Is Bitcoin really anonymous?

[zeus376]

I am a bit confused here, since the blockchain of the Bitcoin is public, anyone can get the complete transactions of the Bitcoin. If someone knows your wallet address, he can look all the transactions you made and where your Bitcoins flow to.

It won't be difficult to write an analysis software, to find out the links among wallets, and the usage of bitcoins. So from this sense, there's no real anonymity with Bitcoin. Do I miss something there?

[Fiyasko]

I am a bit confused here, since the blockchain of the Bitcoin is public, anyone can get the complete transactions of the Bitcoin. If someone knows your wallet address, he can look all the transactions you made and where your Bitcoins flow to.

It won't be difficult to write an analysis software, to find out the links among wallets, and the usage of bitcoins. So from this sense, there's no real anonymity with Bitcoin. Do I miss something there?

Try to tie the bitcoin address to a person. Thats the hard part.
Yes, their is definitly a "paper trail" but not much more than that.

[Kluge]

If someone told you Bitcoin is anonymous, please punch them in the teeth for us. Bitcoin is, at best, pseudonymous. Analysis software, however, won't help a snoop if the Bitcoins are laundered properly. In proper laundering you get many other peoples' coins sent to fresh addresses presumably not linked to your legal identity. Someone could probably tell it was laundered, but have great difficulty trying to figure out where "your" coins went (if even possible).

[DannyHamilton]

Bitcoin is not anonymous automatically.

Bitcoin can be used in an anonymous way, but it takes a lot of effort and knowledge.

Anonymity can mean different things to different people.  For "true anonymity"  it needs to be 100% impossible for ANYBODY to know that you even have any bitcoin.  This sort of anonymity isn't impossible with bitcoin, but it certainly isn't easy.  In most cases the person or business that sells you the bitcoin has some sort of identifying information about you (Name or userID on some website at a minimum) and the person or business that accepts bitcoin from you frequently has some sort of identifying information about you as well (mailing address, physical description, etc).

The average bitcoin user gives up a lot of anonymity without even realizing it.

[Buffer Overflow]

Bitcoin can be anonymous, but you have to put the effort in.

[User705]

If you go to a store and pay with cash are you anonymous?  If go deposit cash to you bank account are you anonymous?  If you mailed someone some cash are you anonymous?  So just like with cash the level of anonymity is up to you and none of it is 100% since by definition a transaction takes two parties and the other party must know something about you even if it's just your bitcoin address.

[favdesu]

you could use the shared feature form blockchain.info or inputs.io to hide your transactions. probably the easiest way to ensure a higher anonymity

[crazynoggin]

Yea, while you may be able to track where the money went, unless you see an address that belongs to a company that could give the ip of the person using their services, there is no way to connect a transaction with a person. Even then, that person might be using something like Tor which would make it very unlikely you  would ever be able to know who a person was.

[DeathProxy]

Bitcoin could be anonymous if you know what are you doing. Like using a mixer and other things I cannot disclose here.

[hulk]

I am a bit confused here, since the blockchain of the Bitcoin is public, anyone can get the complete transactions of the Bitcoin. If someone knows your wallet address, he can look all the transactions you made and where your Bitcoins flow to.

It won't be difficult to write an analysis software, to find out the links among wallets, and the usage of bitcoins. So from this sense, there's no real anonymity with Bitcoin. Do I miss something there?

That is why I create lots of lots of bitcoin address, one for real life, one for bitcoin forum and etc. This way I can reduce the expose

[DannyHamilton]

That is why I create lots of lots of bitcoin address, one for real life, one for bitcoin forum and etc. This way I can reduce the expose

This is one of the reasons why I use a new address for EVERY TRANSACTION I receive and I NEVER RE-USE an address I've used in the past.

[dianemajor]

That is why I create lots of lots of bitcoin address, one for real life, one for bitcoin forum and etc. This way I can reduce the expose

This is one of the reasons why I use a new address for EVERY TRANSACTION I receive and I NEVER RE-USE an address I've used in the past.

Best idea

[MargaretsDream]

That is why I create lots of lots of bitcoin address, one for real life, one for bitcoin forum and etc. This way I can reduce the expose

This is one of the reasons why I use a new address for EVERY TRANSACTION I receive and I NEVER RE-USE an address I've used in the past.

But only if you care about anonymity, otherwise it seems bit administrative complicated 

[DannyHamilton]

That is why I create lots of lots of bitcoin address, one for real life, one for bitcoin forum and etc. This way I can reduce the expose

This is one of the reasons why I use a new address for EVERY TRANSACTION I receive and I NEVER RE-USE an address I've used in the past.

But only if you care about anonymity, otherwise it seems bit administrative complicated 

There are more reasons for the practice than just anonymity.  For example, it also improves security, making it more difficult for a thief/hacker to determine your private key.

Regardless, I don't find it administratively complicated at all.  As a matter of fact, I find it more administratively simple.  I can identify exactly where each and every transaction that I've received came from and what it's for, because I know that it came from the person that I gave the address to for the reason that I gave them that address.

Need to receive bitcoins?  Simple.

• Click the new address button
• Give the resulting address to the payer

[faiza1990]

That is why I create lots of lots of bitcoin address, one for real life, one for bitcoin forum and etc. This way I can reduce the expose

This is one of the reasons why I use a new address for EVERY TRANSACTION I receive and I NEVER RE-USE an address I've used in the past.

Best idea

I also like this with this we can hide our all transactions and its very difficult for others to check all transactions of address holder

[Victorinox]

Is it anonymous? Well, depends on who you're talkin bout. Big brother can do pretty much anything they want and nothing will save you from that. 

[edd]

That is why I create lots of lots of bitcoin address, one for real life, one for bitcoin forum and etc. This way I can reduce the expose

This is one of the reasons why I use a new address for EVERY TRANSACTION I receive and I NEVER RE-USE an address I've used in the past.

But only if you care about anonymity, otherwise it seems bit administrative complicated 

There are more reasons for the practice than just anonymity.  For example, it also improves security, making it more difficult for a thief/hacker to determine your private key.

Regardless, I don't find it administratively complicated at all.  As a matter of fact, I find it more administratively simple.  I can identify exactly where each and every transaction that I've received came from and what it's for, because I know that it came from the person that I gave the address to for the reason that I gave them that address.

Need to receive bitcoins?  Simple.

• Click the new address button
• Give the resulting address to the payer

Using a new bitcoin address for every transaction simplifies things greatly for me. I've teamed up with others for many projects, some big(ish), some small. If there's ever any question about a specific payment or movement of funds, being able to look up the receiving address and see only one transaction eliminates almost all doubt and confusion about it; it becomes very obvious who sent what to whom when.


Back to the OP:

Is Bitcoin really anonymous? The Bitcoin protocol itself does not need you to identify yourself in any way. Once you send or receive any bitcoins, however, it is very difficult to not reveal something about yourself due to the nature of most business transactions.

[bitcoin44me]

Is it anonymous? Well, depends on who you're talkin bout. Big brother can do pretty much anything they want and nothing will save you from that. 

You can always use TOR, or a proxy, and hide what you do. Even in China

[operrajunk74]

Is it anonymous? Well, depends on who you're talkin bout. Big brother can do pretty much anything they want and nothing will save you from that. 

You can always use TOR, or a proxy, and hide what you do. Even in China

Big brother is powerfull and TOR will not save you. All your ISP logs, including every packet is shared with big brother. Beat that!

[User705]

Free wifi is everywhere.  Use it.