Does it make sense to use mixing services in 2025?

[EarnOnVictor]

I understand the concept of UTXO hygiene, but I'm not sure if these tools still offer real benefits now that exchanges, blockchain analytics, and surveillance techniques are way more advanced.

Do you still use them? Or is it better to just use tools like Samourai + Stonewall + manual labeling?

These reasons should answer your question, and they are:

1. The amount you are talking about
2. How the coins got into your hand
3. The purpose of mixing the coins

These factors vary among people, so mixing is still a priority for some people. But certainly not all, depending on their situation with respect to those factors.

As for Exchanges, they might be smart, but mixed coins still penetrate easily. Moving it further among addresses, and even exchanging with different coins among DEX, after the mixers have delivered the mixed coin to you, would make it even harder for exchanges. And don't forget, it's not all exchanges that mandate KYC, so you can do it with different accounts.

[KiaKia]

Mixing doesn't ensure 100% anonymity with bitcoin, it helps to break the connection with your address and receive coins from different source but government agencies wre going against the mixers even though it's not illegal to mix coins due to the reason like it's used to launder hacked funds on multiple occasions.

So the answer depends on who you want to hide it, if it's about government then mixing won't be enough but it helps with other use cases.

Even though it's not illegal? This sound like a war you can never win with you just saying it's not illegal when many people are using mixers to escape from getting caught.

OP is mixer banned in your country? I think this is the best question I can ask you, if it's banned then forget it because you could end up in trouble, you are the only one who knows why you are using mixer.

Don't forget, you are not completely off the radar, it covers your track but there are still some catch, don't use mixer for any crime related transactions, it won't help but yes you are free to use mixers in 2025.

[BenCodie]

It has been made legal (in the US) to use "privacy protocols" which are in other words, mixers without a central custodian (such as Tornado Cash which was precedent for this afaik).

I recall reading the same thing before that case happened, although it was ambiguous as far as I can remember. My impression was that the government won't jail anyone who uses or runs such a service as long as they implement sufficient KYC, which is basically against the core idea of a privacy tool. Has it changed recently?

That's right actually, and no I don't believe it has changed recently. I'm not aware of a protocol that achieves KYC whilst simultaneously providing privacy, however it is possible to do this with zk (zero knowledge) proofs, maybe the regulation was done by design to push this kind of creation as it would fit within the framework (that would deserve credit for being so forward thinking).

It has been made legal (in the US) to use "privacy protocols" which are in other words, mixers without a central custodian (such as Tornado Cash which was precedent for this afaik).

Then again, it will be useless if the OP is planning to use this with an exchange, because other regulations can still prompt exchanges to monitor their addresses aggressively.

If this is relevant, a very recent change has revoked the broker rule/requirement for exchanges to provide extensive transaction data, which is a step in the right direction on that subject.

[Proty]

The question you asked is really important and I think there are person that don't care much about privacy.The  mixing tools you made mention of like whirlpool, joinmarket and wasabi are still being used by many but the most important is the method of usage or how we utilise then .despite how active and sharp Blockchain surveillance maybe, if we still know how to make use of this tool it will really help alot.So the tools you mention are very good if we know how to use them.Also I do make use of samourai, stonewall and I do avoid combining UTXOS.Infact it is important to use multiple tools.

[joniboini]

That's right actually, and no I don't believe it has changed recently. I'm not aware of a protocol that achieves KYC whilst simultaneously providing privacy, however it is possible to do this with zk (zero knowledge) proofs, maybe the regulation was done by design to push this kind of creation as it would fit within the framework (that would deserve credit for being so forward thinking).

Interesting if that was true. I'm fairly skeptical of the overall goal of such rules because they can change their tune and start banning protocols like that too. Hopefully, that won't happen in the future.

If this is relevant, a very recent change has revoked the broker rule/requirement for exchanges to provide extensive transaction data, which is a step in the right direction on that subject.

I didn't know that. Good to hear, I suppose, although I'm not sure other governments will follow that. I have only used my local exchanges since 2021, and I feel like they've gotten stricter with KYC requirements.

[Patikno]

Hey guys, I'm slowly getting deeper into BTC privacy and I'd like to ask for honest feedback from experienced users:

Is it still worth using coin mixing services like Whirlpool, JoinMarket or Wasabi in 2025?

I understand the concept of UTXO hygiene, but I'm not sure if these tools still offer real benefits now that exchanges, blockchain analytics, and surveillance techniques are way more advanced.

Do you still use them? Or is it better to just use tools like Samourai + Stonewall + manual labeling?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts. 🙏

Some time ago, I saw news that sanctions against a mixer protocol had been lifted, and it will paving the way for similar protocols aimed at protecting user data and anonymizing transactions. So, I think it still makes sense to use mixing services in 2025.

Source: Indodax - US Legalize Bitcoin Mixer. (currently in Indonesia Language, we need to translate it to english manually)

However, I suggest you remain cautious in using it, as it also carries the risk of suspension or freezing of crypto assets (especially Bitcoin) if you wish to make further transfers to an exchange, as we know this is a possibility.

