Once an active peer responds, it returns a list of its own known contacts. The new client integrates into the Kademlia routing matrix and immediately starts updating its own localized version of the file. Internal Structure and Binary Format
The classic solution is a hardcoded list of seed nodes (e.g., seed.bitcoin.sipa.be ). However, these seeds can be compromised, go offline, or be censored. Enter nodes.dat : a local cache of previously successful peer connections. nodes dat