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BONUS: Mempool

  • In this section we will install and use Mempool.space (Mempool).
  • Mempool is a pretty and functional block explorer

Exercise: Install and run Mempool

Add Mempool and Tor to your config​

  # enable Tor hidden services, and tor client
  services.tor = {
    enable = true;
    client.enable = true;
  };

  # enable mempool service, use Fulcrum as backend for address lookups,
  # and enable Tor hidden service for mempool
  services.mempool = {
    enable = true;
    electrumServer = "fulcrum";
    tor = {
      proxy = true;
      enforce = true;
    };
  };
  nix-bitcoin.onionServices.mempool-frontend.enable = true;

Switch to the new config​

sudo nixos-rebuild switch --flake /etc/nixos/#btcpp-berlin-mutinynet

Access via Tor-enabled browser (can also use an SSH tunnel, see below)​

(If you don't already have a Tor-enabled browser, I recommend skipping to the SSH tunnel method)​

If you have Tor Browser (or some other Tor-enabled browser), you can access your mempool frontend via your .onion URL Here's are some decent guides for enabling Tor in Firefox on various OSes. Tor can be a bit slow, but the hidden service will be accessible to anyone who knows the .onion URL.

Get your onion URL​

sudo cat /var/lib/tor/onion/mempool-frontend/hostname

Visit your mempool's onion address​

Paste the .onion address into your browser and enjoy!

Access via SSH tunnel​

Open a terminal window and start a new SSH session like this:

ssh -L 60845:127.0.0.1:60845 bitcoiner@<VPS IP address>

If you want to use the same SSH session for RTL, Fulcrum, and Mempool you can instead do:

ssh -L 3000:127.0.0.1:3000 -L 50001:127.0.0.1:50001 -L 60845:127.0.0.1:60845 bitcoiner@<VPS IP address>
  • This will open an SSH tunnel from localhost on your VPS (where Mempool is exposed on port 60845) to localhost on your local machine.
  • If you're having trouble connecting, try deactivating any VPNs and restarting the tunnel.
  • Make sure you don't have two tunnels open to the same port.

You can now visit localhost:60845 in a browser and enjoy!

  • Install Mempool and Tor
  • Create an SSH tunnel to your RTL instance or grab your .onion URL
  • Use Mempool for great glory