Bitcoin Forum

I was told one shouldn't do this even after 1 transaction whether sending or receiving from one address.  Is that true/false?  I read it has to do with anonymity.


The reason is because i have around 7.xxxx btc in my electrum wallet in a certain address and i want to receive another 10 btc from a site on the same address.  Thus i want 17.xxxxx btc in that address and not 7.xxxxx in this one and 10 btc in another one.  I done 2 transactions total with that address, receiving btc from a site, and sending some btc to another site.


I believe one address i read in electrum u can do up to 1000 total transactions before u use another address? 


So for now is it fine if i use the current one?  Also, is it safer to have 7.xxxx btc in one address and 10 btc in another address or just keeping the whole amt of btc in one address or its the same thing?  I read ppl say you shouldn't put all your eggs in one basket like btc but just want to know if theres any difference with keeping the btc in electrum this way or its the same thing basically.  Obviously if you keep 7 btc in electrum and say 10 btc in multibit, its different.  But wondering if different address mean anything.

One thing I know of is:

Each transaction you do uses, among other data, a random number.
If, by very bad chance, that random number is the same in 2 transactions of your same wallet then the private key can be found out by others.
I am not sure if the transaction I am talking about is send or receive, maybe smarter people can tell more on this. I think that it's send.

And yeah, privacy.... which actually doesn't matter much for most.


So for only one extra transaction, the risk is almost 0 imho.

The recommendation is for privacy. If you use the same address then people who knows your address (for example the one you sent you the BTC7.x) will know you received a new payment and could track some transactions. If you don't care about it's totally safe to use the same address several times. You don't have to use a unique address for every transaction, it's just recommended for privacy.

Any reasons why you don't want to split your balance in 2 addresses?

Are you talking about this?
Source: http://www.coindesk.com/research-hackers-install-backdoor-bitcoin-cold-storage/

That's true only if using a compromised client. If you download the client from a trusted source then you're fine.

Do you care about your anonymity? If yes, then using unique addresses is an essential step; however, if the site you're recording from already has your details, splitting the transactions in two addresses does very little.

Why do you need all your coins in a single address? Do you need to sign a message to establish you have control of x number of bitcoins? Or do you just want your wallet to look neater?

The reasons why some people suggest/use different address for new transaction is to stay anonymous and they feel it's safe to move to an unused Key/address that has never seen the lights of the internet(cold-storage). As long as you can keep your Private Key safe and if you're not worried about others knowing your Bitcoin balance, you can keep using the same address as many times as you want.

For ex. If I were you, I would only keep a very small amount of Btc (less than 1) in the Electrum that stays on-line for my day to day needs and move the rest of my funds to a safer cold storage wallet.

It all depends on if your compromised.  Even if you store in different addresss'es if stored all the same if one is compromised chances are all will be.

As as being anonymous since you are putting coins in them without a way to try to hide where they come from chances are it's not anonymous. 

I suggest using a cold storage for majority you have held.  And a little bit in a hot wallet easy to get to for purchases.   I think hot and cold wallet is more important then using different address's

For my usage I use different addresses for different purposes this tends to work for me as I don't have to keep track of lots of them. If you are concerned about privacy and anonymity you could make a new address for each transaction you do and then use a bit mixer to move them around. But for general use you don't really need to make a new address for every transaction.

1773 till now with my vanity addy and not a problem, eitherway i wouldnt use a vanity to hold my funds but is nice for some things.

I used the same address for 18 months or more and nothing bad happened. It's probably not the best idea. I use a Mycelium wallet now for small spends which gives you a fresh address automatically. It does get on my nerves a bit having to make a note of a new address every time but it's for the best.

It isn't hard to create a new address for each transaction is it? better to be safe than sorry! :)

better not for big amount, for small amount i wouldn't care too much, but i like it anyway as it provide some level of anonimity

I don't see how this provides much extra security.  If you access wallet each time and it has all these addresses, I don't think it matters if compromised.

I think security is more about your wallet then amount of address's you use.

It covers a far more obscure and rare risk vector but it's more about privacy. You might be tripped up further down the line if every single transaction can be traced to you. And I guess if you're changing your address it'll inspire you to take your security elsewhere more seriously.