Node Implementation Overview

The node implementation (blvm-node) is a minimal reference Bitcoin node: it adds only non-consensus infrastructure on top of the consensus and protocol layers. Treat mainnet and high-value deployments like any consensus-adjacent system, hardening, monitoring, and review are required. Consensus logic comes from blvm-consensus, and protocol abstraction from blvm-protocol.

Release mainnet IBD: First Node Setup: Mainnet IBD.

Architecture

The node follows a layered architecture:

graph TB subgraph "blvm-node" NM[Network Manager
P2P networking, peer management] SL[Storage Layer
Block/UTXO storage] RS[RPC Server
JSON-RPC 2.0 API] MM[Module Manager
Process-isolated modules] MP[Mempool Manager
Transaction mempool] MC[Mining Coordinator
Block template generation] PP[Payment Processor
CTV support] end PROTO[blvm-protocol
Protocol abstraction] CONS[blvm-consensus
Consensus validation] NM --> PROTO SL --> PROTO MP --> PROTO MC --> PROTO PP --> PROTO PROTO --> CONS MM --> NM MM --> SL MM --> MP RS --> SL RS --> MP RS --> MC

Key Components

Network Manager

P2P protocol implementation (Bitcoin wire protocol)
Multi-transport support (TCP, Quinn QUIC, Iroh)
Peer connection management
Message routing and relay
Privacy protocols (Dandelion++ when dandelion feature enabled; FIBRE via blvm-fibre module)
Package relay (BIP331)

Storage Layer

Database abstraction with multiple backends (see Storage Backends)
Bitcoin Core drop-in: one-time import from a synced Core datadir into <datadir>/blvm/ when the rocksdb feature is enabled (see Operations: Starting from a Core datadir)
Automatic backend fallback on failure
Block storage and indexing
UTXO set management
Chain state tracking
Transaction indexing
Pruning support

RPC Server

JSON-RPC 2.0 compliant API (see RPC API Reference)
Bearer token RBAC (tokens, admin_tokens) and HTTP Basic (username, password) for ckpool / Core-style clients
Optional REST /api/v1/* when built with rest-api and [rest_api].enabled (separate bind; off by default: see RPC API: REST)
Optional JSON-RPC over QUIC / HTTP/3 (see RPC API: QUIC)
Authentication and rate limiting
Method coverage

Module System

Process-isolated modules (see Module System Architecture)
IPC communication (Unix domain sockets, see Module IPC Protocol)
Security sandboxing
Permission-based API access
Hot reload support

Mempool Manager

Transaction validation and storage
Fee-based transaction selection
RBF (Replace-By-Fee) support with 4 configurable modes (Disabled, Conservative, Standard, Aggressive)
Mempool policies and limits
Transaction expiry
Advanced indexing (address and value range indexing)

Mining Coordinator

Block template generation (RPC)
Stratum V2 (optional blvm-stratum-v2 module)

Payment Processing

CTV (CheckTemplateVerify) payment state machine when ctv compile-time feature is enabled
BIP70 HTTP payment RPC when bip70-http is in the binary (blvm default features; omitted from portable release builds: see Installation)
Lightning Network via optional blvm-lightning module (not core node RPC)
Payment vaults / covenant tooling in blvm-node payment layer (CTV-gated at runtime)

Governance Integration

Optional [governance] configuration (e.g. Commons URL, relay toggles) and NODE_GOVERNANCE P2P capability for extensions such as ban list sharing
Module-visible governance events (proposal lifecycle, webhooks, fork detection) for optional out-of-process modules

Design Principles

Zero Consensus Re-implementation: All consensus logic delegated to blvm-consensus
Protocol Abstraction: Uses blvm-protocol for variant support (mainnet, testnet, regtest)
Pure Infrastructure: Adds storage, networking, RPC, orchestration only
Feature-complete infrastructure: Full node-style behavior (storage, P2P, RPC, modules) with performance optimizations; not a substitute for operational security review before production

Features

Network Features

Multi-transport architecture (TCP, QUIC)
Transaction relay (Dandelion++; FIBRE via blvm-fibre module)
High-performance block relay (FIBRE module)
Package relay (BIP331)
UTXO commitments (compile-time feature in release binaries; enable at runtime when used)
Peer consensus protocol, spam filtering (bandwidth optimization during sync)
LAN peering system (automatic local network discovery for faster IBD when LAN peers exist)
Parallel IBD with optional IBD UTXO engine (BLVM_IBD_ENGINE=1)

Storage Features

Multiple database backends with abstraction layer (auto → heed3 (LMDB) in typical release builds; optional RocksDB, redb, sled, tidesdb)
Common on-disk chain layouts via RocksDB backend
Automatic backend fallback on failure
Pruning support
Advanced transaction indexing (address and value range indexes)
UTXO set management

Security Features

IBD bandwidth protection (per-peer/IP/subnet limits, reputation scoring)

Module Features

Process isolation
IPC communication
Security sandboxing
Hot reload
Module registry

Mining Features

Block template generation
Stratum V2 protocol (optional blvm-stratum-v2 module)
Merge mining (optional blvm-merge-mining plugin)
Mining pool coordination

Payment Features

Lightning Network via optional blvm-lightning module
CTV payment vaults and covenant proofs (requires ctv feature at build time)
BIP70 payment RPC (requires bip70-http in the binary)
Payment state machines (BIP70 / on-chain verify paths)

Integration Features

Governance webhook integration
ZeroMQ notifications (optional blvm-zmq module: see ZMQ module)
Optional REST /api/v1/* (same caveats as RPC Server)
Module registry (P2P discovery)

Node Lifecycle

Initialization: Load configuration, initialize storage, create network manager
Startup: Connect to P2P network, discover peers, load modules
Sync: Download and validate blockchain history
Running: Validate blocks/transactions, relay messages, serve RPC requests
Shutdown: Graceful shutdown of all components

Metrics and Monitoring

The node includes metrics collection:

Network Metrics: Peer count, bytes sent/received, connection statistics
Storage Metrics: Block count, UTXO count, database size
RPC Metrics: Request count, error rate, response times
Performance Metrics: Block validation time, transaction processing time
System Metrics: CPU usage, memory usage, disk I/O

Source

network/mod.rs (module root), network_manager.rs (connection and message handling)
mod.rs
mod.rs
manager.rs
mempool.rs
miner.rs
mod.rs
config/governance.rs, network/peer_manager.rs (governance feature), P2P governance extensions
mod.rs
metrics.rs

BLVM Documentation