UTXO Chat

This is a PoC of utxo chat proposed by Tadge Dryja. A decentralized chat system that uses Bitcoin UTXOs for spam protection without bloating the blockchain.

Current Implementation

✅ What Works

1. Basic Message Validation

   • UTXO verification through Bitcoin RPC
   • Message signature verification (only p2pkh)
   • Message size limits (10KB per UTXO) (not test!!!!)

2. Configuration

   • JSON-based configuration
   • RPC settings for Bitcoin node
   • Node configuration (listen address, keys, UTXOs)

3. Basic Client/Server

   • HTTP server for message reception (should we change it to wss or other protocol)
   • Test client for sending messages
   • In-memory message storage

🚧 What We Need

1. UTXO Verification Improvements

   • Proper verification of UTXO ownership
   • Script validation for different UTXO types
   • Better error handling and logging

2. P2P Network Layer

   • Peer discovery mechanism
   • Message propagation between nodes
   • Connection management
   • Peer health monitoring

3. Data Persistence

   • Persistent storage for messages
   • UTXO tracking
   • Message history

Quick Start

Configuration

1. Copy the default configuration:

cp config/default.json config/config.json

2. Edit config/config.json with your Bitcoin RPC settings:

{
    "rpc": {
        "host": "your-bitcoin-rpc-host",
        "user": "your-rpc-username",
        "pass": "your-rpc-password"
    }
}

Running

1. Start the server:

go run main.go

2. Test with client:

cd cmd/client
go run main.go -message "Your test message"

Next Steps

1. Priority 1: UTXO Verification

   • Implement proper script validation
   • Add support for different UTXO types
   • Improve error handling

2. Priority 2: P2P Network

   • Design peer discovery protocol
   • Implement message propagation
   • Add connection management

3. Priority 3: Storage

   • Design database schema
   • Implement persistent storage
   • Add message history queries

Contributing