Is my IP address really hidden?

[timbulko]

Hello,
I've started using Bitcoin few days ago. I've made few transactions, but I am not sure about whether my IP address is really hidden. Are IP addresses recorded in transaction logs? Can somebody track my transaction and find my IP address (eg. recepient of the payment or somebody who know my bitcoin address)?

I see Proxy options in Bitcoin client setting. Why would there be an option to set a proxy if there is no way to track my IP?

Thanks.

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[Bitcoinreminder.com]

No, it doesnt become tracked. Only your ISP saves maybe your connection data.

[Maged]

If somebody has enough connections, they can guess where a transaction came from based on which IP address was used to send them the transaction first. This risk can be mitigated by specifically specifying certain trusted nodes that your client will only connect to, but it's better to just use Tor.

[Nasakioto]

Your IP is not hidden except if you use TOR or a proxy. However, other nodes can only tell you are an active node. I believe they can't necessarily associate a particular transaction with your node/IP.

Some people need to use a proxy as their networks won't allow them to communicate externally using certain ports.

[JoelKatz]

Hello,
I've started using Bitcoin few days ago. I've made few transactions, but I am not sure about whether my IP address is really hidden. Are IP addresses recorded in transaction logs?

No.

Can somebody track my transaction and find my IP address (eg. recepient of the payment or somebody who know my bitcoin address)?

They can find all the IP addresses connected to the BitCoin network. But the client 'trickles' out its own transactions. So if you send the transaction to A, B might get the transaction from A long before you send it to B. So how does B know whether you created the transaction or A did?

I see Proxy options in Bitcoin client setting. Why would there be an option to set a proxy if there is no way to track my IP?

If your computer is behind NAT but has access to a proxy with a public IP address, connecting through the proxy would allow it to accept inbound connections. Some computers only have Internet access through a proxy because they're behind firewalls that deny all traffic they don't understand, and they don't understand Bitcoin.