Ethereum: Using a Bitcoin Client on Tor with a Debian-based Linux Operating System

February 3, 2025 By CRYPTOCURRENCY No Comments

Here’s a rough overview of how to set up a Bitcoin client using Tor with a Debian-based Linux system:

Prerequisites:

  • A Debian-based Linux system (such as Ubuntu or Debian)

  • Tor browser installed on your system

  • A Bitcoin wallet software installed on your system (such as Bitcoin-Qt)

Step 1: Update the package list and install necessary packages

To ensure that all required packages are up-to-date, run the following command:

sudo apt update

Then, install the necessary packages for running a Bitcoin client with Tor:

sudo apt install libbitcoin-lib1 libbitcoin-rpc1 tor

Step 2: Configure the Bitcoin client

Create a new file named bitcoin.conf in your home directory (you can change this to /home/$username/.bitcoin/bitcoin.conf) and add the following contents:

[server]


onion = true




[wallet]


passphrase = YOUR_WALLET_PASSPHRASE

Replace YOUR_WALLET_PASSPHRASE with a strong password for your Bitcoin wallet.

Step 3: Start the Tor service

Ethereum: Running a Bitcoin client with tor with a Debian based Linux OS

Run the following command to start the Tor service:

sudo systemctl start tor

This will start the Tor service and enable it to automatically start at boot time.

Step 4: Configure Bitcoin to use Tor

Edit the bitcoin.conf file with your favorite text editor (such as nano or vim) and add the following lines at the bottom of the file:

[onion]


address = 127.0.0.1:9050

This will tell Bitcoin to listen for connections on port 9050, which is the default Tor port.

Step 5: Run the Bitcoin client with Tor

Run the following command to start the Bitcoin client:

sudo bitcoin-qt --onion-address=127.0.0.1:9050

This will launch the Bitcoin client and connect it to the Tor network.

Tips and Variations:

  • You can also use a .torrc file instead of bitcoin.conf. This file is used by Tor to manage connections.

  • To change the default onion address, you can add the following line to your bitcoin.conf file:

onion-address =

Replace with the new onion address you want to use.

Tutorial Links:

You can find a tutorial on setting up Bitcoin and Tor on the official Bitcoin website:

  • [Bitcoin Website](

  • [Tor Browser Tutorial](

I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any questions or need further assistance.

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