Bitcoin Forum

   I was looking at the blockchain.info site, and I noticed that there is a lot of information that can be found out about transactions. Including IP addresses to and from and everything else. Where does the anonimity come in if their is any?

There's no names or addresses involved, is there?

the main thing about being anonymous with bitcoin is that you dont know whos address it is,once you find that out its not at all anonymous.

Lets say you and I trade bitcoins. I give you my address for you to send me some btc, now you have my address. You can now go to the blockchain.info site and look at all my previous and future transactions even if I move them to different wallets, someone can always track your coins, is that correct?

My main concern is, that I don´t want people who I trade with or anyone else finding out how much BTC I have. How do I prevent this?

Bitcoin is not anonymous. It is psedo-anonymous.

http://www.bitcoinisnotanonymous.com/

There's initial anonymity. But you're right in that if someone wants to find out who's transacting what there's a lot of information available. This is part of the reason why people insist on using cold wallets (and multiple wallets), it makes it harder to track the person who originated the transaction.

Anonimity is not implemented in Bitcoin, but use of it can be almost or completley anonimous if you know what you are doing.

First of all, bitcoin is pseudonymous, not anonymous. This means that you don't know exactly who the other person is, but you have someway to identify them.

Secondly, blockchain.info does not give you the ip address of the person. It only gives you the ip address of the node that relayed the transaction to them, which is most likely not the person that sent the transaction. It is very difficult, next to impossible, to determine the ip address of the node that created the transaction.

Thirdly, you should not be reusing bitcoin addresses. By keeping your addresses separate for each transaction, then whoever is sending you Bitcoin will only know that you have at least the amount they sent you. They don't know how much you actually have. Services who also use new addresses for every transaction also protect your anonymity since others won't know who owns that new address. It could be your own wallet, your friend's, or that porn site you pay for.

There are also some services that can help you anonymize like mixers or CoinJoin transactions.

Great explanation. So there can be some degree of anonimity, I see it now. Got it.

 Can the sending address for each wallet change just like the receiving address?

For example, in electrum wallet, it generated  27 receiving addresses. I used the first one to receive funds  and it is marked "used" and it moved to the 2nd one on the list. I also sent btc to an address. Does that mean that if I send btc from the wallet again it will show a different sending address from the previous one on the blockchain? I am confused as to how the sending addresses work since I don´t see a list of sending addresses like I do of receiving addresses. 

No. If you send again from that wallet, without receiving any more bitcoin, you will be sending from the first address. The Bitcoin cannot magically move from one address to another, even in a wallet since the wallet is just an easy way to keep all of your addresses in the same place. There is no difference between a sending and receiving address, there is just only a Bitcoin address, which can be sent to and from.

That explains it. At least I have more of an understanding now. I think it is probably a good idea to have multiple wallets.

Bitcoin is anonymous as along as you do not let others know some addresses belong to you. Monero is an anonymous coin by design. It is not traceable.

by splitting it into different address, receive your future bitcoin on different wallet(not different address, but enterely new wallet, so there are no hidden address associated) you need to work a bit for 100% anon with bitcoin, but it is doable

anyway there is still real anon, with bitcoin, in the sense that your name is not there near your addresses

Yeah. I don't really know where you found the IP addresses and names. I had a look on blockchain and I couldn't find any of these 2 things. The only thing that I can do is find the account balance and the account transaction history. That is kind of dangerous as people can find the best hacking targets.(The accounts with high balance)

It can be more or less anonymous...

Use TOR or a good VPN from a live linux-distro to install electrum and generate a new wallet...
Use bitmixer or any other good mixing service to fund your anonymous electrum wallet...

Offcourse, as soon as you use the "anonymous" bitcoins to purchase physical goods, the addresses can be tied to you... And your anonimity stands or falls with both the VPN and the mixing service...

Also, you can also use certain gambling websites to "wash" your coins, or convert them into a cryptonight-algo coin (monero was already mentioned)...

I quote that. Mixing your coins can be a long process if you want some anonimity but that's the way. And as altcoinhosting said, whenever you'll use them they will be linked to you. But of course you can clean them quite well.

