Implement no-history synchronization

No-history is a method for synchronizing a wallet by scanning the UTXO
set. It can be useful for checking whether seed phrase backups have
money on them before committing the time and effort required to
rescanning the blockchain. No-history sync is compatible with pruning.
The sync method cannot tell which empty addresses have been used, so
cannot guarentee avoidance of address reuse. For this reason no-history
sync disables wallet address generation and can only be used with
wallet-tool and for sending transactions without change addresses.

docs/release-notes/release-notes-nohistory-sync.md

@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+Notable changes
+===============
+
+### No-history wallet synchronization
+
+The no-history synchronization method is enabled by setting `blockchain_source = bitcoin-rpc-no-history` in the `joinmarket.cfg` file.
+
+The method can be used to import a seed phrase to see whether it has any money on it within just 5-10 minutes. No-history sync doesn't require a long blockchain rescan, although it needs a full node which can be pruned.
+
+No-history sync works by scanning the full node's UTXO set. The downside is that it cannot find the history but only the current unspent balance, so it cannot avoid address reuse. Therefore when using no-history synchronization the wallet cannot generate new addresses. Any found money can only be spent by fully-sweeping the funds but not partially spending them which requires a change address. When using the method make sure to increase the gap limit to a large amount to cover all the possible bitcoin addresses where coins might be.
+
+The mode does not work with the Joinmarket-Qt GUI application but might do in future.

jmclient/jmclient/blockchaininterface.py

@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ from builtins import * # noqa: F401
 import abc
 import random
 import sys
+import time
 from decimal import Decimal
 from twisted.internet import reactor, task
 
@@ -12,7 +13,7 @@ import jmbitcoin as btc
 
 from jmclient.jsonrpc import JsonRpcConnectionError, JsonRpcError
 from jmclient.configure import jm_single
-from jmbase.support import get_log, jmprint, EXIT_SUCCESS, EXIT_FAILURE
+from jmbase.support import get_log, jmprint, EXIT_FAILURE
 
 
 # an inaccessible blockheight; consider rewriting in 1900 years
@@ -57,6 +58,11 @@ class BlockchainInterface(object):
         required for inclusion in the next N blocks.
 	'''
 
+    @abc.abstractmethod
+    def import_addresses_if_needed(self, addresses, wallet_name):
+        """import addresses to the underlying blockchain interface if needed
+        returns True if the sync call needs to do a system exit"""
+
     def fee_per_kb_has_been_manually_set(self, N):
         '''if the 'block' target is higher than 1000, interpret it
         as manually set fee/Kb.
@@ -66,7 +72,6 @@ class BlockchainInterface(object):
         else:
             return False
 
-
 class ElectrumWalletInterface(BlockchainInterface): #pragma: no cover
     """A pseudo-blockchain interface using the existing 
     Electrum server connection in an Electrum wallet.
@@ -167,7 +172,9 @@ class BitcoinCoreInterface(BlockchainInterface):
         actualNet = blockchainInfo['chain']
 
         netmap = {'main': 'mainnet', 'test': 'testnet', 'regtest': 'regtest'}
-        if netmap[actualNet] != network:
+        if netmap[actualNet] != network and \
+                (not (actualNet == "regtest" and network == "testnet")):
+            #special case of regtest and testnet having the same addr format
             raise Exception('wrong network configured')
 
     def get_block(self, blockheight):
@@ -182,7 +189,8 @@ class BitcoinCoreInterface(BlockchainInterface):
     def rpc(self, method, args):
         if method not in ['importaddress', 'walletpassphrase', 'getaccount',
                           'gettransaction', 'getrawtransaction', 'gettxout',
-                          'importmulti', 'listtransactions', 'getblockcount']:
+                          'importmulti', 'listtransactions', 'getblockcount',
+                          'scantxoutset']:
             log.debug('rpc: ' + method + " " + str(args))
         res = self.jsonRpc.call(method, args)
         return res
@@ -230,25 +238,20 @@ class BitcoinCoreInterface(BlockchainInterface):
                 jmprint(fatal_msg, "important")
             sys.exit(EXIT_FAILURE)
 
