Danger of posting your bitcoin address online

[hatshepsut93]

But for bitcoin, nothing will be revealed relating to you by merely seeing your address. It is again good to use non-custodial wallet for keeping your bitcoin safe and own total right to it.

If you reveal even a single address, your whole wallet could be revealed if that address is used together with other addresses in your transactions. If your addresses are revealed, they can be linked to your social media, for example to address that you put on your profile on this forum. After your social media profile is identified, your identity could be uncovered if you post some photos of yourself, or leave other information.

Bitcoin only has anonymity if you put some effort into it, otherwise it's really easy to leave a lot of traces.

[Hamza2424]

Hmm, yes, this is a fact if your posting your Address on some social platform then there are high chances of being traced but who cares about that privacy if anyone does then my humble question is Web 2.0 is not for you please avoid it. Because on Web 2.0 in my observations nothing is private.

Why do you need to hide your address?
You are not involved in money laundering or any type of misuse, except if your country's policy is against crypto then you should take care of it.

[uchegod-21]

But bitcoin is a currency, so why always hide the bitcoin  address? Does this mean that a genuine business man cannot use bitcoin? How about the companies that accept bitcoin. They will tell you to pay with bitcoin what happens to them.
It is not very one that wants to hide;
Not everyone wants to evade tax;
Some people don't mind if you tress their address back to them;
Not everyone cares about privacy.

[Saint-loup]

This is only true if you are using an account that reveal your identity to post your Bitcoin address but simply posting your Bitcoin address online anonymously won’t harm you at all because all our address is exposed publicly on blockchain ledger.
[...]
Sharing publicly your wallet address is not a big deal at all if you knew to keep safe your private key properly. Most of the scammers blatantly posting their address publicly to scam people. If this people hiding from the law can do it without a problem then why normal people will worry on doing same thing?

I'm not sure it's a good practice for beginners though, because for example when you post one address here you are linking it to your username, and then if you post your social media accounts here for some bounty campaigns or for doing some trades with other forum users, the addresses you've posted under this pseudonym will be linked to your social media accounts.

[Eureka_07]

<snip>
But for bitcoin, nothing will be revealed relating to you by merely seeing your address. It is again good to use non-custodial wallet for keeping your bitcoin safe and own total right to it.

As long as your private key or seed phrases are sage with you everything is fine, after all, it is dumb to share your keys to public.
The problem you might have though from publicly declaring your bitcoin address is when people can track your transactions, you can use mixers though for best privacy. Personally, it doesn't matter if my btc address is posted publicly as I have no big transactions rn.

[safar1980]

Why publish your main bitcoin address unnecessarily?
Create a new wallet in Electrum if you need to and post it on the forum. There will be no large transactions there, so using a VPN service will be enough for you.

[Ultegra134]

Why publish your main bitcoin address unnecessarily?
Create a new wallet in Electrum if you need to and post it on the forum. There will be no large transactions there, so using a VPN service will be enough for you.

It's kind of inevitable, though, isn't it? For instance, my main wallet address can easily be found through my signature campaign; it's impossible for me to hide it, which is linked to my Bitcointalk account, from which you can find my email. Thankfully, my account isn't linked to my main email address; this is an old email I'm using and I haven't changed it for this very reason. Still, even then, my identity can probably be easily discovered if someone decides to dig deep enough to find more details.

Even if you had a secondary wallet to which you'd send your funds, you'd still be able to be tracked back to your first address through the transactions. Thus, I don't see a way to avoid having any links to your Bitcoin address, unless you're using a mixer or if you were extremely careful from scratch, something that I wasn't, if I'm honest.

[Youngkhngdiddy]

Posting your wallet address is not all harmful because one can't penetrate your wallet using only the address, they need to have your passphrase which are security key words for a particular acount.
Wallet address is used in sending and receiving crypto currency just like your bank account and can be shared with anyone you want to receive bitcoin from,since it can't be easily hacked by mere knowing the address.
 The most important thing to safeguard is the passphrases which servers as a security key to the wallet asides from the password or fingerprint security.
To save your passphrase you need to copy and save as draft in your secured Gmail account with a 2factor authenticator, or write it out and secure in a hidden file where it safe from water or fire outbreak.

