Bitcoin serial number ?

[valuto]

Hi, I read a lot recently about bitcoin and I saw people are talking like if bitcoins were somehow "marked" with a kind of serial number. There have been discussion about coins being "tainted", some are afraid their coins could be associated with black market etc...

Is this possible ? Is it the case ? And if so, up to what decimal ? Is each single satoshi identifiable from other ? Is this true only for the last wallet where your coins come from or this goes back up to initial creation of the coin (mining?) ?

thx

[Nathan047]

Yes, tainted coins will always be tainted. There isn’t quite a “serial number” per say, but because of the blockchain it’s possible to trace a coin all the way back to it’s creation. Any coins that were used in certain crimes or hacks become “tainted” and as a result they aren’t accepted by most of the community.

[BitProNews]

Yes, tainted coins will always be tainted. There isn’t quite a “serial number” per say, but because of the blockchain it’s possible to trace a coin all the way back to it’s creation. Any coins that were used in certain crimes or hacks become “tainted” and as a result they aren’t accepted by most of the community.

But i think this is against one of the fundamentals in bitcoin vision which is the anonymity so whatever the goals of any bitcoin transaction this should be stay anonymous and intracable. If this is right then wit should be generalized to all the blockchains in the network. I may understand it wrong so feel free to correct me. Thanks

[Bitcoinwinnin]

Are you talking about the actual physical coins?  I know people are trying to sell them right now online.

[valuto]

Yes, tainted coins will always be tainted. There isn’t quite a “serial number” per say, but because of the blockchain it’s possible to trace a coin all the way back to it’s creation. Any coins that were used in certain crimes or hacks become “tainted” and as a result they aren’t accepted by most of the community.

I know that "inputs and outputs" are traceable but what I mean is that let say I receive 0.1 bitcoin from 10 person and one of it is problematic. Then I send 1 bitcoin to someone else. Then that person sends 1 bitcoin to yet another person. Can that third person know that 0.1 of the bitcoin she received is problematic ?

[BitMaxz]

Yes, tainted coins will always be tainted. There isn’t quite a “serial number” per say, but because of the blockchain it’s possible to trace a coin all the way back to it’s creation. Any coins that were used in certain crimes or hacks become “tainted” and as a result they aren’t accepted by most of the community.

But i think this is against one of the fundamentals in bitcoin vision which is the anonymity so whatever the goals of any bitcoin transaction this should be stay anonymous and intracable. If this is right then wit should be generalized to all the blockchains in the network. I may understand it wrong so feel free to correct me. Thanks

That is why there are still bitcoin mixer if you are afraid about your bitcoin that use from crime or black market they can use  bitcoin mixer to receive a clean bitcoin.
I just heard that bitcoin is untraceable but other people saying its traceable if your transaction are connected sample in black market address you will be affected.. and if you are using web wallet they can verify who are using that address. I don't know for those who are using electrum wallet or any wallet without asking for your identity.
If you receive bitcoin from black market just a mixer to receive clean bitcoin..

[Coin-Keeper]

A good tumbler can completely take care of this problem.  There is no backwards trace to origin IF a well designed mixer is used, and especially if you double mix.  So in "black box" jargon as an example:  Your dirty 10 coins are sent inbound to a tumbler and then after use of multiple addresses with differently timed release cycles you get those coins back to your pre-specified and un-associated addresses (obviously different wallet completely).  Dozens or hundreds of users are sending coins in to the mixer at the same time making it pretty easy for you to individually drop off the radar.  Usually its about a 2% fee in BTC to make this happen.  For most users the tumbling/mixing of coins isn't ever used or needed per se.

Bitmaxz, you beat me to the punch, but I wanted to explain in slightly more depth.

[valuto]

Thank you for your reply.

I am not trying to find a way to "clean" my bitcoins, I don't have dirty ones (unless those I received are). But anyway, if there ever is a problem, I can prove I paid them with my money anyway....

No, my question is really about learning. I can't visualize how could it be possible to trace each satoshi is they don't have a kind of serial number ? The only way I can see it could be done if there are no serial number is by painfully digging the blockchain and trying to match the inputs and outputs and wallet addresses and time-stamps, and "build" the tree of connections. Which could take you years to compile... no ?

[mayo2u]

Thank you for your reply.

I am not trying to find a way to "clean" my bitcoins, I don't have dirty ones (unless those I received are). But anyway, if there ever is a problem, I can prove I paid them with my money anyway....

No, my question is really about learning. I can't visualize how could it be possible to trace each satoshi is they don't have a kind of serial number ? The only way I can see it could be done if there are no serial number is by painfully digging the blockchain and trying to match the inputs and outputs and wallet addresses and time-stamps, and "build" the tree of connections. Which could take you years to compile... no ?

How? The block chain is a public ledger. Every transaction is recorded and displayed. No serial number is needed.

A Bitcoin is created as a reward to the miner. At that point each and every transaction can be traced. 0.01 BTC was sent on this date/time to that wallet. Which inturn sent a portion to another wallet.

It would be a difficult chore for a human to trace this with pen and paper. But it's not difficult for computers.

As a matter of fact miners ensure there is no double spending by tracing the transaction history.

[odolvlobo]

I can't visualize how could it be possible to trace each satoshi is they don't have a kind of serial number ?

You can't trace bitcoins or satoshis (because there really aren't any), but you can trace transactions and addresses (usually).

For example,

If a 1 BTC transaction sending 0.5 BTC from addresses A and B to address X, then the bitcoins in X are 50% A and 50% B. If A and B both received 0.5 BTC each from addresses C and D, and E and F, respectively, then the bitcoins in X are 25% C, 25% D, 25% E, and 25% F. You can keep going until you reach the transactions that create the bitcoins.

That is the best you can do.