-    def add_watchonly_addresses(self, addr_list, wallet_name, restart_cb=None):
+    def import_addresses_if_needed(self, addresses, wallet_name):
-        """For backwards compatibility, this fn name is preserved
+        try:
-        as the case where we quit the program if a rescan is required;
+            imported_addresses = set(self.rpc('getaddressesbyaccount',
-        but in some cases a rescan is not required (if the address is known
+                                                  [wallet_name]))
-        to be new/unused). For that case use import_addresses instead.
+        except JsonRpcError:
-        """
+            if wallet_name in self.rpc('listlabels', []):
-        self.import_addresses(addr_list, wallet_name)
+                imported_addresses = set(self.rpc('getaddressesbylabel',
-        if jm_single().config.get("BLOCKCHAIN",
+                                                      [wallet_name]).keys())
-                                  "blockchain_source") != 'regtest': #pragma: no cover
-            #Exit conditions cannot be included in tests
-            restart_msg = ("restart Bitcoin Core with -rescan or use "
-                           "`bitcoin-cli rescanblockchain` if you're "
-                           "recovering an existing wallet from backup seed\n"
-                           "Otherwise just restart this joinmarket application.")
-            if restart_cb:
-                restart_cb(restart_msg)
             else:
-                jmprint(restart_msg, "important")
+                imported_addresses = set()
-                sys.exit(EXIT_SUCCESS)
+        import_needed = not addresses.issubset(imported_addresses)
+        if import_needed:
+            self.import_addresses(addresses - imported_addresses, wallet_name)
+        return import_needed
 
     def _yield_transactions(self, wallet_name):
         batch_size = 1000
@@ -387,6 +390,78 @@ class BitcoinCoreInterface(BlockchainInterface):
             return 10000
         return int(Decimal(1e8) * Decimal(estimate))
 
+class BitcoinCoreNoHistoryInterface(BitcoinCoreInterface):
+
+    def __init__(self, jsonRpc, network):
+        super(BitcoinCoreNoHistoryInterface, self).__init__(jsonRpc, network)
+        self.import_addresses_call_count = 0
+        self.wallet_name = None
+        self.scan_result = None
+
+    def import_addresses_if_needed(self, addresses, wallet_name):
+        self.import_addresses_call_count += 1
+        if self.import_addresses_call_count == 1:
+            self.wallet_name = wallet_name
+            addr_list = ["addr(" + a + ")" for a in addresses]
+            log.debug("Starting scan of UTXO set")
+            st = time.time()
+            try:
+                self.rpc("scantxoutset", ["abort", []])
+                self.scan_result = self.rpc("scantxoutset", ["start",
+                    addr_list])
+            except JsonRpcError as e:
+                raise RuntimeError("Bitcoin Core 0.17.0 or higher required "
+                    + "for no-history sync (" + repr(e) + ")")
+            et = time.time()
+            log.debug("UTXO set scan took " + str(et - st) + "sec")
+        elif self.import_addresses_call_count > 4:
+            #called twice for the first call of sync_addresses(), then two
+            # more times for the second call. the second call happens because
+            # sync_addresses() re-runs in order to have gap_limit new addresses
+            assert False
+        return False
+
+    def _get_addr_from_desc(self, desc_str):
+        #example
+        #'desc': 'addr(2MvAfRVvRAeBS18NT7mKVc1gFim169GkFC5)#h5yn9eq4',
+        assert desc_str.startswith("addr(")
+        return desc_str[5:desc_str.find(")")]
+
+    def _yield_transactions(self, wallet_name):
+        for u in self.scan_result["unspents"]:
+            tx = {"category": "receive", "address":
+                self._get_addr_from_desc(u["desc"])}
+            yield tx
+
+    def list_transactions(self, num):
+        return []
+
+    def rpc(self, method, args):
+        if method == "listaddressgroupings":
+            raise RuntimeError("default sync not supported by bitcoin-rpc-nohistory, use --recoversync")
+        elif method == "listunspent":
+            minconf = 0 if len(args) < 1 else args[0]
+            maxconf = 9999999 if len(args) < 2 else args[1]
+            return [{
+                "address": self._get_addr_from_desc(u["desc"]),
+                "label": self.wallet_name,
+                "height": u["height"],
+                "txid": u["txid"],
+                "vout": u["vout"],
+                "scriptPubKey": u["scriptPubKey"],
+                "amount": u["amount"]
+                } for u in self.scan_result["unspents"]]
+        else:
+            return super(BitcoinCoreNoHistoryInterface, self).rpc(method, args)
+
+    def set_wallet_no_history(self, wallet):
+        #make wallet-tool not display any new addresses
+        #because no-history cant tell if an address is used and empty
+        #so this is necessary to avoid address reuse
+        wallet.gap_limit = 0
+        #disable generating change addresses, also because cant guarantee
+        # avoidance of address reuse
+        wallet.disable_new_scripts = True
 
