New I2P Blockchain???

[matthewh3]

Has anyone every thought of creating a new blockchain that only works inside the I2P network for better anonymity or is it not possible    The rest of the web could still access online wallets and stuff as long as the site was a connected or acting as a proxy.

[theymos]

That wouldn't be much better than using Bitcoin with Tor, since the problem with Bitcoin anonymity is mostly due to the way Bitcoin transactions work. Anonymity at the network layer isn't the main problem.

[matthewh3]

That wouldn't be much better than using Bitcoin with Tor, since the problem with Bitcoin anonymity is mostly due to the way Bitcoin transactions work. Anonymity at the network layer isn't the main problem.

But with Tor you have to rely on a certain number of output nodes which could be blocked or monitored?

[matthewh3]

You can't rely on the CIA darknet called Tor for anonymity check who is the biggest sponsor of Tor - https://www.torproject.org/about/sponsors.html.en - The US government and taken from the official Tor homepage -

"Tor was originally designed, implemented, and deployed as a third-generation onion routing project of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. It was originally developed with the U.S. Navy in mind, for the primary purpose of protecting government communications"

 - All Tor traffic exits through a number of public nodes which are all known. These nodes could all be/being monitored and blocked.  Like I said I think a blockchain that solely exists inside the I2P network is a good idea as all Tor traffic is probably monitored and could be stopped by the US government.  The only reason they let it exist is to make the CIA darknet bigger for them to hide in.

[matthewh3]

If alt-currencies were outlawed and they also pulled the plug on Tor it would be very difficult for alt-currencies to be usefull but a block chain within I2P could still be used if people could get access to the I2P client because apart from outlawing encrypted web-traffic I see no way of stopping I2P unless they monitored a persons internet traffic.  You see with Tor they only have to monitor/block the output nodes which would be easier for them to find then monitoring every persons internet traffic for I2P traffic.  I think they would find it hard to ban Tor or I2P but to stop Tor it would easier (like I said they like a large Tor network for the CIA to better hide in) than I2P.  So an alt-currency within I2P could end up the only alt-currency if the likes of bitcoin got massive and the governments thought they were loosing too much tax.       

[bitlotto]

I think they would find it hard to ban Tor or I2P but to stop Tor it would easier   

Why? Tor works even in places where governments are actively trying to ban it.

[matthewh3]

I think they would find it hard to ban Tor or I2P but to stop Tor it would easier   

Why? Tor works even in places where governments are actively trying to ban it.

But the US government is much bigger so could if they desired find every exit node, monitor it and block it if the desired like I said it's the CIA own darknet the bigger the better to hide in but if the thorn becomes to big?

[bitlotto]

I think they would find it hard to ban Tor or I2P but to stop Tor it would easier   

Why? Tor works even in places where governments are actively trying to ban it.

But the US government is much bigger so could if they desired find every exit node, monitor it and block it if the desired like I said it's the CIA own darknet the bigger the better to hide in but if the thorn becomes to big?

I guess in such case only the exit nodes under the control of the CIA would block Bitcoin traffic. Tor would be slow but I'm sure people would pick of the slack and run more exit nodes. They would have to get other countries to ban Bitcoin at the local ISP level too.

[Red Emerald]

How is tor any more block-able than I2P?  I haven't done much with I2P and am curious.  Tor seems to be doing a pretty good job of getting out of Iran and they are blocking ALL encrypted traffic.

[bitcoinsarefun]

How is tor any more block-able than I2P?  I haven't done much with I2P and am curious.  Tor seems to be doing a pretty good job of getting out of Iran and they are blocking ALL encrypted traffic.

From what i've read, I2P looks like its a speedier tor ... they seem to share a lot of similarities though I'd need to do some closer reading.

You can't rely on the CIA darknet called Tor for anonymity check who is the biggest sponsor of Tor - https://www.torproject.org/about/sponsors.html.en - The US government and taken from the official Tor homepage -

"Tor was originally designed, implemented, and deployed as a third-generation onion routing project of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. It was originally developed with the U.S. Navy in mind, for the primary purpose of protecting government communications"

 - All Tor traffic exits through a number of public nodes which are all known. These nodes could all be/being monitored and blocked.  Like I said I think a blockchain that solely exists inside the I2P network is a good idea as all Tor traffic is probably monitored and could be stopped by the US government.  The only reason they let it exist is to make the CIA darknet bigger for them to hide in.

I don't see where the US government, more specifically the CIA, is listed on that page as a sponsor.

IMO, if you criteria for use is past government involvement, you need to stop using ARPANET net now!!!

[Pieter Wuille]

There is talk about enabling bitcoin to run as a tor hidden servicie, so it can work without needing an exit node.

[bitlotto]

There is talk about enabling bitcoin to run as a tor hidden servicie, so it can work without needing an exit node.

That would be awesome! If it was a hidden service some nodes would still have to connect to an exit node though? Or would it be an option to only connect to other Tor nodes?

[Haplo]

There is talk about enabling bitcoin to run as a tor hidden servicie, so it can work without needing an exit node.

That would be awesome! If it was a hidden service some nodes would still have to connect to an exit node though? Or would it be an option to only connect to other Tor nodes?

That would depend on who you're communicating with, I would guess. If someone is operating without tor, you would probably have to connect through an exit node at some point. As long as the people you're sending to or receiving from are using Tor, if BTC was a hidden service then you would be operating completely internally and be virtually invisible, spare the transaction level limitations on anonymity. There's some talk on the dev list about improving that, as well.

As long as the miners use it, the vast majority of the BTC network could be run invisibly. That might cause some complications with the mining pools, but I figure they'd work that out in the development process.

[theymos]

But with Tor you have to rely on a certain number of output nodes which could be blocked or monitored?

Tor currently has more exit nodes than I2P has nodes, and I2P doesn't have anything like bridge nodes yet, so I2P would be much easier to block. Sure, the US government could block Tor pretty easily, but they could block I2P even more easily. (I do think that the design of I2P is somewhat better than the design of Tor.)

It's not necessary to have a totally new I2P Bitcoin network, since just a few peers can link the two branches of the Bitcoin network without creating extra risk or anonymity concerns for other I2P-Bitcoin users. This is unlike the I2P-only Gnutella and Bittorrent networks where there's too much data for just a few links to keep the network working (or not in a scalable way, at least).

[guruvan]

Might make sense to do a p2pool server on the I2P side?

[kwukduck]

Might make sense to do a p2pool server on the I2P side?

Would be cool yes, but the miner software would have to be changed, since it's p2p you can't just use a server/client tunnel.

[miscreanity]

What about blockchain forking in the case of a communication disconnect?

[kwukduck]

forking the blockchain, or starting a new one is not a good idea, if bitcoin is to be banned from the internet the current blockchain could just continue inside i2p, no need to fork or start a new one.

[jago25_98]

Great idea.
We need a i2p exchange though as well though. That surely has to be easier to setup and access than DarkExchange?

It would also be great if the content of the site was mirrored to a normal site with parts censored, so people can see a preview quickly.