Walletwasabi: Block access to public nodes

[lesinigo]

Scenario: the user wants to run his own full node and avoid connecting to the public ones (as recommended in the ten commandments) but without using the node integrated in Wasabi Wallet (eg. maybe because the wallet is on a notebook and not always connected, while the full node would be up 24/7).

I can specify my full node ip/hostname in Settings > Alternative Block Source for Main, but AFAIK if Wasabi is not able to connect to that node it will happily go to the public ones.

Is there any way to configure Wasabi to not connect to public nodes if the custom one is not reachable? I tried to search the documentation but couldn't find anything like that.

If there is currently no way, would this make sense as a feature request?

[lontivero]

Wasabi needs to communicate with at least one bitcoin node in order to receive the transactions and request the blocks. When your custom node is connected wasabi ignores the messages from the untrusted peers (except for ping/pong messages) and keep the connection just in case the trusted node goes offline or lose connection. In case the trusted node is unreachable and no other node is connected wasabi cannot work, it cannot keep synchronized.

Anyway, it could be something to consider for the full bitcoin core integration.

[MaxHillebrand]

The proposed is pretty much what @lontivero has implemented in #1704.
See the comments why the working code was not merged.

[nopara73]

"running a full node will do that much more for your privacy"

@MaxHillebrand This is lies :)

[lesinigo]

The proposed is pretty much what @lontivero has implemented in #1704.
See the comments why the working code was not merged.

I watched the dev meeting video from #1704, and I seem to understand that:

• right now there is no way for the end user to configure Wasabi Wallet to avoid communications with public nodes and force everything to a single explicitly configured node
• right now there is no plan to add such feature
• but there is also no "ban" to do that in the future it's just a lack of a suitable MR that would fit better in the big picture for future development
• it is also my understanding that forcing such a block outside of Wasabi (eg. using a personal firewall that leaves open just communication to the single configured node) would cause Wasabi to not work at all? (disclaimer, I haven't yet had a chance to personally try that)

Is that correct?

[nopara73]

It is correct. A remote full node setup is interesting and useful for some scenarios, but as far as Wasabi is concerned, our goal with optional full node integration is already a large tangent from us working towards better privacy. Our thinking was that enabling our users to use full nodes is important from a network health point of view, however a remote full node is a high maintenance, low demand feature, which arguably could be hazardous for network health due to node centralization to data centers, cloud or dedicated hardware. I'm not arguing this though, I'm just making a point that it's not a clear cut decision and distracts us from working on privacy.