 # class for regtest chain access
 # running on local daemon. Only

jmclient/jmclient/configure.py

@@ -107,7 +107,8 @@ daemon_host = localhost
 use_ssl = false
 
 [BLOCKCHAIN]
-#options: bitcoin-rpc, regtest
+#options: bitcoin-rpc, regtest, bitcoin-rpc-no-history
+# when using bitcoin-rpc-no-history remember to increase the gap limit to scan for more addresses, try -g 5000
 blockchain_source = bitcoin-rpc
 network = mainnet
 rpc_host = localhost
@@ -516,12 +517,13 @@ def get_blockchain_interface_instance(_config):
     # todo: refactor joinmarket module to get rid of loops
     # importing here is necessary to avoid import loops
     from jmclient.blockchaininterface import BitcoinCoreInterface, \
-        RegtestBitcoinCoreInterface, ElectrumWalletInterface
+        RegtestBitcoinCoreInterface, ElectrumWalletInterface, \
+        BitcoinCoreNoHistoryInterface
     from jmclient.electruminterface import ElectrumInterface
     source = _config.get("BLOCKCHAIN", "blockchain_source")
     network = get_network()
     testnet = network == 'testnet'
-    if source in ('bitcoin-rpc', 'regtest'):
+    if source in ('bitcoin-rpc', 'regtest', 'bitcoin-rpc-no-history'):
         rpc_host = _config.get("BLOCKCHAIN", "rpc_host")
         rpc_port = _config.get("BLOCKCHAIN", "rpc_port")
         rpc_user, rpc_password = get_bitcoin_rpc_credentials(_config)
@@ -530,8 +532,12 @@ def get_blockchain_interface_instance(_config):
             rpc_wallet_file)
         if source == 'bitcoin-rpc': #pragma: no cover
             bc_interface = BitcoinCoreInterface(rpc, network)
-        else:
+        elif source == 'regtest':
             bc_interface = RegtestBitcoinCoreInterface(rpc)
+        elif source == "bitcoin-rpc-no-history":
+            bc_interface = BitcoinCoreNoHistoryInterface(rpc, network)
+        else:
+            assert 0
     elif source == 'electrum':
         bc_interface = ElectrumWalletInterface(testnet)
     elif source == 'electrum-server':

jmclient/jmclient/wallet.py

@@ -1283,6 +1283,7 @@ class BIP32Wallet(BaseWallet):
             self.get_bip32_priv_export(0, 0).encode('ascii')).digest())\
             .digest()[:3]
         self._populate_script_map()
+        self.disable_new_scripts = False
 
     @classmethod
     def initialize(cls, storage, network, max_mixdepth=2, timestamp=None,
@@ -1372,7 +1373,7 @@ class BIP32Wallet(BaseWallet):
         current_index = self._index_cache[md][int_type]
 
         if index == current_index:
-            return self.get_new_script(md, int_type)
+            return self.get_new_script_override_disable(md, int_type)
 
         priv, engine = self._get_priv_from_path(path)
         script = engine.privkey_to_script(priv)
@@ -1454,6 +1455,12 @@ class BIP32Wallet(BaseWallet):
         return path[0] == self._key_ident
 
     def get_new_script(self, mixdepth, internal):
+        if self.disable_new_scripts:
+            raise RuntimeError("Obtaining new wallet addresses "
+                + "disabled, due to nohistory mode")
+        return self.get_new_script_override_disable(mixdepth, internal)
+
+    def get_new_script_override_disable(self, mixdepth, internal):
         # This is called by get_script_path and calls back there. We need to
         # ensure all conditions match to avoid endless recursion.
         int_type = self._get_internal_type(internal)

jmclient/jmclient/wallet_service.py

@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import collections
 import time
 import ast
 import binascii
+import sys
 from decimal import Decimal
 from copy import deepcopy
 from twisted.internet import reactor
@@ -14,8 +15,9 @@ from twisted.application.service import Service
 from numbers import Integral
 from jmclient.configure import jm_single, get_log
 from jmclient.output import fmt_tx_data
-from jmclient.jsonrpc import JsonRpcError
+from jmclient.blockchaininterface import (INF_HEIGHT, BitcoinCoreInterface,
-from jmclient.blockchaininterface import INF_HEIGHT
+    BitcoinCoreNoHistoryInterface)
+from jmbase.support import jmprint, EXIT_SUCCESS
 """Wallet service
 
