2012-05-01 21:53:44 +02:00
|
|
|
TOR SUPPORT IN BITCOIN
|
|
|
|
|
======================
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
It is possible to run Bitcoin as a Tor hidden service, and connect to such services.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The following assumes you have a Tor proxy running on port 9050. Many distributions
|
|
|
|
|
default to having a SOCKS proxy listening on port 9050, but others may not.
|
|
|
|
|
In particular, the Tor Browser Bundle defaults to listening on a random port. See
|
|
|
|
|
https://www.torproject.org/docs/faq.html.en#TBBSocksPort for how to properly
|
|
|
|
|
configure Tor.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1. Run bitcoin behind a Tor proxy
|
|
|
|
|
---------------------------------
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The first step is running Bitcoin behind a Tor proxy. This will already make all
|
|
|
|
|
outgoing connections be anonimized, but more is possible.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
-socks=5 SOCKS5 supports connecting-to-hostname, which can be used instead
|
|
|
|
|
of doing a (leaking) local DNS lookup. SOCKS5 is the default,
|
|
|
|
|
but SOCKS4 does not support this. (SOCKS4a does, but isn't
|
|
|
|
|
implemented).
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
-proxy=ip:port Set the proxy server. If SOCKS5 is selected (default), this proxy
|
|
|
|
|
server will be used to try to reach .onion addresses as well.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
-tor=ip:port Set the proxy server to use for tor hidden services. You do not
|
|
|
|
|
need to set this if it's the same as -proxy. You can use -notor
|
|
|
|
|
to explicitly disable access to hidden service.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
-dnsseed DNS seeds are not resolved directly when a SOCKS5 proxy server is
|
|
|
|
|
set. Rather, a short-lived proxy connection to the dns seed
|
|
|
|
|
hostname is attempted, and peer addresses are requested.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
-listen When using -proxy, listening is disabled by default. If you want
|
|
|
|
|
to run a hidden service (see next section), you'll need to enable
|
|
|
|
|
it explicitly.
|
|
|
|
|
|
2012-07-18 16:11:56 +02:00
|
|
|
-connect=X When behind a Tor proxy, you can specify .onion addresses instead
|
2012-05-01 21:53:44 +02:00
|
|
|
-addnode=X of IP addresses or hostnames in these parameters. It requires
|
|
|
|
|
-seednode=X SOCKS5. In Tor mode, such addresses can also be exchanged with
|
|
|
|
|
other P2P nodes.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
In a typical situation, this suffices to run behind a Tor proxy:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
./bitcoin -proxy=127.0.0.1:9050
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2. Run a bitcoin hidden server
|
|
|
|
|
------------------------------
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
If you configure your Tor system accordingly, it is possible to make your node also
|
|
|
|
|
reachable from the Tor network. Add these lines to your /etc/tor/torrc (or equivalent
|
|
|
|
|
config file):
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
HiddenServiceDir /var/lib/tor/bitcoin-service/
|
|
|
|
|
HiddenServicePort 8333 127.0.0.1:8333
|
|
|
|
|
|
2012-07-26 05:25:26 +02:00
|
|
|
The directory can be different of course, but (both) port numbers should be equal to
|
|
|
|
|
your bitcoind's P2P listen port (8333 by default).
|
2012-05-01 21:53:44 +02:00
|
|
|
|
2012-07-18 16:11:56 +02:00
|
|
|
-externalip=X You can tell bitcoin about its publicly reachable address using
|
2012-05-01 21:53:44 +02:00
|
|
|
this option, and this can be a .onion address. Given the above
|
|
|
|
|
configuration, you can find your onion address in
|
|
|
|
|
/var/lib/tor/bitcoin-service/hostname. Onion addresses are given
|
|
|
|
|
preference for your node to advertize itself with, for connections
|
|
|
|
|
coming from unroutable addresses (such as 127.0.0.1, where the
|
|
|
|
|
Tor proxy typically runs).
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
-listen You'll need to enable listening for incoming connections, as this
|
|
|
|
|
is off by default behind a proxy.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
-discover When -externalip is specified, no attempt is made to discover local
|
|
|
|
|
IPv4 or IPv6 addresses. If you want to run a dual stack, reachable
|
|
|
|
|
from both Tor and IPv4 (or IPv6), you'll need to either pass your
|
|
|
|
|
other addresses using -externalip, or explicitly enable -discover.
|
|
|
|
|
Note that both addresses of a dual-stack system may be easily
|
|
|
|
|
linkable using traffic analysis.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
In a typical situation, where you're only reachable via Tor, this should suffice:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
./bitcoind -proxy=127.0.0.1:9050 -externalip=57qr3yd1nyntf5k.onion -listen
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(obviously replace the Onion address with your own). If you don't care too much
|
|
|
|
|
about hiding your node, and want to be reachable on IPv4 as well, additionally
|
|
|
|
|
specify:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
./bitcoind ... -discover
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
and open port 8333 on your firewall (or use -upnp).
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
If you only want to use Tor to reach onion addresses, but not use it as a proxy
|
|
|
|
|
for normal IPv4/IPv6 communication, use:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
./bitcoin -tor=127.0.0.1:9050 -externalip=57qr3yd1nyntf5k.onion -discover
|
|
|
|
|
|
