Announcing Bob Wallet, a trustless privacy tool

[BobWallet]

The methods used in Bob Wallet date back to 2013 started by Gregory Maxwell in the thread here:

CoinJoin: Bitcoin privacy for the real world
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=279249.0

Bob Wallet securely connects you with many other users to create a single transaction called a CoinJoin. Bob Wallet will create you two wallets: Public and Private. You will deposit Bitcoin to the Public Wallet and Bob Wallet will automatically send it to your Private Wallet. By joining a combined transaction with as many people as possible it ensures the privacy of your Bitcoins in your Private Wallet.

I believe this is the *easiest* working implementation of trustless CoinJoin so far. You are able to run Bob Wallet from your Tor Browser and it doesn't have to wait and sync anything to get started. You simply just send Bitcoin to your Public Wallet address and it securely moving it to your Private Wallet.

- Runs in your Tor Browser for ease of use and cross platform
- No long sync times needed (Relies on the server to get utxo info)
- Never checks your Private Wallet address balances so they can not be linked with your Public Wallet

A use case for this software would be if you want to move your Bitcoin to a cold storage hardware wallet. You create a new Public Wallet, enter in the Public Master Key of your hardware wallet, send Bitcoin to your Public Wallet, and then let Bob Wallet automatically move them to your Private Wallet.

Feedback and questions are welcome!

Source Code: https://github.com/bobwallet/bobwallet

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[BobWallet]

Reserved

[SFR10]

Feedback and questions are welcome!

Any significant advantage for using this, instead of using mixing services (ex. The brand that I'm promoting on my signature space)?

[BobWallet]

Feedback and questions are welcome!

Any significant advantage for using this, instead of using mixing services (ex. The brand that I'm promoting on my signature space)?

Yes you are trusting that service to not steal your Bitcoin or keep logs of your information. With Bob Wallet you never trust anyone with your Bitcoin and your private wallet addresses can not be associated with their public wallet addresses.

From their FAQ page:

Do you know withdrawn private key?

Sadly, yes, we have created them and as long as two people knows private key, either of them can move funds

How long do you keep logs?

Your session lasts for 7 days.

1. I don't understand why we need to send our bitcoin to Public Wallet in your wallet, can't we simply give info such as UXTO/input(s) and output(s), then you give the unsigned transaction, we sign it with our private key then give the signed transaction to the server? Is it because "Chaum's Blind Signatures"?

We are going for the easiest user experience possible and making one transaction to your Public Wallet is the most straightforward. You can use your Mnemonic seed from a previous wallet if you don't want to make that extra transaction but it's more complicated.

2. README.md in GitHub page mention that "Not even the server can figure out which Private Wallet address is yours.", Is it also possible because "Chaum's Blind Signatures"?

Yes. You can read about how that works here: https://github.com/BobWallet/BobWallet/blob/master/docs/blindlink.md

3. Are there any fees for using this service, since other CoinJoin/similar services charge some fee?

There are no fees to anyone other than the standard Bitcoin miner fees for every transaction round you participate in.

[Kakmakr]

Feedback and questions are welcome!

Any significant advantage for using this, instead of using mixing services (ex. The brand that I'm promoting on my signature space)?

Yes you are trusting that service to not steal your Bitcoin or keep logs of your information. With Bob Wallet you never trust anyone with your Bitcoin and your private wallet addresses can not be associated with their public wallet addresses.

From their FAQ page:

Do you know withdrawn private key?

Sadly, yes, we have created them and as long as two people knows private key, either of them can move funds

How long do you keep logs?

Your session lasts for 7 days.

1. I don't understand why we need to send our bitcoin to Public Wallet in your wallet, can't we simply give info such as UXTO/input(s) and output(s), then you give the unsigned transaction, we sign it with our private key then give the signed transaction to the server? Is it because "Chaum's Blind Signatures"?

We are going for the easiest user experience possible and making one transaction to your Public Wallet is the most straightforward. You can use your Mnemonic seed from a previous wallet if you don't want to make that extra transaction but it's more complicated.

2. README.md in GitHub page mention that "Not even the server can figure out which Private Wallet address is yours.", Is it also possible because "Chaum's Blind Signatures"?

Yes. You can read about how that works here: https://github.com/BobWallet/BobWallet/blob/master/docs/blindlink.md

3. Are there any fees for using this service, since other CoinJoin/similar services charge some fee?

There are no fees to anyone other than the standard Bitcoin miner fees for every transaction round you participate in.

I might be missing the point here, but how are you not trusting a third party, if Bob wallet is the service that are redirecting your coins? For them to do that, they will have to handle the coins that are being forwarded to the next address.

How is this different than me creating several wallets on different platforms <gambling sites> and moving the coins around?

[mattcode]

Never though i would see a wallet/service use CoinJoin feature

Didn't the blockchain.info wallet have a 'shared coin' feature that worked like CoinJoin?

[morninguser]

Hello,

I sent 2 days ago some BTC to Bob Wallet to the Public address listed, and nothing happens by now (48 hours passed). Will just show me "Connecting" and nothing shows up in the History or Send tabs.

I used the "Mainnet" option for BTC.

I was looking all over for a way to contact someone at Bob Wallet, with no success.

Would you please offer me assistance, in order to complete the process or to get the BTC back?

Thank you

[Lucius]

morninguser, as far as I can see this project is dead and has never moved out of the test phase. The latest version on GitHub was published 2 years ago, and the official site is down. All other contacts that exist for this wallet have ceased to be active in 2018, so I do not see who could help you...

[plr]

morninguser, as far as I can see this project is dead and has never moved out of the test phase. The latest version on GitHub was published 2 years ago, and the official site is down. All other contacts that exist for this wallet have ceased to be active in 2018, so I do not see who could help you...

It's hard to understand why he did not check the status of the wallet before using it, it's the first time I read about that wallet if there was no update for two years it's pretty obvious that the dev is not active anymore on promoting or working on the project, it's using it at your own risk, it's a lesson for people to always check the status before using.

[windlereveT]

Are there any fees for using this service and is it reliable to use?