Broadcast bitcoin transactions over nostr \ stacker news ~nostr

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Broadcast bitcoin transactions over nostr github.com/nostr-protocol/nips/pull/476

4183 sats \ 19 comments \ @benthecarman 27 Apr 2023 nostr

543 sats \ 5 replies \ @gnilma 27 Apr 2023

I'm not sure if this will improve privacy. Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't the relay receiving an event with type 28333 know that it is a bitcoin transaction, and can correlate the bitcoin transaction with the IP from which it was sent from? How is this an upgrade to someone running their own node over Tor and broadcasting transactions through their own node?

I guess broadcasting through nostr is better than using public nodes (assuming the relays aren't run by chain surveillance firms)? But isn't broadcasting through your own node still the most private way to use bitcoin?

Someone please shed some light on my confused newbie mind.

414 sats \ 4 replies \ @benthecarman OP 27 Apr 2023

Broadcasting through your own node can actually be considered a bad practice. The best way to broadcast a transaction is to connect to a node over tor and then disconnect. Using your own node is suboptimal because people can then link your transaction to your node's ip address. https://b10c.me/observations/06-linkinglion/

This is supposed to be the next best thing. You can broadcast your transaction through a 3rd party with much less of a chance to leak your IP because you're going through a relay.

126 sats \ 1 reply \ @gnilma 27 Apr 2023

What if my node is Tor only? Or if it's behind a VPN? (Yes the VPN service provider can see my traffic and IP, but chain surveillance firms cannot.) As long as I don't run my node through clearnet, my IP should be private, no?

73 sats \ 0 replies \ @benthecarman OP 27 Apr 2023

Yes tor is the ideal. But my phone wallet likely isn't running tor and a lot of the time just can't. This provides an alternate solution

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @ek 28 Apr 2023

Thanks for the link! This is some form of an eclipse attack, right?

126 sats \ 0 replies \ @benthecarman OP 28 Apr 2023

No eclipse attacks are more so taking up all the connection slots on a bitcoin node so they can't get an accurate view of the network.

455 sats \ 2 replies \ @scottathan 27 Apr 2023

See, the social media and blog thing seemed pretty boring. But then the marketplaces came up, now this... I might have to actually start reading nostr docks and building something. Add it to the list I suppose.

15 sats \ 1 reply \ @rijndael 28 Apr 2023

Jump in! The bar to get something working on nostr is SUPER low. even if you don't use any nostr-specific libs, if you can hack something up to read-write messages to a websocket endpoint, and can do some json wrangling, you can write nostr software

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @scottathan 28 Apr 2023

Sounds cool! I'll probably mess around with some already written libs and then write one in an obscure language just for kicks.

Probably has to wait until after I finish up my LN node though 😅

357 sats \ 2 replies \ @kepford 27 Apr 2023

The utility of this NIP Its not obvious to me. I'm probably missing something. Scanned the NIP and I don't see it. Someone please enlighten me :).

503 sats \ 1 reply \ @ek 27 Apr 2023

It's mentioned in the "Uses" section, no?

Uses

This offers a way for users to broadcast bitcoin transactions in a private way without having to connect to the bitcoin network directly.

Today, users have to connect to the bitcoin network directly or use an api like mempool.space to broadcast transactions. This is not private, as you can leak your ip address to the service or a bitcoin node.

Nostr provides a better opportunity for users to broadcast transactions in a private way. Nostr relays are at most bitcoin adjacent and have a much lower risk of being run by a chain analysis company, thus providing a possibly better way to broadcast transactions.

3 sats \ 0 replies \ @kepford 27 Apr 2023

Thanks. I needed to look at the diff... duh.

131 sats \ 4 replies \ @ek 27 Apr 2023

Anyone: https://github.com/nostr-protocol/nips/pull/476#issuecomment-1526135261 ?

(Maybe I am too impatient, haha)

375 sats \ 0 replies \ @ek 27 Apr 2023

Thanks for answering @benthecarman!

I totally forgot about segwit. I am still learning a lot haha

Will try to reproduce that txid

189 sats \ 2 replies \ @scottathan 27 Apr 2023

lol, that's oof glad you figured it out. Have fun, please don't burn any sats

126 sats \ 1 reply \ @ek 27 Apr 2023

What do you mean? I just tried to verify the base64 encoded transaction. I can't burn any sats doing this since those aren't my sats to begin with haha

66 sats \ 0 replies \ @scottathan 27 Apr 2023

Oh, I thought you were actually trying to broadcast it my mistake

100 sats \ 0 replies \ @rijndael 28 Apr 2023

I like this. I hacked up a bot that pushes bitcoin transactions a few months ago, just for kicks. SUPER not private. I like the idea of using "ephemeral" events and encouraging clients to use single-use keypairs for this.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @janetyellen 27 Apr 2023

Nopester