After re-reading my post, i just needed to clarify that using bitmixer to fund your account actually means: using bitmixer to fund your more-anonymous account from a less-anonymous account. Bitmixer isn't used to fund the account, just to make the funding process more-anonymous :)

There are even ways to circumvent this, like anonymous PO boxes or remailing services... But, for me, using such services is overkill... Escpecially if you're not doing anything illegal.

If you know how to use Bitcoin, you can protect yourself and your anonymity quite well. Granted your address will be known all of the time but why would you even need more anonymity?

Bitcoin is semi anonymous and semi transparent. It has transparency that even cash doesn't have and it keeps your identity in a much easier way than Fiat is able to do. Best of both world in my opinion.

That's why it's kinda difficult if you want to buy a physical thing with Bitcoin but you also want to keep your anonimity safe.

The way to protect yourself from anonymity is not making the address public attached to your real name. Of course the problem comes when for example you want to receive donations in a legitimate way showing your real credentials. This is why we need CoinJoin in every wallet every by default and confidential transactions ASAP.

I didn´t find any names, just Ip addresses but someone explained that those IP addresses don´t belong to the individuals involoved in the transactions.

Yeah, the open nature of the blockchain actually makes it less anonymous and more trackable. If you want true anonymity, you need to take steps  yourself such as mixing coins and using a proxy if running a client that connects to the main nodes, etc.

I am not  looking to buy any physical goods with my coins. Basically, if you want to remain anonymous, don´t cross your actions with your identity. I, like many others just want to have an anonymous stash.

In that case, my initial post in this thread should have been sufficient:
-buy BTC and transfer it to address (A). You don't need a VPN, since your real name will probably be exposed when buying BTC
-use a liveCD with TOR or a VPN to create an electrum wallet (B)
-use a mixing service to transfer BTC from (A) to (B) while using a different VPN/TOR
-only open wallet (B) while using a VPN, only surft to the websites you want to buy digital good from using VPN, only pay with wallet (B)

This will cost you a small fee (the fee of the mixing service, a small transaction fee, probably a fee for the VPN service) and give you some reasonable anonimity... Ofcourse, if you do really bad things, people might still track you down (the VPN provider or the mixing service are the weakest links). But it'll probably cost them so much effort, they're not going to do this if you didn't do anything really illegal

Most of you confuse anonymity and privacy in the context of financial transactions. We will call a transaction 'anonymous' if no one knows who you are.
We will call a transaction 'private' if what you purchased, and for what amount, are unknown.
Bitcoin can be anonymous and private but often isn't because for many users, who access it through one of the online wallets or exchange services, are linking their personal identity to their bitcoin holdings.
Bitcoin for these users is effectively no more anonymous than a bank account.

It is pseudo-anonymous at the most. Even if someone knows your address and finds out your IP from blockchain.info the site will only give out the node address, and that keeps changing frequently.

I also do not see any large signs of anonimity over there in Blockchain  ;) So may be there are possibilities for developing the Blockchain technology  ;)

I don't know why blockchain and other wallets disclose the IP address openly. Shouldn't this be hidden or atleast a user who owns the wallet should have an option to hide the visibility of his/her IP address. I too agree that it's not completely anonymous. Just it has no name associated with it which is not as harmful as the IP address visibility can be.

It does not show your IP address, it shows the nearest IP address of the node you connected to when you did the transaction.  ;) Whoever wants to identify you, has to have

access to that node and then hope that you did not connect to it via Tor or a VPN. You add to that, the use of some mixer services and you have a near perfect method to have

some degree of privacy.   ::)

I think OP concern was IPs he found on blockchain info.  Here people go to much into all possible options.  What all you need to do to keep your Bitcoin valets safe and what all you need to do to have transaction not linked to you. Thing is there is no lock that can not be broken. So if someone really want to will find a way to link your identity to a transaction or steal your bitcoins. But question at what cost. No one will do that for sun or fro 1 bitcoin. They will rather spend their technology and talent doing more profitable things.

