diff --git a/src/CMakeLists.txt b/src/CMakeLists.txt
--- a/src/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -619,7 +619,11 @@
 endif()
 
 # RPC client support
-add_library(rpcclient rpc/client.cpp)
+add_library(rpcclient
+	compat/stdin.cpp
+	rpc/client.cpp
+)
+
 target_link_libraries(rpcclient univalue util)
 
 # bitcoin-seeder
diff --git a/src/compat/stdin.h b/src/compat/stdin.h
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/compat/stdin.h
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2018 The Bitcoin Core developers
+// Distributed under the MIT software license, see the accompanying
+// file COPYING or http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php.
+
+#ifndef BITCOIN_COMPAT_STDIN_H
+#define BITCOIN_COMPAT_STDIN_H
+
+struct NoechoInst {
+    NoechoInst();
+    ~NoechoInst();
+};
+
+#define NO_STDIN_ECHO() NoechoInst _no_echo
+
+bool StdinTerminal();
+bool StdinReady();
+
+#endif // BITCOIN_COMPAT_STDIN_H
diff --git a/src/compat/stdin.cpp b/src/compat/stdin.cpp
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/compat/stdin.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2018 The Bitcoin Core developers
+// Distributed under the MIT software license, see the accompanying
+// file COPYING or http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php.
+
+#if defined(HAVE_CONFIG_H)
+#include <config/bitcoin-config.h>
+#endif
+
+#include <cstdio> // for fileno(), stdin
+
+#ifdef WIN32
+#include <io.h>      // for isatty()
+#include <windows.h> // for SetStdinEcho()
+#else
+#include <sys/poll.h> // for StdinReady()
+#include <termios.h>  // for SetStdinEcho()
+#include <unistd.h>   // for SetStdinEcho(), isatty()
+#endif
+
+#include <compat/stdin.h>
+
+// https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1413445/reading-a-password-from-stdcin
+void SetStdinEcho(bool enable) {
+#ifdef WIN32
+    HANDLE hStdin = GetStdHandle(STD_INPUT_HANDLE);
+    DWORD mode;
+    GetConsoleMode(hStdin, &mode);
+    if (!enable) {
+        mode &= ~ENABLE_ECHO_INPUT;
+    } else {
+        mode |= ENABLE_ECHO_INPUT;
+    }
+    SetConsoleMode(hStdin, mode);
+#else
+    struct termios tty;
+    tcgetattr(STDIN_FILENO, &tty);
+    if (!enable) {
+        tty.c_lflag &= ~ECHO;
+    } else {
+        tty.c_lflag |= ECHO;
+    }
+    (void)tcsetattr(STDIN_FILENO, TCSANOW, &tty);
+#endif
+}
+
+bool StdinTerminal() {
+#ifdef WIN32
+    return _isatty(_fileno(stdin));
+#else
+    return isatty(fileno(stdin));
+#endif
+}
+
+bool StdinReady() {
+    if (!StdinTerminal()) {
+        return true;
+    }
+#ifdef WIN32
+    return false;
+#else
+    struct pollfd fds;
+    fds.fd = 0; /* this is STDIN */
+    fds.events = POLLIN;
+    return poll(&fds, 1, 0) == 1;
+#endif
+}
+
+NoechoInst::NoechoInst() {
+    SetStdinEcho(false);
+}
+NoechoInst::~NoechoInst() {
+    SetStdinEcho(true);
+}