Bitcoin mixing vs Bitcoin exchange.

[KingZee]

Hi. I can't help think that bitcoin mixing services have become completely useless, and surpassed, thanks to the rise of over 40+ BTC exchanges.

When you make an account on a BTC exchange, they give you an address only for you, that you can deposit money into.
A short while after your deposit into that address, you will see that your address has been cleaned out, with all the btc sent to several other addresses, that are presumably the exchange's own addresses/cold addresses/addresses of other users withdrawing from the exchange/etc..
So while your ADDRESS itself is empty, you are still owner of X btc deposited into your account of that exchange. Thus when you withdraw, you will receive btc that is completely untainted from the first btc address you used to deposit it.

Thus the question, why the hell are bitcoin mixing services still exist? With some that even cost a fee? Do people still even use them? Or am I completely mislead in considering BTC exchanges as bitcoin mixers?

[rz20]

Most bitcoin mixers are scams so be very careful to who you send money.

A good way as you said is to use an exchange you will always get different coins.

[karlb187]

Most bitcoin mixers are scams so be very careful to who you send money.

A good way as you said is to use an exchange you will always get different coins.

Good advice 

[rayhan]

Most bitcoin mixers are scams so be very careful to who you send money.

A good way as you said is to use an exchange you will always get different coins.

nah agree with it

[1Referee]

I use Bitmixer.io from time to time, they offer a great mixing service.

They do ask a 0.5% fee, though. So I mostly use it for small transactions.

With larger amounts I use an exchange, which will only cost you max 0.001BTC as withdrawal fee.

[BitCoinDream]

Hi. I can't help think that bitcoin mixing services have become completely useless, and surpassed, thanks to the rise of over 40+ BTC exchanges.

When you make an account on a BTC exchange, they give you an address only for you, that you can deposit money into.
A short while after your deposit into that address, you will see that your address has been cleaned out, with all the btc sent to several other addresses, that are presumably the exchange's own addresses/cold addresses/addresses of other users withdrawing from the exchange/etc..
So while your ADDRESS itself is empty, you are still owner of X btc deposited into your account of that exchange. Thus when you withdraw, you will receive btc that is completely untainted from the first btc address you used to deposit it.

Thus the question, why the hell are bitcoin mixing services still exist? With some that even cost a fee? Do people still even use them? Or am I completely mislead in considering BTC exchanges as bitcoin mixers?

Mixing services are used to hide identity. If u use an exchange, your coins will be mixed, but your identity will be attached to that exchange's account. But, apart from exchange, there are also a lot of bitcoin applications which does not ask for identity, e.g. gambling sites. So, if u send coins to a gambling site and withdraw, u'll most likely get new coins with no identity attached.

[notlist3d]

Hi. I can't help think that bitcoin mixing services have become completely useless, and surpassed, thanks to the rise of over 40+ BTC exchanges.

When you make an account on a BTC exchange, they give you an address only for you, that you can deposit money into.
A short while after your deposit into that address, you will see that your address has been cleaned out, with all the btc sent to several other addresses, that are presumably the exchange's own addresses/cold addresses/addresses of other users withdrawing from the exchange/etc..
So while your ADDRESS itself is empty, you are still owner of X btc deposited into your account of that exchange. Thus when you withdraw, you will receive btc that is completely untainted from the first btc address you used to deposit it.

Thus the question, why the hell are bitcoin mixing services still exist? With some that even cost a fee? Do people still even use them? Or am I completely mislead in considering BTC exchanges as bitcoin mixers?

Mixing services are used to hide identity. If u use an exchange, your coins will be mixed, but your identity will be attached to that exchange's account. But, apart from exchange, there are also a lot of bitcoin applications which does not ask for identity, e.g. gambling sites. So, if u send coins to a gambling site and withdraw, u'll most likely get new coins with no identity attached.

A lot of exchanges you would be sending to your wallet on the site and pulling out same address  (some can change address).  But a exchange would not completely hide who has the coins.

Bitmixer's claim to make it impossible (or near impossible) to track.   I personally have never had a use for this.   

[Bizmark13]

I have experimented with using an exchange to mix coins and taint analysis via Blockchain.info does show that it works. i.e. there is no connection/taint between my old address and the new address used to receive coins.

So yes, it does work. And dice sites like Primedice can be used for this purpose as well. In these cases, nobody will be able to link the two addresses except, of course, the site owner.

Some mixing services take this one step further because not even the site owner knows the link between the old address and the new one. I remember reading somewhere that Bitmixer.io permanently deletes records of its users' transactions after several hours.

[twister]

I use Bitmixer.io from time to time, they offer a great mixing service.

They do ask a 0.5% fee, though. So I mostly use it for small transactions.

With larger amounts I use an exchange, which will only cost you max 0.001BTC as withdrawal fee.

Can I ask why you or the other people use it? I mean why do they feel the need to mix their coins?

[KingZee]

I use Bitmixer.io from time to time, they offer a great mixing service.

They do ask a 0.5% fee, though. So I mostly use it for small transactions.

With larger amounts I use an exchange, which will only cost you max 0.001BTC as withdrawal fee.

Can I ask why you or the other people use it? I mean why do they feel the need to mix their coins?

I have a vanity address, it links to my own ID. It does make me easily recognizable as an escrow/trusted trader on other altcoin forums. Nullifies the risk of being faked by an imposter.

BUT, I also deal with businesses where it's preferable your name doesn't show up on the table. So I give them other addresses where to send BTC, thus hiding my real address from them. That's why I need it for myself.

[1Referee]

I use Bitmixer.io from time to time, they offer a great mixing service.

They do ask a 0.5% fee, though. So I mostly use it for small transactions.

With larger amounts I use an exchange, which will only cost you max 0.001BTC as withdrawal fee.

Can I ask why you or the other people use it? I mean why do they feel the need to mix their coins?

I only use mixers when I send coins to my cold wallets.

It gives you extra privacy, as I don't want people to know what my cold wallet addresses are.

[FlyForFun]

I use Bitmixer.io from time to time, they offer a great mixing service.

They do ask a 0.5% fee, though. So I mostly use it for small transactions.

With larger amounts I use an exchange, which will only cost you max 0.001BTC as withdrawal fee.

Can I ask why you or the other people use it? I mean why do they feel the need to mix their coins?

I believe hacker would want to use it to hide their identity, so its hard for you to get back the bitcoins..

[Soappa]

Some mixing services take this one step further because not even the site owner knows the link between the old address and the new one. I remember reading somewhere that Bitmixer.io permanently deletes records of its users' transactions after several hours.

You are right, at least that is what Bitmixer claims to do.

What logs are kept?
Absolutely no logs or personally identifying information are kept regarding your use of the Bitmixer service. All logs are permanently removed from both our website database and from our Bitcoin wallet after your coins have been transferred out of our reserve. All forwarding entries are removed after 12 hours.

[FUR11]

I also often thought about how well exchanges could be used in order to mix your Bitcoins. Well, I guess it boils down to this: They can be used, if you withdraw differently sized chunks, or generic amounts (1 BTC,...). They also tend to be more trustworthy than scammy mixing services.
On the other hand: Exchanges often require incredible amounts of personal data and need you to submit ID-scans, phone bills, etc... Combined with their logs, it is (for them, and everyone who gets hold of those logs) perfectly transparent how your Bitcoins got 'mixed'.