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Questions tagged [privacy]

Questions regarding the information that is leaked through cryptocurrency transactions or related processes, when subject to analysis and attempts of identification of sources and other properties.

Contrary to popular belief, Bitcoin transactions are not completely anonymous or private. All transaction information is publicly available and each spend can be traced. Bitcoin offers privacy in that a 3rd party observer does not necessarily know who the participants in a transaction are and who received how much in each transaction. However privacy can be leaked through other sources such as exchanges, forum posts, and address reuse.

This tag should be used for questions related to privacy and information that can be used to identify the source and destination of Bitcoin.

406 questions
66
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9 answers

How anonymous are Bitcoin transactions?

I read some sources that say Bitcoin transactions are anonymous, some that say they are semi-anonymous, and some that say they are not anonymous at all. In what ways are the transactions anonymous and in what ways are they not anonymous?
Michael McGowan
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4 answers

How do I see the IP address of a bitcoin transaction?

How do I see the IP address that someone used to send or receive bitcoins with? Is it stored in the blockchain?
lemonginger
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39
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3 answers

What is a stealth address?

Stealth addresses are mentioned in the context of privacy of bitcoin transactions. What are they and how would they work? Can they provide 100% anonymity?
Emre Kenci
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37
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10 answers

How is it possible to launder bitcoins?

Some services, such as bitcoinlaundry.com, claim that they can launder your bitcoins. Since all bitcoin transactions are publicly logged, how is this done? Wouldn't it be possible to trace back the transactions and find out the initial address?
nmat
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35
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5 answers

How can one remain relatively anonymous while using Bitcoin?

Bitcoin transactions are pseudo-anonymous. What can an individual that uses Bitcoin do in order to remain as anonymous as possible?
ripper234
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34
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4 answers

Are there any _true_ anonymous cryptocurrencies?

I've been looking into Bitcoin recently and stumbled upon numerous notes how Bitcoin is not anonymous at all, or how it's only partially anonymous and you can easily trace your funds. So, this brings us to my question: is there any true anonymous…
HowardLoosingIt
33
votes
6 answers

What are tainted coins exactly?

I've come across the term of a tainted coin several times now. I understand that coins, or better, the origin of a coin can be traced throughout the blockchain. I've read that bitcoins can be disassociated from an address, by sending it to a…
btctb
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25
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7 answers

What Bitcoin Mixing/Laundry Services are availble today?

A Bitcoin Laundry or Mixing Service is a service that accepts BTC payments, and returns the same BTC amount, only from coins that are unassociated to the original BTC. It is a privacy service that works well if it has massive usage. What are some…
ripper234
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17
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2 answers

Are Monero Transaction Anonymous?

Lets say i have a monero address and want to send my coins to another address. Will that transaction be private? Can somebody find out that i sent those coins? Are there any altcoins that i can use to send funds from one address to another without…
Mark
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17
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3 answers

Knowing a single transaction can you track down a Bitcoin user?

I have used this transaction to donate to Wikileaks. I have applied no special techniques to obsure my identity. How much information can find out about me on the blockchain. What tools would you use? Can you guess the following information? Can you…
Jan
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9 answers

Is there any way the Bitcoin network could resist a viral tainted-coin tagging system implemented by regulators?

Already it's possible for MtGox etc. to detect spends of coins that have certain well-known thefts in their history. If regulators forced audits on exchanges and key popular merchants, as well as keeping track of coins they deemed to have been…
Julian Noble
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2 answers

Does the ZeroCoin protocol fulfill its promise of anonymity?

Zerocoin is a new cryptographic extension to Bitcoin that (if adopted) would bring true cryptographic anonymity to Bitcoin. Has anyone seriously analyzed the protocol and verified it works as advertised?
ripper234
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16
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9 answers

How can I hide my bitcoin transactions to protect anonymity?

I read many related questions about the pseudo-anonymity and bitcoin transaction tracking. So if I understand correctly, bitcoins, or better, transactions can be tracked for their entire lifetime. Example user case: I buy bitcoins from Mt.Gox I…
c0de
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15
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7 answers

Are bitcoins INHERENTLY fungible?

Does each bitcoin has a unique identifier, like currency notes have serial numbers? If so, could you trace a particular bitcoin's ownership chain (ie find the current owner of a particular bitcoin by its identifier)? The answer I'm finding is…
Edward
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14
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2 answers

What are the privacy implications of filtered blockchain downloads?

There is now "Bloom filter" support in the network protocol for sending only relevant transactions to lightweight clients. What are the privacy implications of the bloom filter? Does it leak any information about which keys I am interested in to the…
Thilo
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