Stealth addresses using nostr

Jul 9 - Sep 29, 2025

  • The discussion around the use of nostr, a decentralized communication protocol, in conjunction with wallet technology highlights several key considerations for ensuring reliable transaction notifications without sacrificing privacy or efficiency.

The strategy proposed involves leveraging multiple relays and confirmation messages to mitigate the risk of transaction notifications being lost or ignored due to relay deletions or failures. This approach is designed to counteract the inherent risks associated with a stateless system like nostr, where the absence of a global state could lead to missed transaction notifications. The emphasis on using silent payments alongside nostr notifications aims to streamline the notification process by reducing the scanning effort required from the receiver's side. Moreover, the proposal suggests incorporating fallback mechanisms such as full chain scans to ensure that no transactions are overlooked, balancing the need for privacy with the practicalities of ensuring transaction completion.

In a more detailed exploration of the cryptographic underpinnings, the conversation shifts to the technical aspects of creating stealth addresses and secure key exchanges between parties, identified as Alice and Bob. This includes the generation of new keys using npub for receiving bitcoin payments, highlighting the practical application of nostr in facilitating private and secure transactions. The method involves Alice notifying Bob of transactions through encrypted messages, relying on complex cryptographic operations to generate and communicate new keys. This system not only enhances privacy but also addresses limitations found in previous implementations, such as BIP 47 version 1, by eliminating the need for OP_RETURN in notifications and improving the user experience impacted by silent payments scanning.

Furthermore, the discourse delves into the specifics of generating stealth keys within the nostr framework, illustrating how shared secrets between parties can be leveraged to create stealth public and private keys. This process enables secure transactions while maintaining the anonymity of the involved parties. The provided Python code examples offer a practical guide for developers, showcasing the generation of these keys and outlining a potential path for integrating stealth payment notifications into applications. This integration represents a significant advancement in privacy features for Bitcoin, suggesting a structured approach through the development of new BIPs or NIPs that formalize the protocol for stealth payment notifications.

Overall, the discussions encapsulate a comprehensive examination of using nostr for transaction notifications, emphasizing the importance of reliability, privacy, and efficiency in this context. The combination of theoretical insights and practical implementation strategies underscores the dynamic nature of cryptocurrency and decentralized communication development, highlighting ongoing efforts to refine and secure these technologies.

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