Surpirsed not much has been said about Dash which seems to be a good way to break the trail of ownership for smaller volume sat least.  Net fees would be less than using a mixer.

So if the user doesn't use a VPN, the IP address is almost exposed right? It's like giving out the user's address rather than his name.

The IP is exposed to the node you connect to, which is extremely important that nodes can keep being ran by a single person, so the more nodes we have spread around the globle the more impossible it is to control Bitcoin. This is why XT is seen as a trojan horse by an attacker with an agenda to centralize Bitcoin (and good hearthed big blockers are missing the point)

this service is better https://xmr.to/

it mix your coins with monero, which is 100% anon, but then you have the owner knowing something...

No intentions of doing anything illegal. The main thing I am trying to accomplish is to prevent anyone from knowing how much bitcoin I have. The reason should be obvious. I may try to purchase some things with it but not physical goods.

You can use blockchain.info via Tor. So if you create a wallet this way, it would be next to impossible to prove it's yours. After that, with several addresses and if you're smart, all your transactions will be very private. But everything depends on what you do. If you order a pizza, the company which delivers it to your door will know your street address.

I just would like to add to this, that often the anonymity might not depend on you. You might be the most careful person with bitcoin, but what about others you interact with? Each additional step you add to make yourself anonymous with bitcoin is only one more possible point of f**king it up. If not from your side, then from services behind people you are dependent now. You need to factor this in your plans. Bitcoin was never designed to be anonymous, thus using in a very anonymous way is a challenging task.

Because of that, the procedure to use bitcoin anonymous requires number of steps, such as using tor, making new addresses, using mixurers, etc. The more complex the procedure, the more likely it is to fail. You can use bitcoin do it 100 times correctly, but one time you do something wrong, and that will be end of your privacy.

 I can recommend this recent defcon presentation Dont fuck it up (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1q4Ir2J8P8)  though. Its not specific to bitcoin, but makes very good points about maintaining anonymity through some complex measures for hackers. All these measures introduce new possible points of failure, and off course, as shown in the presentation, ppl do fail a lot because of that.

Ya, im not sure why many people still telling others that bitcoin is almost free transaction costs and anonymous. Its not in both cases.
For africa paying 0.000X for transaction (to be able to be verified in normal time) its big amount of $

To protect the transactions you have done well you would need some accounts and well someone can easy dig till find the account and ammount,if you deposit into exchanges you can cover your traces but you wont see the transaction soo you cant confirm when the btc has arrived into the wallet,but bitcoin even showing ip doesnt has a name on it,soo can be anyone on that space.

Bitcoin transaction analysis by itself only reveals the imprint of individual in the block chain, it does not reveal any real-world identities. If you are mixing bitcoin and ANY service where you share your personal information that mean you are not longer anonymous.
 
It is possible to be located that way: Imagine a restaurant accepts bitcoin and uses a fixed address for their over-the-counter transactions.
If your btc address will ever surface it won't be hard for someone to pinpoint your exact location at that time or learn your habits.

The thing is people wanna to hide their information as their portfolio ,soo bitcoin shows no face or adress,the balance well they are exposed always to others to see it and why would someone be tracing someone coins just to know how much someone has?For me i dont bother to others be able to see my balance ,usually is near 0,10btc then i invest the bitcoins.

There are plenty of reasons for ppl wanting to know how much money you have, and plenty of reasons why ppl dont like it.

I think you are mistaken. From what I can remember, blockchain.info only shows you the IP of the block relayer. Anyway, there is "total anonymity" from the way that your personal details are nowhere related to your bitcoin address. Sure, people can track transactions, but from whom? The only way you can compromise your anonymity is to broadcast to everyone that a certain address is yours, and tie your personal detaild to it.

bitcoin its medium is already anonymous.
you know that bitcoin address is a form of cryptography, almost all of the addresses is generic, except the issue that someone found a funded address.

