Deploy Servers Anonymously with Bitcoin from the Command Line

Developers often build and test their applications in temporary server environments called cloud or virtual servers, from infrastructure providers such as Amazon, Digital Ocean, and the bitcoin-accepting Vultr. A new service has been launched to help developers deploy servers instantly, anonymously, and pay for them with bitcoin.

Also read: Meet Bitcoin Unlimited Developer Andrew Stone

Signing up for one of the infrastructure providers usually requires opening up a browser window to sign up and giving away personal information, especially if a credit card is used for payments. With many steps required to sign up, the process is not instant by any means. For developers who usually prefer to use command-line window for speed, signing up for these services is a tedious process.

Introducing Sporestack

Bitcoiner Teran McKinney found a solution for developers. The full-stack developer who lives in San Antonio, Texas, launched a service called Sporestack this week, allowing developers to deploy servers with bitcoin, while remaining anonymous. The service is purely API driven and requires no accounts.

Using Sporestock, developers can sign up for a Vultr virtual server instantly using the command line interface. Using bitcoin to pay gives no personal information away. McKinney described that the service is:

Handy for development, quick VPNs, network test servers, or building out a whole infrastructure on microservices.

Running Sporestack

Sporestack can be run with a single command at any unix or linux command prompt. It quickly installs an interface to spin up a custom-made Virtual Server environment that lasts between one and 28 days, depending on how much the user chooses to pay.

One day of the Sporestack service currently costs about 60 cents in bitcoin, and the maximum deployment time is 28 days, which costs about $9 at press time.

McKinney explained the reason behind the 28-day maximum, stating that “I also don’t like accounts or holding any more data than you need to.” He noted that:

28 days is the max life of any one server that I offer, by design. If you want to have them for longer, just create another one near expiry time and switch over.

McKinney has even added single-command instances of Bitcoin and Tor nodes for those who would like to support bitcoin or the tor network as inexpensively and easily as possible.

Coinfee Payment Processor

The missing link of paying with bitcoin at a command line was having an application create a QR code image in a terminal. McKinney used a Python library’s API to render the QR code in his command-line bitcoin payment processor called Coinfee.

Sporestack is the second application using Coinfee. The first application was Answer Market, a very simple bitcoin-accepting paywall generator that allows anyone to charge money to see a simple text data file, such as the answer to a question, a game coupon, or perhaps a way to deliver some code.

These questions and answers can be placed online anywhere Javascript code snippets are allowed. McKinney also hosts a public directory of them for any users wanting to list theirs for more exposure.

What do you think of Sporestack? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Sporestack

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