Is the new version of Bitcoin Core responsible for the spike in .onion addresses / hidden services

[tey]

There is a mystery spike in .onion addresses - or what the public knows as dark market sites / hidden services addresses.
More than 25,000 new addresses have surfaced in the last few days.
Reasons and Speculation vary from:
A new chat client Ricochet that uses Tor network. w
With world concerns over privacy and identity protection 25,000 subscribers in few days seems reasonable.
No doubt it is the biggest increase in history of Tor Network.
Its possible a super Botnet , or group of hackers are releasing ransomware. Although attacks are often , yet not on this massive scale !
Some even point out to the new version of Bitcoin, and the new update released.
I quote (HUGEWHEELS) :
" Bitcoin Core will use Tor automatically to connect to other .onion nodes if the control socket can be succefully opened. This will positively affect the number of available .onion nodes and their usage."
The Tor network is expanding at very rapid stage, and the huge spike points out in all directions.
The only reality is combination of TOR + Bitcoin + IOT is the new age of internet and money.

sources :
http://www.profwoodward.org/2016/02/wha ... twork.html
http://www.inc.com/joseph-steinberg/the ... ernet.html
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-35614335

[tey]

An anon user on a deepweb website under the name HUGEWHEEL commented on this spike in addresses :

Maybe the automatic hidden service creation in the new version of Bitcoin is responsible?

-Automatically use Tor hidden services-

Starting with Tor version 0.2.7.1 it is possible, through Tor’s control socket API, to create and destroy ‘ephemeral’ hidden services programmatically. Bitcoin Core has been updated to make use of this.

This means that if Tor is running (and proper authorization is available), Bitcoin Core automatically creates a hidden service to listen on, without manual configuration. Bitcoin Core will also use Tor automatically to connect to other .onion nodes if the control socket can be successfully opened. This will positively affect the number of available .onion nodes and their usage.

[arnoudk]

Bitnodes.21.co lists 92 .onion addresses. Should this not be a lot higher if bitcoin software is responsible for creating many tor services?

Based on this, my guess is that there is a different cause.

[tey]

Ricochet new Tor chat tool has attracted attention no doubt.
Now even doctors are looking for a way to chat about patient files and share them among others on safe ,secure , and instant.

Dark web is no longer the place of drug dealers and scammers , but for seekers of privacy and identity protection.
Many of us