Is there a way to tell if a specific Bitcoin node is on the network?

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I have a bunch of Bitcoin nodes supporting the Bitcoin network. Is there a way to tell if one of my servers is in fact running without installing a 3rd party software. Say I wanted to pay one of my users that hosts a Bitcoin server, but I don't want to pay him unless I can detect his Bitcoin server is indeed running. Is there some type of unique identifier to tell if one of my nodes is running?

Patoshi パトシ

Posted 2017-03-16T18:50:16.963

Reputation: 8 911

If by unique identifier you mean IP address, sure. What else do you need? – Pieter Wuille – 2017-03-17T21:00:34.877

what if my ip changes everytime my node reboots? i dont think detecting an ip would work. – Patoshi パトシ – 2017-03-17T21:58:45.360

Well then you try connecting to the new IP, you know your own IP right? – Pieter Wuille – 2017-03-18T03:08:39.407

Answers

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Bitcoin nodes do not have a unique identifier, and this is by design.

In fact, any property that allows someone on the network to verify whether two connections (even separated in time) are to the same node, is something we'd call a fingerprinting attack.

As such identification could be used to link transactions coming from the same node together, they are a potential privacy leak.

Pieter Wuille

Posted 2017-03-16T18:50:16.963

Reputation: 54 032

Asked: 2017-03-16T18:50:16.963

Viewed: 269 times

Active: 2017-05-17T04:10:09.853