Guide: How to run BC with the Tor Browser Bundle?!?


Setup: Easy (TL;DR install Tor browser, reconfigure BC)
Time: ~15 minutes
Privacy: Moderate (hides your IP)


Step by step:

  1. Get the latest version of the Tor Browser Bundle from the tor project website: https://www.torproject.org/projects/torbrowser.html.en
    Make sure you get the latest version, chose any language you like but I recommend en-US. Some operating systems like linux may have the tor browser in their repositories, check them out, this simplyfies upgrades. But make sure they always offer the latest version.
  2. Install the browser bundle, start it and hit connect. You will see a window popping up which shows the status of the Tor connection and it will open the browser as soon as it is connected.
  3. Navigate to http://expressobutiolem.onion/blog/best-onion-sites-on-dark-web/  with the Tor browser. If you see the website, your Tor was set up correctly! The Tor browser includes a SOCKS proxy listening on port :9150 which allows you to dip into the deep web. Now we are going to set up BC.
  4. Tell BC to use the Tor proxy by either passing the -onion=127.0.0.1:9150 command line argument to the client or adding this line to your config file onion=127.0.0.1:9150.

A sample BC config file for using the Tor browser bundle looks like that:


# Bitcoin Confidential wallet config file
# onlynet=onion
addnode=ibt4q3cri3hs47f2.onion
onion=127.0.0.1:9150  # tell BC to use tor browser proxy


In a typical situation, this suffices to run behind the Tor browser proxy: 


./bitcoinc-qt -onion=127.0.0.1:9150


Note: You need to start the Tor browser each time you want to run BC through Tor. Else BC will fail to connect.


Note: If you prefer a native Tor over the Tor browser bundle, you might want to use port :9050.


Here are some screenshots of what to expect: