Privacy — Tor Integration

Bitcoin Over Tor

Every Bitcoin transaction you broadcast exposes your IP address to the peer-to-peer network. Routing your node and wallet through Tor closes that privacy gap — without sacrificing any security or self-sovereignty.

Setup Guide Run a Node First

Full guide coming soon. Detailed Tor configuration walkthroughs are being prepared. See bitcoin.org or contact dev@houseofbitcoin.com.

Privacy Threat Model

Why Tor Matters for Bitcoin

Bitcoin transactions are pseudonymous on-chain but your IP address is public when you broadcast. Anyone running a listening node can see which IP submitted a transaction — and correlate that with your address history, timing, and location.

IP-to-Address Linking

Nodes that receive your broadcast first can link your IP address to your Bitcoin addresses — creating a surveillance trail even if you never reuse addresses.

Geographic Exposure

Your IP reveals your approximate physical location. Combined with on-chain data, this can identify individuals in high-risk regulatory or political environments.

ISP Surveillance

Your internet provider can see that you are using Bitcoin, when, and with what frequency — even without seeing transaction contents. Tor encrypts this metadata.

Sybil Correlation Attacks

An adversary running many Bitcoin nodes can perform timing correlation to deanonymise transaction originators. Tor's onion routing defeats this at the network layer.

Tor is not a complete privacy solution. On-chain analysis, address reuse, and exchange KYC are separate threat vectors. Tor protects network-layer privacy only — combine it with coin control, avoid address reuse, and use a self-custody wallet.

Bitcoin Core

Route Bitcoin Core Through Tor

Bitcoin Core has native Tor support. When configured correctly, all peer connections route through the Tor network and your node is reachable as a .onion hidden service.

01

Install Tor

Install the Tor daemon on the same machine as your Bitcoin node. On Debian/Ubuntu:

sudo apt install tor

02

Configure Tor for Bitcoin

Add a hidden service configuration to /etc/tor/torrc to create a persistent .onion address for your node:

HiddenServiceDir /var/lib/tor/bitcoin/
HiddenServicePort 8333 127.0.0.1:8333

03

Update bitcoin.conf

Tell Bitcoin Core to use the Tor SOCKS5 proxy and advertise your .onion address to peers:

proxy=127.0.0.1:9050
listen=1
bind=127.0.0.1
onlynet=onion

04

Restart both services

Apply the configuration changes by restarting Tor and Bitcoin Core:

sudo systemctl restart tor
bitcoin-cli stop && bitcoind -daemon

05

Verify Tor connectivity

Confirm your node is connecting exclusively over Tor. All peers should show .onion addresses:

bitcoin-cli getnetworkinfo | grep "onion"
bitcoin-cli getpeerinfo | grep "addr"

Compatible Software

Wallet and App Integration

Most Bitcoin privacy-focused software supports Tor natively. Connect these tools to your own node over Tor for end-to-end self-sovereign privacy.

Sparrow Wallet

Full UTXO management with built-in Tor support. Connect to your own node via the .onion address for complete network privacy.

Native Tor

LND (Lightning)

LND supports Tor hidden services natively. Your Lightning node can receive payments and route via onion address without exposing your IP.

Native Tor

BTCPay Server

BTCPay can be exposed as a Tor hidden service, allowing customers to pay via .onion addresses and merchants to operate privately.

Hidden Service

Electrum

Point Electrum to your own Electrum Server running behind Tor. Connect via SOCKS5 proxy settings for wallet-level privacy.

Proxy Config

Nunchuk / BlueWallet

Mobile wallets with Tor or custom node support. Route mobile transactions through your home node via .onion address for privacy on the go.

Mobile

CLN (Core Lightning)

Core Lightning supports full Tor integration for both outbound connections and inbound payment receipt via hidden service addresses.

Native Tor

External Resources

Bitcoin Core Tor Docs Tor Project Sparrow Best Practices RaspiBolt (Tor section) Bitcoin StackExchange

Full Tor guide coming soon

Platform-specific walkthroughs — Raspberry Pi, Ubuntu, macOS, Windows — with Sparrow and Lightning integration guides are in preparation.

Notify me at launch