DNS seeds are servers that new nodes query upon startup to discover other nodes.
The network lacks updated monitoring of those servers since the end of 2024, according to b10c.
The developer b10c published a proposal on GitHub this May 12 to create a monitoring tool for DNS seeds of Bitcoin, which are the servers that new nodes consult when starting up to discover IP addresses of other active nodes on the network. These servers are part of one of the most invisible (and sensitive) infrastructures of Bitcoin’s operation.
Without the initial reference that DNS seeds offer, a newly connected node does not know which other participants to communicate with to integrate into Bitcoin. In this framework, DNS seeds function as a gateway to the network, since they provide lists of reachable nodes so that the new node can start synchronizing blocks and transactions.
If those servers fail, become outdated, or return incorrect information, a node could have difficulty finding available peers, connect to down nodes, or even end up isolated from the legitimate network. In more extreme scenarios, deliberate manipulation of DNS seeds could facilitate eclipse attackswhere an attacker manages to surround a node with controlled connections to show it a partial or altered view of Bitcoin.
For this reason, b10c maintains in the proposal repository have constant monitoring and historical data on the behavior of the DNS seeds It is relevant to detect problems connectivity, infrastructure degradation, possible attempts at centralization or anomalous behavior within the network.
The following graph shared by b10c shows the number of nodes advertised by each of the nine DNS seeds of Bitcoin between January 2023 and mid-2025. Until the end of 2024, the total remained relatively stable at around 300 announced nodes. From that moment on, the data of several seeds disappear from the registryevidencing the monitoring gap that b10c seeks to fill.
An open proposal, without assigned responsible person
The only project that fulfilled this monitoring function was that of the bitcoiner developer known as virtu, according to b10c. This tool stopped updating its data at the end of 2024 and, in addition, its code is not open, which prevents other developers from using it directly.
“It would be nice to have a tool again and have someone investigate it,” b10c wrote on X.
For now, the initiative published on GitHub works as a technical and conceptual base upon which another developer should build an operational monitoring tool. The proposal does not have an assigned person or confirmed active development.
Among the minimum requirements defined by b10c are consulting the DNS records of each seedstry to connect to the nodes that they return and record the results obtained. The system should also collect additional information, such as each node’s user agent, an identifier that allows us to know what software each network participant is running.