Bitcoin Forum

I have to send money to someone using BitCoin and I want to remain fully anonymous to the recipient and to the public.

I have read a little about this subject and I've read that all transactions are public. So my questions are:

1. What information can be known to (1) the recipient, and to (2) the public?

2. I do not want my real name, address, email or phone number known to anyone (recipient and the public).
I am fine with anyone knowing the amount of the transaction.

So how can I stay as anonymous as possible? I want to jump through as little hoops as possible.

none of that info is visible to the public, when you send a transaction all that is visible on the blockchain is the address you sent coins to, the addresses of the output of the coins sent, and the amount sent. no personal information is ever required to transact coins.

That's the good thing about bitcoin , your name , email and stuff can't be revealed on a transaction with Bitcoin , only your adress can be .
Still you can use a VPN just in case , and also use https://bitmixer.io/index.html Receipt will stil lbe able to trace your adress but it would be much harder . Use it only if you did share that adress on websites / forums etc ... so it cannot be linked back to you . if the adress is fresh then you are good to go .

a VPN is a virtual private network, youre thinking of a bitcoin mixer/bitcoin tumbler. a mixer/tumbler will, as the name implies, "mix" your coins with others for a small % fee, and will make your coins much, much harder to trade back to your sending address.

I know what is a Mixer and I know what is a VPN man :o look what I wrote "use VPN just in case , and also use bitmixer .."  , what I meant is that he should use VPN just in case people can trace his IP on the Blockchain or something because I heard that it's possible . and having his IP may get people to his name , email and other informations

oh my bad, its early in the morning and i misread that. but yes, its possible, with a lot of effort, for someone to trace your ip from a bitcoin transaction. however, for an attacker to find your ip address should take immense surveillance of the network and effort on their part.

if you want to take it a step up from a vpn consider using TAILS for your bitcoin related activity.

I'm confused. When people talk about the "address", is that the random identifier like
1415RPuMbBkagyAnC9mv3v3aZiHpTiFHar   (random address I just picked from live public transactions)
Or is it the IP address? If its the IP, where is that information available? I cannot see it in a transactions page:
https://blockchain.info/address/1BrpVMvvXRxz51WtaKg4toMTmBPWEHV7BE

no, that address 1415RPuMbBkagyAnC9mv3v3aZiHpTiFHar is the address that is displayed to the network. ie, if a "bob" owned that address, i would send coins to 1415RPuMbBkagyAnC9mv3v3aZiHpTiFHar if i wanted to send money to a hypothetical "bob."

the blockchain doesnt track or record ip addresses, except the ip of the node that relayed the transaction. again, tracking the ip form where a transaction originated would take immense amounts of effort from an attacker.

Ok. So its the receiving Bitcoin address like XfDfg455...
Trying to understand: Why would a person want to hide their Bitcoin address? Since there is no personal information attached with the transaction.

And I can always get a new address, correct? When I make a new wallet. On Blockchain.info there's a button for "New Address". I made another one and it is listed there now.
I could have one address for this transaction and I can create other addresses for a later transaction to a different recipient. So the two transactions cannot be linked, correct?
Just trying to understand why people would want to hide their address.

I just want to confirm that even the recipient can not know my real name, home address, phone number etc, right?

most wallets alow you to generate as many addresses as you want or need. i dont know how blockchain.info's wallet works, but be aware that you might not be able to choose which addresses will be included in the output for the transaction. and no, for the final time, your personal information is not linked to your bitcoin address. last time i checked there wasnt a magic read-all-your-personal-info-and-tell-it-to-the-world scanner in my wallet software.

What I wrote in bold is definitly not a Bitcoin adress , Bitcoin adresses start with either 1 or 3 . Private keys (most of them) start with a 5 . (Never give the private key) . Unless what you posted is for another Cryptoo currency

Some people have huge amounts on their wallets because they used them on different transactions on some forums or website and they are public , so you could link each one to another and they don't like that . that's why you should create a new adress for each transaction to stay annonymus .

and yes , receipt can't get those informations as we said above .

Just an advice : Try to change your wallet , switch to something like Multibit HD , Electrum or Bitcoin COre because Blockchain.info is an Online wallet and online wallets aren't that trustable and if they get hacked , your coins are lost . (same goes for exchange websites)

the recipient can not know your identity as long as you have not any record with the bitcoin address that you are sending with.
for example the users of this forum have their bitcoin address on their profile so if we send someone bitcoin with our address the recipient can google the address and get our profile that way.
other than that your identity is known to the place that you bought bitcoin from, if it was an exchanger and you have bought with credit card for example.

Thank you all! I will most likely be using BC then. Sounds pretty safe and anonymous.
I will look into those other websites for another wallet.

Here is a full list of wallets out there : https://bitcoin.org/en/choose-your-wallet
For Desktop wallets  I'd suggest : Bitcoin Core , Electrum , Multibit HD
for Android : Mycelium
for iOS : I'am not sure because I'am speaking for an experience and I never tested wallets on iOS device .

