Bitbot

An IRC bit-tip style bot. Just for fun, don't use with lots of coins.

Security

You probably don't want to use this.

This section is first because anything Bitcoin related seems to attract l33t hax0rs. This is just a toy. You probably shouldn't use it, and if you do, you shouldn't put much money into it. Here's why:

Bitbot does not operate on nicknames, but usernames. Therefore, it's only secure on IRC networks where usernames are forced. This probably isn't true of whatever IRC network you're on. (On our IRC network, usernames cannot be spoofed.) In order to be secure, the bot would need to authenticate users in some other way, perhaps by using NickServ or something. Pull requests accepted.

Bitbot uses an online wallet at https://blockchain.info. This was because it was the easiest path forward, but it is not the most secure. Blockchain.info itself seems reasonably secure, but if someone were to breach its servers, they would be able to steal all the coins stored by Bitbot. A better setup would be for Bitbot to perform its own transactions on the Bitcoin network. Pull requests accepted. :)

Bitbot is based on a Ruby IRC library called Cinch. I have no idea how secure Cinch is - it's possible that it has a remote code execution vulnerability. If it does, an attacker can steal all the coins from Bitbot.

Hopefully the above has scared you off from installing this and using it on Freenode. If it didn't, then you deserve to lose whatever you put in. You could just send it to me directly instead: 1zachsQ82fM7DC4HZQXMAAmkZ2Qg7pH2V.

How Does It Work

Bitbot lets people in IRC send each other Bitcoin. It's loosely modelled after the Reddit Bitcointip.

The big difference is that in Bitbot, tips between users do not show up in the blockchain. Bitbot maintains a wallet with all of the deposited funds, and then keeps a record of transactions between users. Only deposits and withdrawals to and from Bitbot show up in the Bitcoin blockchain.

We do this because our tips are generally pretty tiny, and if each one were a real transaction, our entire "Bitconomy" would be eaten up by transaction fees.

Installation

• Install the dependencies (sqlite3)

• Install the gem:

gem install bitbot

• Create an online wallet at https://blockchain.info/wallet/ . Create a secondary password on it, and I suggest locking access to the IP from which your bot will be running for an little extra security. It's probably also good to set up (encrypted) wallet backups to go to your email address.

• Create a data directory for Bitbot:

$ mkdir ~/.bitbot

• Create a bitbot.yml file that looks like this:

irc:
  server: irc.example.com
  port: 8765
  ssl: true
  nick: bitbot
  username: bitbot@example.com
  password: blahblah

blockchain:
  wallet_id: <long guid>
  password1: <password>
  password2: <secondary password>
  withdrawal_fee: <fee in satoshi, default: 50000>

data:
  path: /home/me/.bitbot

• Start the bot:

$ bitbot start <path to config.yml> 

Usage

Help

To get help, /msg bitbot help. He will respond with a list of commands he supports:

bitbot: Commands: deposit, balance, history, withdrawal

Deposit

To make a deposit to your Bitbot account, ask bitbot for your depositing address: /msg bitbot deposit. Bitbot will respond with a Bitcoin address to send coins to. Once

Tipping

To tip somebody, you must both be in a room with Bitbot. The syntax is +tip <nickname> <amount in BTC> <message>. When Bitbot sees that, it verifies that you have the funds to tip, does a whois on the recipient nickname, and then transfers the funds. He then responds with a confirmation:

bob: how do i make rails tests fast?
john: refactor your app so you can test it without rails
bob: +tip john 0.01 ur so smart
bitbot:  [✔] Verified: bob ➜ ฿+0.01 [$1.12] ➜ john

Withdrawing

When you want to withdraw funds to another Bitcoin address, just tell Bitbot: /msg bitbot withdraw <amount> <address>.

Bitbot will verify that you have enough money, and send <amount> BTC - 0.0005 (to cover the transaction fee) to the specified <address>.