Check yourself: On-chain privacy is not network privacy

Questions and answers, readable without JavaScript.

1. What two separate leaks does the note describe?

   • Seed leaks and passphrase leaks
   • Fee leaks and change leaks
   • Broadcast origin (who first sees your transaction from which IP) and wallet queries (which server learns which outputs are yours)
   • Mempool leaks and block leaks
   Answer 1

   Broadcast origin (who first sees your transaction from which IP) and wallet queries (which server learns which outputs are yours)

   Ledger cryptography acts after a transaction reaches the network. Both of these leaks happen before or beside it.

   Read the note → · On-Chain Privacy Is Not Network Privacy: Node Choice, Tor, and I2P

2. What can Tor or I2P NOT hide from a remote server your wallet queries?

   • Which addresses or outputs you asked about
   • Your IP address
   • That you connect from your home ISP
   • Your local network's DNS server
   Answer 2

   Which addresses or outputs you asked about

   Tor and I2P hide your IP. Only node choice stops a server learning which addresses you care about.

   Read the note → · On-Chain Privacy Is Not Network Privacy: Node Choice, Tor, and I2P

3. In Bitcoin Core, how does I2P differ from Tor for inbound connections?

   • I2P has no inbound connections at all
   • With I2P, the receiver of an inbound connection sees the initiator's I2P address, unlike Tor
   • I2P encrypts DNS but Tor does not
   • There is no difference
   Answer 3

   With I2P, the receiver of an inbound connection sees the initiator's I2P address, unlike Tor

   That's why -i2pacceptincoming=0 uses a fresh transient I2P address for each outbound connection.

   Read the note → · On-Chain Privacy Is Not Network Privacy: Node Choice, Tor, and I2P

4. What does Monero's --tx-proxy option do?

   • Routes all sync traffic over hidden services only
   • Disables peer-to-peer syncing
   • Encrypts the wallet file
   • Sends your own transactions over Tor or I2P while ordinary syncing continues over IPv4
   Answer 4

   Sends your own transactions over Tor or I2P while ordinary syncing continues over IPv4

   Monero's docs note syncing purely over hidden services is not currently supported; monerod relies on IPv4 for sync to resist Sybil attacks.

   Read the note → · On-Chain Privacy Is Not Network Privacy: Node Choice, Tor, and I2P

5. Which residual leak does Monero's documentation name explicitly?

   • Ring size
   • Starting a node only to send one transaction and then quitting, which an ISP can use to link you to it
   • View-key exposure
   • Subaddress reuse
   Answer 5

   Starting a node only to send one transaction and then quitting, which an ISP can use to link you to it

   The docs also flag clock skew in peer timestamps. The mitigations are an accurate clock and a node that runs long enough not to stand out.

   Read the note → · On-Chain Privacy Is Not Network Privacy: Node Choice, Tor, and I2P