[Outhue]

The question you asked is really important and I think there are person that don't care much about privacy.The  mixing tools you made mention of like whirlpool, joinmarket and wasabi are still being used by many but the most important is the method of usage or how we utilise then .despite how active and sharp Blockchain surveillance maybe, if we still know how to make use of this tool it will really help alot.So the tools you mention are very good if we know how to use them.Also I do make use of samourai, stonewall and I do avoid combining UTXOS.Infact it is important to use multiple tools.

Samourai still functions in 2025? I thought they lost and closed down? I don't hrsr about them anymore since I lost some Bitcoin using their service, I was still very new to Bitcoin at the time and I sent some Bitcoin to an address but instead this wallet sent gas fee to the wallet address and kept the $200 as the main gas fee, this was how I lost everything.

I was using Electrum too so It was not my first time sending Bitcoin, how and why they use my balance as gas fee and credited the address with small tinny Bitcoin is unexplained till this day.

I've seen news online where people use 10 BTC to send half BTC, how and why they make such mistake remains a misery for me, maybe someone can explain to me why this happened.

[Antotena]

Samourai still functions in 2025? I thought they lost and closed down? I don't hrsr about them anymore since I lost some Bitcoin using their service, I was still very new to Bitcoin at the time and I sent some Bitcoin to an address but instead this wallet sent gas fee to the wallet address and kept the $200 as the main gas fee, this was how I lost everything.

Samurai whirlpool coordinator and website has been taken down, anything related to their service is shutdown. I will not advice anyone to use service like samurai for now, the government has put them on watch list, it's better to use other coinjoin protocols or mixers. That been said.

Another thing I will like to draw to your attention is Bitcoin transaction fee is not the same thing as gas fee, the term has fee is associated with Ethereum, there is nothing as such with Bitcoin. You can either use fee or transaction fee and not gas fee.

I was using Electrum too so It was not my first time sending Bitcoin, how and why they use my balance as gas fee and credited the address with small tinny Bitcoin is unexplained till this day.

I've seen news online where people use 10 BTC to send half BTC, how and why they make such mistake remains a misery for me, maybe someone can explain to me why this happened.

Are you sure that is not change address you were given because as far as I know about whirlpool, your output must be uniform unless you are using coinjoin and it's rare for you to receive an output that is smaller than what you gave them. Even if you pay fees, I don't really think that your output should be that small.
There is no way your coin can be stolen. You get what you put, it's either you get less of what you put after deduction of the fee or you get your output (after fee deduction) and a change.

The only way this can happen is perhap coin mixers, this can't happen in coinjoin or whirlpool unless if you are the one that made mistake and deposited less and use the remaining sats to pay fees, you paid more than what was required and everything went to the miners.

[BenCodie]

That's right actually, and no I don't believe it has changed recently. I'm not aware of a protocol that achieves KYC whilst simultaneously providing privacy, however it is possible to do this with zk (zero knowledge) proofs, maybe the regulation was done by design to push this kind of creation as it would fit within the framework (that would deserve credit for being so forward thinking).

Interesting if that was true. I'm fairly skeptical of the overall goal of such rules because they can change their tune and start banning protocols like that too. Hopefully, that won't happen in the future.

I believe that it was less by design and intention, and more by coincidence, though that's my speculation. Maybe someone informed had designed the framework with ZK proofs in mind, though I do believe it's unlikely.

If this is relevant, a very recent change has revoked the broker rule/requirement for exchanges to provide extensive transaction data, which is a step in the right direction on that subject.

I didn't know that. Good to hear, I suppose, although I'm not sure other governments will follow that. I have only used my local exchanges since 2021, and I feel like they've gotten stricter with KYC requirements.

Good to know you found the info useful

Unless something is clearly unanimous across the globe, I think that most governments wait to see if something forward-thinking works elsewhere before they introduce it into their own frameworks. In the case of your nation, it can be a case of the government generally being against bitcoin and cryptocurrency, thus implementing harsher/stricter regulations and not really caring about what other governments are doing. That aside, if other governments are bitcoin or crypto friendly, then I am sure that if they want to adopt similar regulations too, they will if it worked positively for another nation.

[Rustam Meraj]

The question you asked is really important and I think there are person that don't care much about privacy.The  mixing tools you made mention of like whirlpool, joinmarket and wasabi are still being used by many but the most important is the method of usage or how we utilise then .despite how active and sharp Blockchain surveillance maybe, if we still know how to make use of this tool it will really help alot.So the tools you mention are very good if we know how to use them.Also I do make use of samourai, stonewall and I do avoid combining UTXOS.Infact it is important to use multiple tools.

You are absolutely right. how we use privacy tools is key to their effectiveness. It is great you are using tools Samourai and Stonewall and that you are smart about things like not mixing your UTXOs. Even with advanced tracking on blockchain knowing how to properly use these tools and even using several of them together can still give you much of privacy by making it much harder to trace your funds.