On blockchain.info, the first IP relayed from is inaccurate. It isn't the origin but it is the first node which relayed your transaction. The only information you can find is the address origin and destination. Bitcoin wasn't designed to be anonymous in the first place. Use a mixer if you want to be pseudonym.

The anonymity is within using several addresses. Just use more than one.

Incorrect. Users can use taint analysis to establish a link between the few addresses. If the user accidentally spend inputs in two different address in one TX, it would be a clear indication of their link.

You don't need to enter your credentials to get a bitcoin address. That's the only anonymous thing about Bitcoin.

yeah there is even an online service called  walletexplorer.com that everybody can use. it does the taint analysis and also has a database of exchanger's wallets for example so you sometimes can see who does a specific bitcoin address belong to.

Yeah true. everyone will know you're. blockchain many transaction, you will be find by wallet explorer. people can know your identity if you withdraw your btc by exchanger.
no any anonimity

You're right about Bitcoin being described as anonymous, but even in some of the poorest countries in Africa, the 0.0001 btc miners fee would not be considered much.
Especially if that person has access to a computer and internet.

Yep using a new address for every transaction could possibly lower the risk of finding your main wallet and your identity.

There is no identity can be linked into your personal profile unless you will exposed your bitcoin address to the mass. But you can dispose your bitcoin address and use a new one without worry.

No where. Bitcoin is not anonymous (http://www.bitcoinisnotanonymous.com/). It is pseudo-anonymous. This is a big difference.

Yep, because Dash has been pre-mined / instamined like crazy at the start to make specific people very rich. {No matter what they say now about

airdrops etc..} The biggest thing about most Alt coins is the trust you have to build at the start, and it did not happen with Dash. They have a

excellent implementation, but they had a false start.  :(

I don't think that is a big problem. Blockchain.info's location service is really approximative. Most of my transactions are located at the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. This is a big non-sense, except if at least 1/4 of the nodes are located on a boat. But. Wait ! And if the Altantide was there, accumulating bitcoins for the World domination plan ?! And if Satoshi was their God ?! I think that now, mates, you can start create 40 threads discussing the probability for Satoshi to be Atlantide's God or King ;D !

Bitcoin can be anonimous and is transparent. You can explore all transactions on blockchain, but you don't know which user is behind the transaction. If you use tor and use a diferent addres every time, you will be more anonimus. When you buy bitcoins on an exchange, the exchange have your id information (not too anonimus). It depends on your use.

Your reali life identity is nowhere to be found in the blockchain. You will have access only to transaction IDs not your name, pseudonym, nickname is present there.
Your name could be only compromised if you use same address while dealing with bitcoin satellite service (where you have to register with your name) and someone will find this relation.

What's the worry? It's not you're using bitcoins to something illegal is it? They can only see your transactions, not the amount you have in your wallet.

It depends on the exchanges, usually they don't have your id and stuff unless you want to deposit fiat money. In Poloniex case, you can deposit and withdraw money as long as it's all BTC without giving any details, but they ask for your real name. Everyone uses fake names on Poloniex tho (unless you want to withdraw above 2000 dollars in a single day but who needs that unless you are rich.
Im not sure if giving a fake name can put you in trouble tho.

Accidents happen, but never likely. Using multiple accounts, wallets, VPN'S and so on will give you a ticket to making sure your identity is safe. Not to say that I do this but if anyone was to do this then it'd be completely effective. Even via PayPal, you can be anonymous if you don't actually link your PayPal to your bank accounts. I never did, and I was still able to make payments for things with people who kindly accepted PayPal.

That's a pain in the ass tho, we should have it easier. Also VPNs don't give you any anonymity... if they want they will request logs and trusting that a VPN will not keep logs is like trusting your favorite exchange will not run with the money tomorrow.. an act of faith.
Ideally we should have every transaction on Coinjoin type transactions by default and nodes somehow run by default with tor integrated to have another layer of privacy without needing to buy a VPN or know how to do any of that. It should be easy for newbies otherwise its useless cause we need a big bulk of privacy-enabled people to reach any decent amount of fungibility.
Thankfully in the Core team they know this so we have people like gmaxwell working on coinjoin type of transaction stuff and confidential transactions etc.

is trezor anonymous?
can trezor company connect btc addresses to a specific trezor user's IP?

