Published on: 2019-11-18T22:19:23+00:00
In a post on the bitcoin-dev mailing list, the author questions the rationale for hiding a bitcoin node using Rendezvous (RDV) points like hidden services. They argue that the purpose of Bitcoin is to anonymize communications between nodes and/or clients, not to hide the fact that someone is operating a node. The author suggests finding another way to achieve this goal instead of mimicking the Tor network for RDV points with .onion addresses. They believe that using the Tor network for Bitcoin is not a good idea for security and performance reasons.Another member of the mailing list, Mr. Lee Chiffre, asks if any current node software supports v3 onion addresses or I2P addresses. He is working on creating a new Bitcoin node that will use v3 hidden service instead of v2 and is considering using Bitcoin Core and btcd. Carl Dong responds to Lee Chiffre's inquiry and shares a link to his work-in-progress pull request for implementing addrv2 (BIP-155), which includes support for I2P and Torv3 address.Carl Dong, a Bitcoin developer, is seeking feedback on his ongoing discussion about implementing addrv2 (BIP-155). He reaches out to Mr. Lee Chiffre via the bitcoin-dev mailing list to clarify if the I2P and Torv3 address support is what he meant. Carl shares his work-in-progress pull request, merged BIP, and a link for ongoing discussion. Mr. Lee Chiffre mentions that the current Bitcoin client core supports v2 hidden service, but he is in the process of creating a new Bitcoin node that will use v3 hidden service instead of v2. He is looking at bitcoin core and btcd to use, but wants to know if they support v3 onion addresses and what it would take to support longer addresses used by i2p and tor v3.The Tor team encourages active participation from Tor nodes, particularly exit, middle, and guard nodes, rather than just client nodes. The documentation for Bitcoin.SE does not extensively cover configuring Tor as it actively participates in the Tor network by default. However, there are efforts to upgrade the Bitcoin P2P protocol to support other address types, including onion v3. The author suggests linking Bitcoin traffic with something like node-Tor as a better long-term solution. Node-Tor is lighter, easier to use/configure/maintain, and doesn't require the onions RDV concepts and addresses. There is ongoing work on this front, and contributions to the effort are welcome.There is an ongoing effort to upgrade the Bitcoin P2P protocol to support other address types, including onion v3. This effort is called "addrv2," and contributions are welcome. Mr. Lee Chiffre's recent message to the bitcoin-dev mailing list inquires about the support for v3 onion addresses in bitcoin client core, as well as I2P addresses. He is creating a new Bitcoin node that will use v3 hidden service and wants to know if the current software supports these addresses or what it would take to enable support. The bitcoin-dev mailing list is open for discussion and review of this effort, and any contributions are welcome.Blockchain Commons has incorporated v3 tor authentication into their Bitcoin Standup project, which allows remote control of a full node. The project is currently available only for macOS but will soon be launched on other platforms. Documentation for the project can be found on their GitHub page. A video demonstrating how to securely connect remote full nodes to the iOS wallet Fully Noded is also available on YouTube. Christopher Allen announced this development.Bitcoin Core currently supports v2 Tor hidden services but not yet v3. The use of v3 ephemeral service is not necessary for node connectivity but allows for hidden listening. While it is not urgent to add v3 support, it will eventually be essential as Tor drops support for v2. Bitcoin Core's limit of 128-bit addresses in the p2p protocol requires reworking to support longer v3 onion addresses. For now, those who want a Tor-only full node should use v2 onion services. It is possible to use both v2 and v3 onion services simultaneously in the same Tor configuration file.The author proposes creating a new bitcoin node that will use v3 hidden service instead of v2. They are exploring options between bitcoin core and btcd to use for this new node. They are also interested in knowing if either of these or current node software supports v3 onion addresses for the node address and I2P addresses. If not, they want to know what it would take to get the software to support the longer addresses used by i2p and tor v3.
Updated on: 2023-08-02T01:33:09.015661+00:00