Interesting article on Wired about matching Bitcoin transactions to real people

[lrowland21093]

Article link:
https://www.wired.com/story/bitcoin-drug-deals-silk-road-blockchain/

One of the techniques mentioned was looking through the vast BitcoinTalk threads and finding those with wallet addresses on their accounts.
While that address may not be the one doing the transaction, the two wallets could show links in the blockchain and have repeated small transactions as money is moved from one to another.  It seems like an interest case of analyzing an extended communication network to uncover patterns (some the folks at FBI and NSA do on a regular basis).

[junoreactor]

Not surprising, it is expected than more and more are switching to coins like Monero or Verge for real privacy.
With more and more regulations coming soon (probably in Europe), I don't think anyone can expect a future for bitcoin when privacy is concerned. Every transaction will need to be justified (probably saved somewhere). So bitcoin is becoming a "digital gold" for now.
On the other hand, if you have nothing to hide, then you can use bitcoin to buy things (we need more merchants to accept it and probably Lightning Network widely spread for that to become a reality).
And again, if you have nothing to hide, you'll need to pay your taxes on all profits you'll made if for example you trade with bitcoin, or earn bitcoin in signature campaigns or sports betting.

[lrowland21093]

I agree that really only those that are up to illegal activities have to be worried.  The techniques used to build up the networks from the blockchain itself were interesting to read about.  It makes you realize how connected everyone in the Bitcoin world really is - kind of like the Kevin Bacon game!

Of course, the tax issue is the other aspect.  While it is nice to think of bitcoin as anonymous, it really isn't when everything is so connected. 
I know I will be claiming my mined coin on my taxes this year since it is the first time it got big enough to require it!  It would help if the rules were clearer! 

[BTCforJoe]

That's the beauty of having a public ledger. You can track any payment and any transaction, which provides to complete transparency for the cryptocurrency as a whole. The downfall, if you want to call it that, is that your movements are also able to be tracked, and anyone can view your balance and transactions at any given time... BUT, times have changed so much for the Bitcoin industry since the Silk Road days. We now have easier access to utilize change addresses, which are wallets that will enable the use of multiple receiving addresses that all contribute to the same pool of coins on the users' ends. We could mix our coins using mixers to ensure that you have a fresh private key and bitcoin address which makes the tracking of inputs for your bitcoin virtually untraceable.

I feel like people who get caught for using Bitcoin for illegal activities, or even small discrepancies like having multiple accounts on bctalk for the sole purpose of gaming bounty campaigns, are idiots who understand absolutely nothing about privacy.