How it Works

I2P support is automatic, via the SAM API. This is also exciting news, because it highlights some of the things I2P is singularly good at, like empowering application developers to build I2P connections programmatically and conveniently. Bitcoin-over-I2P users can use I2P with no manual configuration by enabling the SAM API and running Bitcoin with I2P enabled.

Configuring your I2P Router

In order to set up an I2P Router to provide anonymous connectivity to bitcoin, the SAM API needs to be enabled. In Java I2P, you should go to http://127.0.0.1:7657/configclients. and start the SAM Application Bridge with the "Start" button. You may also want to enable the SAM Application Bridge by default by checking the "Run at Startup" box and clicking "Save Client Configuration."

On i2pd, the SAM API is normally enabled by default, but if it isn't, you should set:

sam.enabled=true

in your i2pd.conf file.

Configuring your Bitcoin Node for Anonymity and Connectivity

Getting Bitcoin itself launched in an anonymous mode still requires editing some configuration files in the Bitcoin Data Directory, which is %APPDATA%Bitcoin on Windows, ~/.bitcoin on Linux, and ~/Library/Application Support/Bitcoin/ on Mac OSX. It also requires at least version 22.0.0 for I2P support to be present.

After following these instructions, you should have a private Bitcoin node which uses I2P for I2P connections, and Tor for .onion and clearnet connections, so that all your connections are anonymous. For convenience, Windows users should open their Bitcoin Data Directory by opening the start menu and searching for "Run." Inside the run prompt, type "%APPDATA%Bitcoin" and press enter.

In that directory create a file called "i2p.conf." On Windows, you should make sure that you've add quotes around the file when you save it, in order to prevent Windows from adding a default file extension to the file. The file should contain the following I2P-Related Bitcoin configuration options:

i2psam=127.0.0.1:7656
i2pacceptincoming=true
onlynet=i2p

Next, you should create another file called "tor.conf." The file should contain the following Tor related configuration options:

proxy=127.0.0.1:9050
onion=127.0.0.1:9050
onlynet=tor

Finally, you'll need to "include" these configuration options in your Bitcoin configuration file, called "bitcoin.conf" in the Data Directory. Add these two lines to your bitcoin.conf file:

includeconf=i2p.conf
includeconf=tor.conf

Now your Bitcoin node is configured to only use anonymous connections. In order to enable direct connections to remote nodes, remove the lines beginning in:

onlynet=

You can do this if you do not require your Bitcoin node to be anonymous, and it helps anonymous users connect to the rest of the Bitcoin network.