Replying to Avatar Super Testnet

I want to build a web wallet that uses Compact Block Filters

To do it, I think I need a reliable way to get data from bitcoin nodes in a web context, particularly (1) block headers (2) compact block filters (3) blocks themselves

Has anyone done any research into this? I found at least one electrum server that exposes its p2p interface via websockets, but I don't know if any bitcoin nodes do that. I thought about getting block headers from electrum servers and then downloading blocks from services like mempool_space and blockstream_info, but I suspect their rate limits would stop me from downloading more than ~100 blocks, and that still leaves me with the problem of finding someone that serves compact block filters in a web-friendly way.

What to do? Has anyone thought about running websockify on top of a bitcoin node to expose its p2p interface to the web? Maybe if a few nodes did that, a directory of web-friendly bitcoin nodes could be created, and web-SPV wallets could download blocks and block filters from them. Is that a good idea? Seeking feedback 🙂
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jb55 2mo ago 💬 2

websockets socket proxy is usually the answer. I do that for talking to my lightning node from the browser. although cln has full support for websockets as well which is nice for non proxies connections.

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Super Testnet 2mo ago

> websockets socket proxy is usually the answer

I think it's part of the solution, except for this: if the user has to run the proxy, it's much less effective as a browser wallet. You might as well just "install" a wallet. That's why I wonder if any bitcoin nodes are running a generic websockets-to-tcp proxy like Websockify in front of their bitcoin node. If they are, then I can design a web wallet which gets block data from *them,* that way the user doesn't need to run a full node -- they'll just download data from other nodes, the same way "thin" bitcoin clients are supposed to do.

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Melvin Carvalho 1mo ago

Nice! We need full SPV with merkel proofs, imho.