<p>After some digging, I find out more about the answer.</p>
<ol>
<li>In bitcoin core, it is possible to NOT broadcast your own transactions with &quot;walletbroadcast=0&quot; option</li>
<li>See more details at <a href="https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/pipermail/bitcoin-dev/2015-July/009422.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/pipermail/bitcoin-dev/2015-July/009422.html</a>, <a href="https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Privacy" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Privacy</a> (&quot;Tor and tor broadcasting&quot;), and <a href="https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/5951" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/5951</a></li>
<li>However, none of them provided a working script for doing so (I suspect it should be relatively simple, but did not dig in too much)</li>
<li>I'm using <a href="https://github.com/chris-belcher/electrum-personal-server" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Electrum Personal Server (EPS)</a> for my electrum wallet.  EPS happens to support tor broadcasting.  So I'm happy.</li>
</ol>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-10-13T22:21:49.937Z
2020-10-13T22:21:49.937Z
user4572254
<p>You cannot.</p>
<p>The node side of Bitcoin Core treats wallet transactions as any other transaction. They aren't treated any differently from transactions received over the network. So once the transaction is added to the node's mempool, it will be broadcast to connected nodes in the same way that any other transaction would be relayed.</p>
<p>All you can do is to temporarily run Tor only for transaction broadcast.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-10-12T19:12:45.527Z
Thanks for quick confirmation, Andrew.  Isn't this a glaring omission from bitcoin core?  Was my expectation and the rationales behind it reasonable?

I am happy to roll my sleeves and create a patch if the feature sounds desirable to wider audience.
user4572254
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-10-12T05:25:31.657Z
2020-10-12T05:25:31.657Z
Ava Chow
<p>I have set up a full node with bitcoin core running on the internet.  I have also set up a wallet running on a private machine that communicates to the full node to broadcast new transactions.</p>
<p>To enhance privacy, I plan to enable Tor on the full node.  However, it is not clear to me how to use Tor <em>only</em> for broadcasting new transactions from my wallet.</p>
<p>Many tutorials tell you how to use Tor exclusively for everything.  That is not very good, because it wastes bandwidth, is slow and does not help bitcoin community.</p>
<p>Some other tutorials talk about using both Tor and IPv4/IPv6 at the same time.  However, with this setting it is not clear whether new transactions from my wallet are sent out via IPv4/IPv6 or not.  If they do, then you don't have much privacy after all.</p>
<p>Appreciate any pointers on this.</p>

<bitcoin-core><blockchain><privacy><full-node><tor>
in bitcoin core, how to use Tor for broadcasting new transactions only?
user4572254
# in bitcoin core, how to use Tor for broadcasting new transactions only?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-10-12)

I have set up a full node with bitcoin core running on the internet. I have also set up a wallet running on a private machine that communicates to the full node to broadcast new transactions.

To enhance privacy, I plan to enable Tor on the full node. However, it is not clear to me how to use Tor *only* for broadcasting new transactions from my wallet.

Many tutorials tell you how to use Tor exclusively for everything. That is not very good, because it wastes bandwidth, is slow and does not help bitcoin community.

Some other tutorials talk about using both Tor and IPv4/IPv6 at the same time. However, with this setting it is not clear whether new transactions from my wallet are sent out via IPv4/IPv6 or not. If they do, then you don't have much privacy after all.

Appreciate any pointers on this.

**Tags:** bitcoin-core, blockchain, privacy, full-node, tor


---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_0 on 2020-10-13. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

After some digging, I find out more about the answer.

1. In bitcoin core, it is possible to NOT broadcast your own transactions with "walletbroadcast=0" option
2. See more details at <https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/pipermail/bitcoin-dev/2015-July/009422.html>, <https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Privacy> ("Tor and tor broadcasting"), and <https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/5951>
3. However, none of them provided a working script for doing so (I suspect it should be relatively simple, but did not dig in too much)
4. I'm using [Electrum Personal Server (EPS)](https://github.com/chris-belcher/electrum-personal-server) for my electrum wallet. EPS happens to support tor broadcasting. So I'm happy.


---

### Answer by username_1 on 2020-10-12. Score: 3

You cannot.

The node side of Bitcoin Core treats wallet transactions as any other transaction. They aren't treated any differently from transactions received over the network. So once the transaction is added to the node's mempool, it will be broadcast to connected nodes in the same way that any other transaction would be relayed.

All you can do is to temporarily run Tor only for transaction broadcast.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thanks for quick confirmation, Andrew.  Isn't this a glaring omission from bitcoin core?  Was my expectation and the rationales behind it reasonable?  I am happy to roll my sleeves and create a patch if the feature sounds desirable to wider audience.  

---

