[ANN] cool62coin: a PoW Chain Built from Scratch

[thecoolguy62aws]

cool62coin
A decentralized Proof-of-Work blockchain built 100% from scratch.

Hello everyone,

I wanted to share an educational cryptocurrency project I’ve been working on: cool62coin. This is a decentralized, proof-of-work blockchain written mostly in Python.

Unlike lots of cryptocurrencies, cool62coin nodes connect through Tor so that no port forwarding is required to run a node. With the code to run a node, a command-line wallet and a miner script are included with the repository.


Basic Architecture
The ecosystem is neatly split into three core components:
1. Nodes (main.py): Adopts taller chains and manages the blockchain in general.
2. Wallet (send.py): An interactive command-line application to sign transactions, check balances, and view node information.
3. Miner (miner.py): Connects to a local node to start generating SHA-256 hashes on either the CPU or GPU.


Getting Started
You can look at the GitHub repository for the complete implementation and details:

GitHub Repository: https://github.com/thecoolguy62aws/cool62coin

Linux/macOS Quick Setup:

Code:

# Clone repository
git clone https://github.com/thecoolguy62aws/cool62coin
cd cool62coin
# Install dependencies
pip install requests flask cryptography pyopencl waitress mnemonic
# If that doesn't work, try sudo apt install python3-pip python3-requests python3-flask python3-cryptography tor python3-pyopencl opencl-icd python3-waitress python3-mnemonic
# Put 7gmhrcj6agxizusdua6pceus3izrbcqb2dkloow2c3vzo5adqqruxcad.onion in peers.txt and run:
python3 main.py

Windows Quick Setup:

Code:

# Clone repository
git clone https://github.com/thecoolguy62aws/cool62coin
cd cool62coin
# Install dependencies
pip install requests flask cryptography pyopencl waitress mnemonic
# Place a copy of tor.exe in the root directory. You can obtain tor.exe this at https://download.torproject.org/tor/.
# Put 7gmhrcj6agxizusdua6pceus3izrbcqb2dkloow2c3vzo5adqqruxcad.onion in peers.txt and run:
python main.py

Once the node is running, you can start the wallet in another window. The wallet is send.py and the miner is miner.py.


I would love to get your technical feedback on the P2P, the wallet, the miner, and any structural edge cases. Let me know if you have any issues setting up the node, wallet, and miner.

[safebase]

In the core.py is a instance = pickle.load(f)

This is dangerous because a manipulated .pkl file can execute arbitrary Python code when loaded.

[thecoolguy62aws]

In the core.py is a instance = pickle.load(f)

This is dangerous because a manipulated .pkl file can execute arbitrary Python code when loaded.

I thought about this, but I ended up deciding that the pickle file should be trusted, as it is always generated internally. Is there a way that it could be externally manipulated through the P2P?The blockchain explorer is live now at https://explorer.cool62.net/!