{
  "$type": "site.standard.document",
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  "path": "/t/when-is-using-your-own-monero-node-preferred-over-connecting-to-tor-only-nodes/37572#post_2",
  "publishedAt": "2026-05-02T13:49:25.000Z",
  "site": "https://discuss.privacyguides.net",
  "tags": [
    "https://monero.fail",
    "coins are swept"
  ],
  "textContent": "cedarwind1:\n\n> Dear PG community,\n>\n> I have a question regarding Monero: when is it beneficial to run a Monero node vs connecting to the curated lists (eg: Tor-only nodes provided by Feather wallet, or https://monero.fail ?)\n\ndepends. I wouldnt recomment a random node from monero.fail. only use trusted nodes. Random or malicious nodes can fail to relay your tx, or even cost you money by inflating fee calculations.\n\ncedarwind1:\n\n> My understanding is that using your own node means no one can correlate your transactions to an IP\n>\n> but also only the node operator can see your transaction in full.\n\nYour ISP can also see which txs originate on your node. (unless your node is configured to use –anonymous-inbound + –tx-proxy **and/or** –proxy)\n\ncedarwind1:\n\n> In order for the transaction itself to be useful, in theory you need to know at least one participant in a transaction.\n\nYour ISP would know that you are one participant.\n\ncedarwind1:\n\n> Provided that the coins are swept, and the recipient uses a unique address for each transaction,\n\nUnique addresses dont matter. Your address is not stored on chain. Monero uses 1 time stealth addresses.\n\ncorrelating _outputs_ is from consolidating (or sweeping) them, not from reusing addresses locally. You dont want to “co-spend” outputs to an external source if both ends of the tx (where you sourced them from and where you are sending them to) are being traced by the same entity. See EAE episode of breakingmonero series on youtube.\n\ncedarwind1:\n\n> a single logged transaction is useless, right? Because a bad node operator may only know that one transaction, not the sweep or any intermediate ones.\n\nDepends is both ends (incoming and outgoing) of the _outputs_ are logged. As in, if exchange A deposit to your wallet is logged, and your subsequent deposit to honeypot B is also logged. Worse if you have multiple deposits from exchange A that are consolidated in a deposit to honeypot B.\n\ncedarwind1:\n\n> I am exploring the possibility of hosting my own node, but in the meantime I use feather wallet with the settings “always connect through Tor” and only using Tor nodes. My threat model is more about limiting data on merchants’ ends rather than a targeted attack via mass surveillance, so I think I am reasonably safe.\n\nIf the nodes that you use over tor are trusted, there is a lower attack surface than if you were to run a node. The only known traffic on your end would be some KBs of data going over tor.\n\ncedarwind1:\n\n> In addition, if I do run my own node, is there any benefit to making it publicly available via Tor? Tor allows you to NAT hole-punch, meaning no port forwarding etc is needed\n\nYes.\n\ncedarwind1:\n\n> Lastly, there is maintenance burden both in updating the node software but also the underlying hardware.\n>\n> TIA!\n\nif you bad adequate hardware to begin with, you dont have to update it more than every several years (at this point). The unpruned database is about 230gb. A 2tb ssd should/could be fine for many years to come, especially if running a pruned node.",
  "title": "When is using your own Monero node preferred over connecting to Tor-only nodes?"
}