What exactly is "taint" with bitcoins?

[U2]

I've seen people talking about different mixers and gambling sites having a bad level of "taint" . Are these tainted coins as in they are old or they're coins that were known to be from a heist or something else completely?

[ranochigo]

Generally, the word taint can be used in the two context.
1) The Bitcoins were once related to a known theft/hack and is thus tainted by that. For example, X coins are spent from an UXTO which is related to a  transaction which was compromised in a Bitstamp hack.
2) The analysis which can be done to determine if the two addresses are correlated to each other.

The context you are talking about is 2). If there is a taint from your origin address, that means that your mixer is not doing anything to secure your privacy.

[icqcointokenwallet]

Good answer. So, what would be the best mixer out tyere?

[U2]

Generally, the word taint can be used in the two context.
1) The Bitcoins were once related to a known theft/hack and is thus tainted by that. For example, X coins are spent from an UXTO which is related to a  transaction which was compromised in a Bitstamp hack.
2) The analysis which can be done to determine if the two addresses are correlated to each other.

The context you are talking about is 2). If there is a taint from your origin address, that means that your mixer is not doing anything to secure your privacy.

Ahhh ok. So it can really be either but it depends on the context. I saw someone say on the forum oh this mixer is 52% taint analysis so not too bad. Does that still mean that it's for security of a mixer?

[BitcoinNewsMagazine]

Generally, the word taint can be used in the two context.
1) The Bitcoins were once related to a known theft/hack and is thus tainted by that. For example, X coins are spent from an UXTO which is related to a  transaction which was compromised in a Bitstamp hack.
2) The analysis which can be done to determine if the two addresses are correlated to each other.

The context you are talking about is 2). If there is a taint from your origin address, that means that your mixer is not doing anything to secure your privacy.

Ahhh ok. So it can really be either but it depends on the context. I saw someone say on the forum oh this mixer is 52% taint analysis so not too bad. Does that still mean that it's for security of a mixer?

With a mixer doing its job you should get back coins with zero taint. That means there is no correlation between the coins you sent and the coins you got back. Blockchain.info has a taint analysis tool anyone can use to measure taint.

The problem with mixers is this: mixers are popular with gamblers and customers of dark net markets so there is a high probability the coins you get back, while not traceable to the coins you sent, may be traced to the bitcoin wallet addresses of a gambling site or darknet market. When you try to sell those coins for fiat the chainanalysis tools that a company like Coinbase use may raise a red flag.

[Nathan047]

Like @BitcoinNewsMagazine pointed out, a mixer will probably just get you blamed for someone else's crimes. If you want my advice then mixers are probably something you should stay away from (then again I'd recommend not committing any crime that would require a mixer, so if you need a mixer you probably won't be interested in my advice).

[BitcoinNewsMagazine]

Nathan047 makes a good point. If for any reason you want to anonymize your bitcoin you need to be able to draw on a large pool of bitcoin, which would decrease your chances of getting back coins that can be traced to a bitcoin address that has been red flagged by coinanalytics software. The large pools of clean bitcoin are at the largest exchanges, so go from there. Monero can be a large help here.

[UGMZ]

I don't see how they can bring a red flag against you if you end up with tainted coins. lets say they have been passed about for a number of years the taint will always be with them, Just look at some of the coins from the silkroad and places like MTgox hacks..

Those coins are still rolling round out there somewhere, But dose that mean if you by some "legit" reason you ended up with some of these coins places like exchanges would refuse to accept them?? Or worse freeze them?

https://blockchain.info/taint/1GmPZeLn93CJnu8r4hdeFfRtQyF3mXNRQy

Here is one address that was used in movement of Gox funds.. The taint analysis says it all

[U2]

Like @BitcoinNewsMagazine pointed out, a mixer will probably just get you blamed for someone else's crimes. If you want my advice then mixers are probably something you should stay away from (then again I'd recommend not committing any crime that would require a mixer, so if you need a mixer you probably won't be interested in my advice).

Mixing coins isn't just for criminals. The Blockchain is a public ledger. If you can see that I'm depositing 20BTC into one address and you know where I live, who's to say you wouldn't break into my house and kidnap me or just whack me with a hammer and take my hard drive with you?

I thought I saw this on blockchain.info anyways, not a mixer, although the point was brought up that the taint could be considered dirty coins from a mixer.

[GMPoison]

Like @BitcoinNewsMagazine pointed out, a mixer will probably just get you blamed for someone else's crimes. If you want my advice then mixers are probably something you should stay away from (then again I'd recommend not committing any crime that would require a mixer, so if you need a mixer you probably won't be interested in my advice).

Mixing coins isn't just for criminals. The Blockchain is a public ledger. If you can see that I'm depositing 20BTC into one address and you know where I live, who's to say you wouldn't break into my house and kidnap me or just whack me with a hammer and take my hard drive with you?

I thought I saw this on blockchain.info anyways, not a mixer, although the point was brought up that the taint could be considered dirty coins from a mixer.

Never thought about that, good point. Sort of like how people automatically falsely assume the "darknet" or "deepweb" is 100% criminals.