Bchd Developers Announce Neutrino Wallet for Bitcoin Cash in Beta

Named after the subatomic particle that can pass right through the entire planet without being detected, neutrino is meant to be a lightweight wallet with enhanced privacy features. And Bchd developers are now bringing it over to the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) ecosystem in beta mode.

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Bitcoin Cash Neutrino

The Bchd developers who recently introduced a full node Bitcoin Cash client written in Go have also ported the neutrino backend to their codebase. For the first time, this gives BCH users access to the experimental wallet, which focuses on strong network-level privacy.

Network privacy refers to limiting the information that the wallet sends to its peers, as well as the servers to which it connects. “Prior to neutrino there was not a single lightweight wallet available on the market that does not disclose all the addresses in your wallet and your entire transaction history to a third party,” the Bchd team explained. Even when using Tor, it is technically possible for trading partners to link an individual to an address, they cautioned. However, neutrino utilizes a “client side filtering” approach, which enables wallets to avoid disclosing the addresses they contain to connected peers.

A Work in Progress

Due to the details of the security-enhancing process utilized by the neutrino wallet for BCH, devices must download more data than they would for other lightweight clients, which can be a problem for some mobile users. However, the developers have said that if the wallet is open for 10 minutes, which is more than most people’s average daily usage, then it will only be the equivalent of downloading one block. Additionally, the wallets can be programmed to only sync on WiFi.

Right now neutrino is command-line only software, which means that some technical knowledge is required to use it. But the team is looking for user interface designers who can create accessible interfaces for both mobile and desktop. It is also important to note that this is still beta software. “If you’re using it on mainnet please only use it with a small amount of funds,” the Bchd developers have warned.

Is network privacy a top concern when picking a cryptocurrency wallet? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

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