[Coyster]

Posting your wallet address is not all harmful because one can't penetrate your wallet using only the address, they need to have your passphrase which are security key words for a particular acount.

If your wallet is protected by a passphrase, an attacker needs your seed phrase and your passphrase to gain access to your funds, mind you that what your wallet generates is your keys and your seed phrase, but you have the option to extend your seed phrase with a passphrase for more security.

The most important thing to safeguard is the passphrases which servers as a security key to the wallet asides from the password or fingerprint security. To save your passphrase you need to copy and save as draft in your secured Gmail account with a 2factor authenticator, or write it out and secure in a hidden file where it safe from water or fire outbreak.

What you have to secure is your seed phrase, and if you have a passphrase, you have to secure it too, but in a different location from your seed phrase, i think what you want to say is seed phrase, but you're calling it a passphrase, mind you that they are two different things. Having said that, never save your seed phrase or passphrase in your Gmail account or anywhere online you should put it on a paper and protect it.

[Peanutswar]

In cryptocurrency we have the Public key and the private keys, that bitcoin address is the public key we are using the wallets can generate a lot of public keys that are used for your transactions, and the private keys are the keys used for verifying transactions, you cannot proceed a transaction if you didn't have the private key for the confirmation of sending the address.

The possible risk on your side right here is exposing the number of bitcoin or other coins you are holding to the public, even though we are using as a PUBLIC key it does not mean that you need to expose yourself too at the same time that you are the holder of that amount, this time sharing information in the internet can make a risk on your life because people know that you are holding a large amount of money..  People now can easily track the history of transaction of your bitcoin address through blockchain, but they cant identify whos address it is unless you expose you are the owner of it.

[Falconer]

In cryptocurrency we have the Public key and the private keys, that bitcoin address is the public key we are using the wallets can generate a lot of public keys that are used for your transactions, and the private keys are the keys used for verifying transactions, you cannot proceed a transaction if you didn't have the private key for the confirmation of sending the address.

The possible risk on your side right here is exposing the number of bitcoin or other coins you are holding to the public, even though we are using as a PUBLIC key it does not mean that you need to expose yourself too at the same time that you are the holder of that amount, this time sharing information in the internet can make a risk on your life because people know that you are holding a large amount of money..  People now can easily track the history of transaction of your bitcoin address through blockchain, but they cant identify whos address it is unless you expose you are the owner of it.

You'll be safe as long as you only post your public address regardless of whether it's one-time use address or one you use regularly in forum. The problem is when you post your storage address publicly anywhere which in turn can harm you if someone wants to hack and rob your money.

Some people who care about privacy would probably never make the mistake of posting and tell the public about the amount of bitcoin they have, it's just risky and invites a lot of threats either directly or indirectly. Being concerned about privacy is great, but I don't think there's really a threatening risk to posting our public address on forum.

[Russlenat]

But for bitcoin, nothing will be revealed relating to you by merely seeing your address. It is again good to use non-custodial wallet for keeping your bitcoin safe and own total right to it.

If you reveal even a single address, your whole wallet could be revealed if that address is used together with other addresses in your transactions. If your addresses are revealed, they can be linked to your social media, for example to address that you put on your profile on this forum. After your social media profile is identified, your identity could be uncovered if you post some photos of yourself, or leave other information.

Bitcoin only has anonymity if you put some effort into it, otherwise it's really easy to leave a lot of traces.

True. Bitcoin is designed to be anonymous only if you are responsible enough to secure its complete anonymity. Otherwise, exposing it in social media will trigger some bitcoin hackers to start eyeing on your account as the next possible victim. And even people who are complete strangers once they know that you are a bitcoin owner, then you must have the wealth that most of the people will get envy of.

