen it used for our nameservers (e.g. ns1.blnwx.com). That's why it can turn up in DNS records that aren't obviously to do with BitLaunch.

More or less every VPS operator will have these three labels. Vultr, for example, uses The Constant Company with AS-Vultr.

Why the separate labels? It's boring administrative stuff. Registries like ARIN ask for a legal entity to allocate IP ranges and ASNs to, and having a separate name makes it less likely you confuse customers if you rebrand in the future.

What BitLaunch's infrastructure consists of


BitLaunch is split into two parts from an operational perspective: our own network, and capacity we resell (in a privacy-respecting manner) from other VPS providers.

Our own network


AS399629 announces BitLaunch's IPv4 space, comprising 68 prefixes at the time of writing. These are assigned to servers on our own infrastructure, purchased and colocated in data centers in the UK, the US, the Netherlands, Singapore, and Romania. Looking up an IP in this range will show BL Networks in the WHOIS with the BLNWX AS name.

We announce the prefixes ourselves through our upstream transit providers, which is what the ASN is for.

Resold capacity


As well as first-party servers, BitLaunch allows customers to rent VPSs from DigitalOcean, Vultr, and Linode from the same dashboard, using their BitLaunch balance. Those servers are in their IP space and under their ASNs, and only they can handle everything that comes along with that — including server suspensions, abuse, and so on.

Everything we talk about in this blog from now on regards our first-party network, since that's what gets the BLNWX tag.

Who uses BitLaunch infrastructure?


BitLaunch servers are, for the most part, rented by the same types of users as any mainstream VPS. Developers, self-hosters, e-commerce businesses, researchers, gamers, traders, and tech enthusiasts. Anyone who has a genuine need for a server and also has some cryptocurrency lying around can get started with BitLaunch.

Our privacy-focused, crypto-only nature also attracts more niche, privacy-conscious users. Those who want to host their own VPN instead of blindly trusting their VPN providers' no-log promise. Journalists and researchers who need to protect themselves and their sources. And those who are just uncomfortable with their every purchase being tracked by their bank and payment provider.

One of the groups we're most proud of reaching, however, is the unbanked. Middle Africa, for example, experienced a 40% growth in internet users in 2020, yet 70% of its population did not have a bank account. Our cryptocurrency payment system allows such users to rent vital infrastructure that enables them to open online businesses, develop and host apps, and increase their tech literacy.

What are BL Networks' responsibilities?


Among other things, BL Networks (and really BitLaunch as a whole) is responsible for:

  • Routing: Allocating, announcing, and routing over 17,000 IPv4 addresses across 68 subnets. Maintaining routing pathways via BGP neighbors, handling cross-border hosting routing infrastructure, and so on.
  • Uptime: Identifying and resolving issues on our network to maintain BitLaunch's 99.9% uptime average.
  • Abuse prevention: Proactively monitoring for abuse and terminating malicious, spam, and illegal usage, as well as reactively acting on misuse reports that make it to our official abuse inbox.

Operating responsibly


BLNWX acts swiftly and decisively to shut down servers that are intended to cause harm, damage, or loss, including those participating in fraud, DoS attacks, malware distribution, spam, and security violations.

Our full-time, dedicated abuse team uses tools such as abuse.ch, urlscan.io, spamhaus, and eliptic to spot malicious activity and prevent payments from known illicit crypto wallets. They also investigate and act when infractions are reported to BitLaunch directly, whether by a security researcher, law enforcement, or other party.

Why build out first-party infrastructure?


Running our own network can be a lot of work, but it allows us to do a lot of things on the product side we wouldn't be able to otherwise, such as:

  • Tailor server regions to our customers: We can note customer feedback and look at which of our first and third-party regions are the most popular to deliver servers in the regions that make the most sense for existing and future customers.
  • Build infrastructure more sustainably: Buying our own hardware lets us start initiatives such as our carbon-negative pledge and purchase quality renewed hardware to reduce e-waste.
  • Maintain hardware quality and consistency: We wanted our customers to know what they're getting when they rent a BitLaunch server, regardless of the region it's in. First-party infrastructure allowed us to ensure modern DELL server hardware, ECC memory, and RAID in every rack.
  • Achieve 99.9% network uptime: First-party infrastructure makes network uptime our responsibility, but also ours to control. It means we can react quickly to outages rather than waiting on another VPS provider to contact its partners.
  • Expand our feature set: We've been able to develop features our customers have come to love, from our in-house cryptocurrency payment system to instant provisioning, our API/CLI, and BitLaunch VPN.
  • Create our own one-click apps: BitLaunch servers make privacy easier with the option to automatically deploy VPNs and proxies when you launch your server. We also offer automatic setup for LEMP and WordPress.
  • Provide a lower cost for you: Resold servers come with a markup from the partner. The most important part about building our own infrastructure is being able to offer you better value than we would otherwise.

Over the past few years, BLWNX has invested in new locations in Texas, Romania, the Netherlands, and now Singapore. Our goal is to keep growing to meet customer demand, while maintaining the rigorous privacy and quality standards you've come to enjoy.

If you have further questions about BL Networks or want to suggest new regions for us to cover, reach out to our support team via live chat. We're always happy to help.