 The purpose of this independent service is to allow
@@ -333,6 +335,8 @@ class WalletService(Service):
         # before startup
         self.old_txs = [x['txid'] for x in self.bci.list_transactions(100)
             if "txid" in x]
+        if isinstance(self.bci, BitcoinCoreNoHistoryInterface):
+            self.bci.set_wallet_no_history(self.wallet)
         return self.synced
 
     def resync_wallet(self, fast=True):
@@ -447,6 +451,24 @@ class WalletService(Service):
                                   self.restart_callback)
         self.synced = True
 
+    def display_rescan_message_and_system_exit(self, restart_cb):
+        #TODO using system exit here should be avoided as it makes the code
+        # harder to understand and reason about
+        #theres also a sys.exit() in BitcoinCoreInterface.import_addresses()
+        #perhaps have sys.exit() placed inside the restart_cb that only
+        # CLI scripts will use
+        if self.bci.__class__ == BitcoinCoreInterface:
+            #Exit conditions cannot be included in tests
+            restart_msg = ("restart Bitcoin Core with -rescan or use "
+                           "`bitcoin-cli rescanblockchain` if you're "
+                           "recovering an existing wallet from backup seed\n"
+                           "Otherwise just restart this joinmarket application.")
+            if restart_cb:
+                restart_cb(restart_msg)
+            else:
+                jmprint(restart_msg, "important")
+                sys.exit(EXIT_SUCCESS)
+
     def sync_addresses(self):
         """ Triggered by use of --recoversync option in scripts,
         attempts a full scan of the blockchain without assuming
@@ -456,19 +478,11 @@ class WalletService(Service):
         jlog.debug("requesting detailed wallet history")
         wallet_name = self.get_wallet_name()
         addresses, saved_indices = self.collect_addresses_init()
-        try:
-            imported_addresses = set(self.bci.rpc('getaddressesbyaccount',
-                                                  [wallet_name]))
-        except JsonRpcError:
-            if wallet_name in self.bci.rpc('listlabels', []):
-                imported_addresses = set(self.bci.rpc('getaddressesbylabel',
-                                                      [wallet_name]).keys())
-            else:
-                imported_addresses = set()
 
-        if not addresses.issubset(imported_addresses):
+        import_needed = self.bci.import_addresses_if_needed(addresses,
-            self.bci.add_watchonly_addresses(addresses - imported_addresses,
+            wallet_name)
-                                             wallet_name, self.restart_callback)
+        if import_needed:
+            self.display_rescan_message_and_system_exit(self.restart_callback)
             return
 
         used_addresses_gen = (tx['address']
@@ -480,13 +494,12 @@ class WalletService(Service):
         self.rewind_wallet_indices(used_indices, saved_indices)
 
         new_addresses = self.collect_addresses_gap()
-        if not new_addresses.issubset(imported_addresses):
+        if self.bci.import_addresses_if_needed(new_addresses, wallet_name):
-            jlog.debug("Syncing iteration finished, additional step required")
+            jlog.debug("Syncing iteration finished, additional step required (more address import required)")
-            self.bci.add_watchonly_addresses(new_addresses - imported_addresses,
-                                             wallet_name, self.restart_callback)
             self.synced = False
+            self.display_rescan_message_and_system_exit(self.restart_callback)
         elif gap_limit_used:
-            jlog.debug("Syncing iteration finished, additional step required")
+            jlog.debug("Syncing iteration finished, additional step required (gap limit used)")
             self.synced = False
         else:
             jlog.debug("Wallet successfully synced")
@@ -513,14 +526,30 @@ class WalletService(Service):
         our_unspent_list = [x for x in unspent_list if (
             self.bci.is_address_labeled(x, wallet_name) or
             self.bci.is_address_labeled(x, self.EXTERNAL_WALLET_LABEL))]
-        for u in our_unspent_list:
+        for utxo in our_unspent_list:
-            if not self.is_known_addr(u['address']):
+            if not self.is_known_addr(utxo['address']):
                 continue
-            self._add_unspent_utxo(u, current_blockheight)
+            # The result of bitcoin core's listunspent RPC call does not have
+            # a "height" field, only "confirmations".
+            # But the result of scantxoutset used in no-history sync does
+            # have "height".
+            if "height" in utxo:
+                height = utxo["height"]
+            else:
+                height = None
+                # wallet's utxo database needs to store an absolute rather
+                # than relative height measure:
+                confs = int(utxo['confirmations'])
+                if confs < 0:
+                    jlog.warning("Utxo not added, has a conflict: " + str(utxo))
+                    continue
+                if confs >= 1:
+                    height = current_blockheight - confs + 1
+            self._add_unspent_txo(utxo, height)
         et = time.time()
         jlog.debug('bitcoind sync_unspent took ' + str((et - st)) + 'sec')
 
