diff --git a/Connection.js b/Connection.js
index 319a723e3..27a4fb618 100644
--- a/Connection.js
+++ b/Connection.js
@@ -22,11 +22,20 @@ var nonce           = util.generateNonce();
 
 var BIP0031_VERSION = 60000;
 
-function Connection(socket, peer) {
+function Connection(socket, peer, opts) {
   Connection.super(this, arguments);
+  
+  this.options = opts || {};
+
   this.socket = socket;
   this.peer = peer;
 
+  // check for socks5 proxy options and construct a proxied socket
+  if (this.options.proxy) {
+    var Socks5Client = imports.Socks5Client || require('socks5-client');
+    this.socket = new Socks5Client(opts.proxy.host, opts.proxy.port);
+  }
+
   // A connection is considered "active" once we have received verack
   this.active = false;
   // The version incoming packages are interpreted as
@@ -36,7 +45,7 @@ function Connection(socket, peer) {
   // The (claimed) height of the remote peer's block chain
   this.bestHeight = 0;
   // Is this an inbound connection?
-  this.inbound = !!socket.server;
+  this.inbound = !!this.socket.server;
   // Have we sent a getaddr on this connection?
   this.getaddr = false;
 
@@ -54,6 +63,12 @@ function Connection(socket, peer) {
 }
 Connection.parent = imports.parent || require('events').EventEmitter;
 
+Connection.prototype.open = function(callback) {
+  if (typeof callback === 'function') this.once('connect', callback);
+  this.socket.connect(this.peer.port, this.peer.host);
+  return this;
+};
+
 Connection.prototype.setupHandlers = function () {
   this.socket.addListener('connect', this.handleConnect.bind(this));
   this.socket.addListener('error', this.handleError.bind(this));
diff --git a/PeerManager.js b/PeerManager.js
index d8229867f..273d9f6d6 100644
--- a/PeerManager.js
+++ b/PeerManager.js
@@ -95,8 +95,8 @@ PeerManager.prototype.connectTo = function(peer) {
   }
 };
 
-PeerManager.prototype.addConnection = function(socketConn, peer) {
-  var conn = new Connection(socketConn, peer);
+PeerManager.prototype.addConnection = function(socketConn, peer, opts) {
+  var conn = new Connection(socketConn, peer, opts);
   this.connections.push(conn);
   this.emit('connection', conn);
 
diff --git a/examples/ConnectionTor.js b/examples/ConnectionTor.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..aa006f677
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/ConnectionTor.js
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+var Peer       = require('../Peer');
+var Connection = require('../Connection');
+var dns        = require('dns');
+
+// get a peer from dns seed
+dns.resolve('dnsseed.bluematt.me', function(err, seeds) {
+  // use the first peer
+  var peer = new Peer(seeds[0], 8333);
+  
+  // create a connection without an existing socket
+  // but specify a socks5 proxy to create a socket 
+  // that's bound to that proxy in it's place
+  var connection = new Connection(null, peer, {
+    proxy: { host: '127.0.0.1', port: 9050 }
+  });
+
+  connection.open();
+
+  connection.on('connect', function(data) {
+    console.log('connected through socks5!');
+  });
+
+  connection.on('error', function(err) {
+    console.log(err);
+  });
+
+});
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 621003c53..3bd99003a 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -26,6 +26,10 @@
     {
       "name": "Ryan X. Charles",
       "email": "ryan@bitpay.com"
+    },
+    {
+      "name": "Gordon Hall",
+      "email": "gordon@bitpay.com"
     }
   ],
   "keywords": [
@@ -63,6 +67,7 @@
     "commander": "=2.1.0",
     "browserify-bignum": "git://github.com/maraoz/browserify-bignum.git",
     "browserify-buffertools": "git://github.com/maraoz/browserify-buffertools.git",
+    "socks5-client": "~0.3.6",
     "brfs": "=1.0.0",
     "chai": "=1.9.1",
     "uglifyify": "=1.2.3"
diff --git a/test/test.Connection.js b/test/test.Connection.js
index 868297384..cbf98ce46 100644
--- a/test/test.Connection.js
+++ b/test/test.Connection.js
@@ -23,6 +23,13 @@ describe('Connection', function() {
     var c = new Connection(mSocket, mPeer);
     should.exist(c);
   });
+  it('should create a proxied socket if instructed', function() {
+    var mPeer;
+    var c = new Connection(null, mPeer, {
+      proxy: { host: 'localhost', port: 9050 }
+    });
+    should.exist(c.socket);
+  });
 });