Stay away from Web wallets because they are the less safe . the safer are Paper wallet (free) and Hardware wallet which will cost your money . Paper wallet are mostly for receiving and not for sending because it will be a simple paper printed where there is Public adress + private key .

blockchain used to be good, emphasis on used. recently, its been more or less to be unreliable with downtimes and vulnerabilities, i wouldnt recommend it.

Just to add to your list. For iOS, I recommend Copay. I have it installed on my wife's iPhone and never got any issues of it. Very user friendly if you'd ask me. Also it looks like that android wallet that I use. The android wallet's name is just bitcoin wallet.

Unless you send them this info then they should never be able to get this unless that address is tied to you online somewhere. Many details can be found about a person just by googling that address so you need to be careful where you post it.

I checked both of these: "Bitcoin Core , Electrum"
The first wants to download 20GB of data into my computer. The second also seems to be some kind of software installation.

I just want to send some money to someone. That is all I want to do.
I can install software if thats what I have to do. But I thought I could send people money using a website that asks for my bank account/credit card like Paypal. That is fine with me.

What website should I use? I can use multiple websites if needed.

Well that what Bitcoin client is , it's an application that helps you receive and send Bitcoins . I don't suggest you to use Online website to hold your coins otherwise you may get hacked .
The file that Bitcoin Core is downloading is the Blockchain file that blockchain.info (and other block explorer website ) reads , if you want something easier then you could use Electrum as I said , there is "Receive" tab where you have your receiving adresses , you give them to someone and he send you the BTC . that's it .

and Personally I don't think there is no such at thing to send BTC using Paypal & Credit card . Unless you buy Bitcoins using those methods then send the Bitocoins . there is Virwox.com to do that

i think coinbase is going to be the easiest choice for you since you just want to buy bitcoin and send it to someone.

also if the amount is not so much you can trust an online wallet like coinbase.

Coinbase would be a good choice for you, since it is easy to use/ to send and to receive.
Every time it generates new addresses.
Also when an exchange was hacked the coins were sent to a site which was accessible only by TOR network.
Cant remember the site name but it was something like bitcoin foggy or something like that.
Search a bit and i think you will find what you are requiring.
Good Luck

Still its possible, thats why author of this topic need to understand everything.
Better explanation would be usefull to him for sure.

Don't worry. Send your bitcoin and no one will know nothing.  From every wallet.

it's true, even if they manage to track you back in some way because you have left many tracks behind you, they can't for sure connect your address with your name or your identity, this thing isn't mentioned when we talk about anon, and this is the reason why bitcoin is pseudo-anon

1. The only thing that the network will know is your bitcoin address and the receiver's bitcoin address.
2. There are no personal credentials attached when creating a bitcoin transaction all over the network. That is the advantage of bitcoin against the traditional wire transfer and money transfer services. Also, the transaction will get through within an hour (or most of the time, <30 minutes) and will be confirmed by the network to be available on spending.

for bitcoin anonymity i would not recommend coinbase at all since it tracks how users spend their funds.
http://cointelegraph.com/news/113207/coinbase-is-tracking-how-users-spend-their-bitcoins
http://truthvoice.com/2015/05/coinbase-accused-of-tracking-bitcoin-users-notifying-cops-of-transactions/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/2qmpp7/coinbase_is_tracking_how_users_spend_their/

in fact, i would really recommend against coinbase if you want to stay anonymous. 

and the site youre thinking of is bitcoinfog, they have a clearnet portal, but to actually access their mixer services you must access them through TOR.

Well so i have never ever done or think about this until i saw this main post and was thinking how?
So i change my mind do something else and stay away from coinbase.

well aside from anonymity, copinbase is good for other uses; if youre an online merchant accepting bitcoin, i believe coinbase has a merchant tool to accept payments and convert them into fiat for you automatically, hence ensuring merchants dont lose out from bitcoin price volatility.

So the merchant that are accepting bitcoin seems a good chance for them, but can coinbase stop/hold the funds even in fiat currency after converting from bitcoin

If you want a case where your personal info could be found, here goes:

I own a Bitcoin exchange account that requires my address, name and everything to operate legally in my country.

I trade USD for Bitcoin on this exchange. My bank account is linked.

I cash out my Bitcoin to a random address.

The exchange can almost always assume that the address is mine, thus tagging this address with my address, name and any other information they know about me.

of course they can, but not without a reason. i dont think there would be a reason for coinbase to hold the funds of legitimate merchants though, unless a dispute or a refund was requested. however, i dont know their policies on bitcoin refunds, so i cant say too much on the subject.

in the moment that you link your bank account, they can start search for your identity, so in theory even exchange that do not ask directly for your ID are not anonymous

better to not exchange bitcoin altogether if you want to keep your privacy or use monero with this https://xmr.to/ to buy stuff