[Botnake]

It will not cause any danger unless you also exposes the private keys but it definitely a concern for privacy, and anyone can track all the transactions and balance and if someone you know personally know about these then it's definitely a big problem. So don't ever expose even the address for any reason so that your privacy won't be compromised at all.

As much as possible, keep them private and stay away from online exposure. It will not make you less of an investor if you keep it to yourself and only yourself knows it exactly. Sharing bitcoin address online may not trigger your bitcoin account but maybe for some crypto experts, they might find a lead to access your account.

[m2017]

Bitcoin address is not a bank account that has one permanent details. You can create a whole host of new addresses for yourself and use them for a variety of purposes. One is for online purchases, the second is for donations, the third is for something else. The main thing is that there is no connection between these addresses and then there will be no danger. No one will be able to identify with the addresses unless you do it yourself. You can post the bitcoin address online. For example, to participate in the bounty campaign. But it is better not to use it again anywhere, but to generate a completely new one. New tasks - new addresses.

[Findingnemo]

It will not cause any danger unless you also exposes the private keys but it definitely a concern for privacy, and anyone can track all the transactions and balance and if someone you know personally know about these then it's definitely a big problem. So don't ever expose even the address for any reason so that your privacy won't be compromised at all.

As much as possible, keep them private and stay away from online exposure. It will not make you less of an investor if you keep it to yourself and only yourself knows it exactly. Sharing bitcoin address online may not trigger your bitcoin account but maybe for some crypto experts, they might find a lead to access your account.

No one can access the cryptocurrency in a wallet by simply knowing its wallet address and if it was possible then the wallets with thousands of bitcoins will be vanished so its not a direct threat to our assets but the danger may come in other form like if someone track down our personal information with the wallets connected via KYC can bring physical dangers.

[NotATether]

Your Bitcoin address is your public key, which has nothing to do with the privacy of your wallet; only the private key has that.

No it is not a public key. It is the hash of your public key, and a hash by definition cannot be reversed. Sure, your transactions using that address can still be tracked, but you can mitigate that by using a mixer or CoinJoin service to obfuscate the coins in that address, sending them to another address of yours in the process.

Also, it is good practice to use an address one time and then discard it for a new one afterwards.

[Jawhead999]

1- You bitcoin address in not your bitcoin but a house for it just like your bank account.

Wrong, if Bitcoin address is like my bank account, if I make a transaction I should already know the real name of the person.

2- Your bitcoin address can only be be compromised if you share your personal details or private key along with sharing the address.

To access a Bitcoin address you don't have to know both public and private key, just a private key.

3- People may say that your bitcoin address can be likened to your bank account and and email address, I have read it online myself. They are right to some extent, but the privacy of bitcoin is far better. Why? Through your bank details, your details can be known by diggers, same goes for email address if you use your real identity to open it.

It's why you shouldn't use an email address where the username contain your real name, just use a temporary email or second email.

There's no danger if you post your Bitcoin address online, as long as you're not submit any KYC to online sites and link with your real identity. But of course it's much better to not posting anything because there's no benefit.

[Agbe]

I will speak from the topical sentence. I don't think there is any danger when giving out bitcoin public address to people to transfer bitcoin. That address is meant for the public uses. I understand the part that you said bitcoin address is like Fiat number well there are similarities and dissimilarities. One thing in bitcoin address is that, one can change the address at anytime but that is not the same way with the bank account number. And also one thing I discovered in bitcoin address is that, changing of the address when constant inflow is in the wallet. Don't use only address through out the period. Change the address in some time. Or sell to on the people as p2p

[Freddie Boyer]

2- Your bitcoin address can only be be compromised if you share your personal details or private key along with sharing the address.

To access a Bitcoin address you don't have to know both public and private key, just a private key.

Yes. The public key is used to receive funds to your Bitcoin address, while the private key is needed to unlock access and control the funds held at that address. These two keys are a related pair and cannot be ignored if you wish to securely access and control Bitcoin addresses. Important keep your private key secret and not share it with anyone to protect the security of we crypto assets.