Legitimate reasons for needing your bitcoin 'washed'

[deezn9]

What legitimate reasons are there for wanting one's bitcoin 'mixed' or 'anonymized?' 

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[AGD]

Privacy
National Security

[ObscureBean]

Apparently some people feel that Bitcoins are not all equal, for example a Bitcoin that was once involved in illegal activities is 'tainted' and in their eyes worth less than a 'clean' Bitcoin. Personally I think the whole concept is nonsensical, I couldn't care less about where my Bitcoins come from, my conscience is clear and that's good enough for me. I think it would be unfortunate for Bitcoin if this were to become the norm.

[gadman2]

Privacy

[NorrisK]

Privacy is obviously the most important reason. And privacy can have multiple reasons:

Most people immediately think about illegal activities, but this doesn't have to be the case. Maybe you bought coins in RL from somebody and you don't want them to find out how much coins you have in cold storage. Mixing can help prevent them from following the coins. Especially if they know a lot of details about you, this can be important.

[DannyHamilton]

• You have a legitimate job that pays you with bitcoins.
• You rent an apartment from someone that allows you to pay your rent with bitcoins.
• You do not do any "mixing".
• Your landlord can see exactly how much you are getting paid from your employer by looking at the blockchain every time you pay him.
• Your landlord sees that you get a raise from your employer, so he raises your rent.

If you had protected your privacy better, the landlord might not have been so eager to raise your rent (since he wouldn't know if you could afford it and wouldn't want to risk losing a reliable tenant.

[Jet Cash]

Apparently some people feel that Bitcoins are not all equal, for example a Bitcoin that was once involved in illegal activities is 'tainted' and in their eyes worth less than a 'clean' Bitcoin. Personally I think the whole concept is nonsensical, I couldn't care less about where my Bitcoins come from, my conscience is clear and that's good enough for me. I think it would be unfortunate for Bitcoin if this were to become the norm.

How can you tell if a Bitcoin is dirty? What about those that the US government grabbed from Silk Road.

[JeffBrad12]

the mainly reason for reaching their privacy but I'm not naive if that's can be used in a bad way anytime and one of example just like for using washing your money because it's come from the bad way, this s fact and that's already giving contribution into the legitimate reason for washing your money.

[Wendigo]

• You have a legitimate job that pays you with bitcoins.
• You rent an apartment from someone that allows you to pay your rent with bitcoins.
• You do not do any "mixing".
• Your landlord can see exactly how much you are getting paid from your employer by looking at the blockchain every time you pay him.
• Your landlord sees that you get a raise from your employer, so he raises your rent.

If you had protected your privacy better, the landlord might not have been so eager to raise your rent (since he wouldn't know if you could afford it and wouldn't want to risk losing a reliable tenant.

Or you could just whip up your Bitcoin debit card and give some cash to him without covering your tracks every month? If I need to do this procedure every time I am spending coins then hell no.

[yayayo]

I'm surprised that someone asks this in a Bitcoin forum. To any Bitcoiner it should be pretty clear that we live in a world of constant surveillance and financial oppression. The government and its bootlickers brazenly invade your privacy in any way they can. They adopt immoral laws and regulations that constantly reduce human rights and freedom. And increasingly, law enforcement doesn't even care if their actions are lawful or not...

In my view, protecting one's privacy is becoming important to ensure survival. Unfortunately, Bitcoin does not yet offer sufficient provisions for privacy protection (i.e. confidential transactions). Therefore users have to resort to alternate methods.

There is zero reason to justify using a mixing service. You don't need to provide justification for exerting your basic human rights. Usage of mixing services should be encouraged and promoted as good practice until Bitcoin itself improves in the privacy field.

ya.ya.yo!

[bitbunnny]

To protect privacy is the main and most important reason. I'm not obsessed with some conspiracy theories or government surveillance fear but why revealing some of your private data if this is not necessary. And that is completely legitimate. Hiding some illegal activities is totaly different story.

[bitcoinmasterlord]

Once bitcoins go out from your hand, then don't know what purpose people use that bitcoins. If someone uses those for illegal purpose and people can trace back to the original owner. So people would like to mix and avoid any issues in the future meaning privacy. 

[Snorek]

Why mixing is good/bad is the same question as: Why do you fear government invigilation if you have nothing to fear and are law abiding citizen?

And we have good answer for that:

"Arguing that you don't care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say." -E.S.

I don't have to share my reasons for mixing my coins, it is my choice.

[fortunecrypto]

Privacy and security are the top reason why you want your transactions washed,because there are a lot of tools and softwares and research can trace the owner of a particular address ..

[DannyHamilton]

If you had protected your privacy better, the landlord might not have been so eager to raise your rent

Or you could just whip up your Bitcoin debit card and give some cash to him
[/quote]

Which is just another way of "mixing" your bitcoins and hiding their source, and which results in fees for both you and your landlord as you convert bitcoins to local currency and your landlord converts the local currency back into bitcoins.  Furthermore, it may be difficult to send the cash to your landlord if he lives far away or isn't around much, while bitcoins are quite easy to send.

If I need to do this procedure every time I am spending coins then hell no.

You don't "need to". It's up to each individual to decide how important their privacy is to them, and how much responsibility they want to take for controling their own wealth.

[BiTZeD]

Anyone that wants the true concept of Bitcoin should do it. You also go further to the root and use an unique address each time you do a transaction, but that's still harder.

[SAMKUSH]

If you have ever uploaded your ID or any personal information to an exchange or website where you have used a bitcoin address then the exchange could use that to track down exactly what you have done with any bitcoins. If you have nothing to hide then there is no reason to wash bitcoins.

[panju1]

What legitimate reasons are there for wanting one's bitcoin 'mixed' or 'anonymized?' 

Privacy is not just for criminals. You should read gmaxwell's post on coinjoin here
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=279249.0

... Your inlaws don't see that you're buying birth control that deprives them of grand children, your employer doesn't learn about the non-profits you support with money from your paycheck, and thieves don't see your latest purchases or how wealthy you are to help them target and scam you. Poor privacy in Bitcoin can be a major practical disadvantage for both individuals and businesses.

[amacar2]

There are many but some i think that could be reasons are.
- To add more privacy to normal bitcoin transactions
- To clean the source of funds.
However i don't think mixing services are much needed for normal level of anonymity and privacy which normal bitcoin transaction can provide itself.

[Aamir1]

Apparently some people feel that Bitcoins are not all equal, for example a Bitcoin that was once involved in illegal activities is 'tainted' and in their eyes worth less than a 'clean' Bitcoin. Personally I think the whole concept is nonsensical, I couldn't care less about where my Bitcoins come from, my conscience is clear and that's good enough for me. I think it would be unfortunate for Bitcoin if this were to become the norm.

That concept completely gives no sense that the coins once involved in a illegal activity they are not the same as they were before or they are not considered as clean as they were before being used in that way, all the coins you have are the same, whether you got them from a criminal or from someone who earned them in a legal way, once they are kept together they are the same.