-    def _add_unspent_utxo(self, utxo, current_blockheight):
+    def _add_unspent_txo(self, utxo, height):
         """
         Add a UTXO as returned by rpc's listunspent call to the wallet.
 
@@ -532,15 +561,6 @@ class WalletService(Service):
         txid = binascii.unhexlify(utxo['txid'])
         script = binascii.unhexlify(utxo['scriptPubKey'])
         value = int(Decimal(str(utxo['amount'])) * Decimal('1e8'))
-        confs = int(utxo['confirmations'])
-        # wallet's utxo database needs to store an absolute rather
-        # than relative height measure:
-        height = None
-        if confs < 0:
-            jlog.warning("Utxo not added, has a conflict: " + str(utxo))
-            return
-        if confs >=1 :
-            height = current_blockheight - confs + 1
         self.add_utxo(txid, int(utxo['vout']), script, value, height)
 
 

jmclient/jmclient/wallet_utils.py

@@ -386,7 +386,7 @@ def wallet_showutxos(wallet, showprivkey):
     return json.dumps(unsp, indent=4)
 
 
-def wallet_display(wallet_service, gaplimit, showprivkey, displayall=False,
+def wallet_display(wallet_service, showprivkey, displayall=False,
         serialized=True, summarized=False):
     """build the walletview object,
     then return its serialization directly if serialized,
@@ -399,6 +399,12 @@ def wallet_display(wallet_service, gaplimit, showprivkey, displayall=False,
             if addr_path != utxodata['path']:
                 continue
             addr_balance += utxodata['value']
+            #TODO it is a failure of abstraction here that
+            # the bitcoin core interface is used directly
+            #the function should either be removed or added to bci
+            #or possibly add some kind of `gettransaction` function
+            # to bci
+            if jm_single().bc_interface.__class__ == BitcoinCoreInterface:
                 is_coinjoin, cj_amount, cj_n = \
                     get_tx_info(binascii.hexlify(utxo[0]).decode('ascii'))[:3]
                 if is_coinjoin and utxodata['value'] == cj_amount:
@@ -433,7 +439,7 @@ def wallet_display(wallet_service, gaplimit, showprivkey, displayall=False,
                 xpub_key = ""
 
             unused_index = wallet_service.get_next_unused_index(m, forchange)
-            for k in range(unused_index + gaplimit):
+            for k in range(unused_index + wallet_service.gap_limit):
                 path = wallet_service.get_path(m, forchange, k)
                 addr = wallet_service.get_addr_path(path)
                 balance, used = get_addr_status(
@@ -1254,12 +1260,12 @@ def wallet_tool_main(wallet_root_path):
 
     #Now the wallet/data is prepared, execute the script according to the method
     if method == "display":
-        return wallet_display(wallet_service, options.gaplimit, options.showprivkey)
+        return wallet_display(wallet_service, options.showprivkey)
     elif method == "displayall":
-        return wallet_display(wallet_service, options.gaplimit, options.showprivkey,
+        return wallet_display(wallet_service, options.showprivkey,
                               displayall=True)
     elif method == "summary":
-        return wallet_display(wallet_service, options.gaplimit, options.showprivkey, summarized=True)
+        return wallet_display(wallet_service, options.showprivkey, summarized=True)
     elif method == "history":
         if not isinstance(jm_single().bc_interface, BitcoinCoreInterface):
             jmprint('showing history only available when using the Bitcoin Core ' +