In fact Bitcoin transactions are the most transparent ever. The only anonymous thing is that you cannot say who is the owner of an address just looking at blockchain.info. Anyway, there are several cryptocoins far more anonymous than Bitcoin, like Zcash for example.

Think in terms of having many bank accounts.

1 address for regular txs open to public.
1 or more, depending how many btc you have, for long term saving and address is private.

Wow this answer changed everything. I was almost becoming agitated when I saw his question on IP.
So our IPs are impossible to be revealed..
Bitcoin is a beautiful technology.

IP easy to change. But you can't hide the flow of Fiat into your account from the exchanger. According to this, the government could easily determine that you use with bitcoin. Anonymity is a beautiful tale. But for me it doesn't matter. I'm not a terrorist. Bitcoin is my extra income and I am glad.

For the record, IP tracking is possible if they are running a compromised node (the IRS wouldnt go here, but a law enforcement org certainly would, esp if there is a decent amount of money to be seized). Proper address hygiene is vital, and takes away like 75% of what would be used to catch you up. Take it from the deep web dudes; the gov has enough money to find out who is behind an address if there is enough activity, or if the funds ever touch an exchange or financial institution that is regulated by a gov (they have KYC/AML requirements that they MUST observe). if you have a buddy that can convert your crypto to fait, that helps alot  ;D

but if he is sloppy, your security is only as strong as his address hygiene/ security paradigm.

Use of bitcoin can find it up but person who is having the concern wallet cannot be able to find the person. Thus only people trying to get into the forum. I noticed some whales shows up their faces and some be hidden always. Still some of them only be in the forum to earn some passive alone.

But everything seems baseless when it comes to converting your Bitcoin into fiat using an exchange that has almost all your information and is connected to bank. Governments while making Bitcoin legal are now regulating exchanges and thus can have hold of these information when needed. Also there is a  risk of hacking. Until Bitcoin stays on internet, there are various ways of keeping it anonymous. But when it is converted to fiat. There is an identity threat.

Exactly. The fines for not performing proper AML/KYC on a customer transferring over 10k value in x time frame are steep, and the ultimate risk on an aggregious enough violation would cost the exchange the ability to operate period. Ask BTCE and the myriad, pissed off BTCE users on the board (the furor on that one died pretty quick, no? ;) ). It is the governments job to ensure there is no malfeasance associated with its currency, unless it is getting a cut of the action (ask Ollie North about that one). If you want to skirt the rules, dont buy anything that is highly government regulated. That would include fiat (you are buying fiat when you exchange btc for USD) and specie (precious metals).

its hard enough with the regulations that concern fiat, without even involving bitcoin. they will report a 2K transaction if they deem it 'suspect', this has happened to me personally, many, many times.

Yeah, and the government is serious about enforcing Bitcoin companies to KYC also, just look at what happened recently to BTC-e they were shut down for facilitating money laundering because they did not know their customer and lost lots of their funds as a result.

bitcoin over to Pseudo-anonymous (Pseudonym) we can disguise our IP even though you see their ip in blockchain does not mean it's their IP's doing the transaction. although you know their IP I think you don't know their identity.

The IP address you are saying is the relay IP address of the node from which the transaction was broadcasted and is not the IP address of the person who have sent the transaction. And the said location is also of the particular bitcoin node and not the user. Bitcoin is not truly anonymous as the addresses can be linked with each other and also their available balance and from which address it came, so on this fact you can say that bitcoin is not truly anonymous. But there is also a benefit of using bitcoin and this transparency of transactions as anyone can verify the transaction so it is quiet handy in case of trades.

Bitcoin is not anonymous that's why Monero and Zcash are coming in. Anonymity is a very hard thing to exist in our time.

The anonymity is wherever you know where to find it. It is also coming with the Grin blockchain and the MimbleWimble protocol, but right now Samourai Wallet is the best way to transact anonymously on the BTC network.