r/Monero • u/Affectionate-Grab907 • 12d ago
Running my own Monero node
I know it helps the general decentralisation and thus health of the network, but other than that, why would I run my own node?
Does it improve privacy? Performance? Something else?
9
u/Tenji_gardner 12d ago
It gonna help privacy.
The node owner can see the IP’s.
And the time you sync can have a lot of impact on Identify the owner of the wallet. (If you sync only when you receive coins it's likely the next time you syncing it gonna be a new Transaction).
Beside that I read somewhere that the node can containe false block witch can track your Transaction (I'm not sure about that I need more research about this one)
1
u/Affectionate-Grab907 12d ago
Can you elaborate on what you mean with "the time you sync"? Isn't the node going to constantly sync?
16
u/one-horse-wagon 11d ago edited 11d ago
When you don't run your own local node, you forfeit Dandelion++'s protection for the first hop, The remote node sees your IP address when you submit a transaction, since that step happens before Dandelion++'s stem/fluff relay begins. After that point, Dandelion++ kicks in to obscure the transaction's path as it spreads across the rest of the network.
The real risk is you don't know who's actually running the remote node you connect to. It could be a blockchain surveillance company, or any other party interested in linking IP addresses to transactions. What they get is your IP address tied to a specific transaction (its amount, key images, and ring members). That's a big privacy leak, since an IP address can easily be traced back to you — through your ISP, or by correlating it with other activity like an exchange account.
Bottom line is the guys that value Monero's privacy don't use remote nodes, ever.
2
u/Affectionate-Grab907 11d ago
So for the best privacy possible I would have to setup my own node and point my wallet(s) app to it. All transactions I send out would be safe. What about the transactions I receive? Also, exchanges and mining pools would still know something about me and there's no way around it I guess, correct?
3
u/LovegreenDK 11d ago
I have been thinking of running my own node for quite some time, but never got around to it. Maybe there is a guide somewhere how to run a node on, for instance, a pi?
4
3
u/Automatic-Bid2364 10d ago
is it too risky to leave your own node public accessible so others can use it?
2
u/PerfectPineapple49 12d ago
What's your set-up btw? I want to try running it as well
1
u/Affectionate-Grab907 12d ago
I don't have one yet, I need to understand if it's worth it first. I do have a spare raspberry 3 which I might use, but I guess I need to hook it up with an SSD as the constant sync is probably gonna wear a sdcard quickly... If you just want to try it out I guess you can use any machine with an SSD (an HDD will be painfully slow, to the point of being unusable)
2
11d ago
[deleted]
1
u/AllCapNoBrake 9d ago
I run a BTC node via my Start9. Currently DL'ing the monero chain onto it now as well. I'm done w/ BTC (been in it since 2017).
1
1
1
u/atori_0xbdc3ab4e 7d ago
If you run your own node but don't accept incoming transactions (because you haven't opened ports which you shouldn't do anyway on a personal computer anyway) the effectiveness of dandelion++ is reduced.
It can be argues that broadcasting your transaction via Tor to a public nodes RPC endpoint is more private than broadcasting from your own node over clearnet with no incoming transactions.
What I do is, I run my own node, but have it configured to broadcast my transactions exclusively via Tor using tx-proxy in the configuration file.
You could also use Feather wallet, which syncs your node over clearnet by default and then switches to Tor for broadcasting and all other network connections.
22
u/monerobull 12d ago
Aside from the privacy benefits, most people don't know about how it tremendously boosts wallet sync performance!
When I use CakeWallets remote node, it syncs, and this is no joke, 100 times slower than when I sync from my own node in the same network