Bitcoin mixers

[Lionel]

How do mixers work and how can they provide untraceability of transactions?
I'm curious about it because i'd like to provide a similar service


As far as i know they are middle-man wallets where outbound transactions are performed only when there are many to be done at the same time and at different addresses, otherwise the mixers just waits.

Maybe because if you, Alice, send 5 BTC to Bob through the mixer Mallory, and Mallory just redirects the 5 BTC to Bob as soon as it gets them, it is obvious that "Alice sent 5 BTC to Bob" isn't it?

But it's not enough: even if it waits until many outbound transaction have to be done, there are still those 2 5BTC transactions that have the exact same amount...what a coincidence.
It is almost obvious that those 5BTC from Alice were intended to be sent to Bob......

i'm missing something here, how do they solve that issue?

Perhaps the mixer is not a wallet but a group of several wallets (100 or 1000+??) that

1- split the incoming amount between them
2- each of them sends BTC to Bob a little at a time, while sending BTC to other several thousands destination addresses at the same time

In this way an analyst will have an hard time to track hunderds/thousands of transactions and sum them toghether, or maybe he does not know all the wallets that belong to the mixer.

[Kazimir]

Mallory has 1000 BTC, either from freshly mined coins or from other sources or whatever.

Instead of Alice sending 5 BTC to Bob, Alice sends 5.01 BTC to Mallory (to a newly designated address), and Mallory sends 5 BTC (from one of her previously mined or otherwise obtained coins) to Bob.

Hence there is NO trail, neither direct nor indirect, from Alice to Bob.

[worldtreasurefinders]

Mixers are really not needed anymore. If you want to mix your coins, simply register with any exchange, send your coins to them, create a new wallet, and withdraw your coins from the exchange to that wallet. Bam! Your coins are now untraceable.

[go1111111]

Mixers are really not needed anymore. If you want to mix your coins, simply register with any exchange, send your coins to them, create a new wallet, and withdraw your coins from the exchange to that wallet. Bam! Your coins are now untraceable.

Unless your exchange knows who you are. Then authorities could pressure the exchange into giving them records of your transactions.

[cryptocleaner]

New mixer without any fee: http://cryptocleaner.com/
Generated transactions allowed.

[bryant.coleman]

Mixers are really not needed anymore. If you want to mix your coins, simply register with any exchange, send your coins to them, create a new wallet, and withdraw your coins from the exchange to that wallet. Bam! Your coins are now untraceable.

I don't think this will work. The exchanges maintain logs. If you are sending dirty BTCs to the exchange, then they will be easily recognized.

[vadoff]

Even if you cleaned the coins, how would you convert it back to USD/Euros/other fiat currency? Wouldn't it be just as obvious if you're extracting money from a currency?

[worldtreasurefinders]

Mixers are really not needed anymore. If you want to mix your coins, simply register with any exchange, send your coins to them, create a new wallet, and withdraw your coins from the exchange to that wallet. Bam! Your coins are now untraceable.

Unless your exchange knows who you are. Then authorities could pressure the exchange into giving them records of your transactions.

1. There are plenty of exchanges where all you need to register is a username, email and password.  Use an anonymous email account & password, and there is no way to trace who you really are.

2. Even if you register your real name, address, phone number, etc. with an exchange, why can't you send them overseas to a foreign exchange, where your local "authorities" have no jurisdiction?

I really don't think it's as hard as people think to anonymize your coins.

[go1111111]

2. Even if you register your real name, address, phone number, etc. with an exchange, why can't you send them overseas to a foreign exchange, where your local "authorities" have no jurisdiction?

If you're trying to evade the US government, and they care enough, it will be hard. They have a lot of influence. They can pressure other governments to do things. If Ross Ulbricht had mixed his coins using Bitstamp, do you think the US government would have given up?

If you are trying to evade a government without a lot of influence, or are only mixing small amounts of coins, then maybe using an exchange that requires ID is good enough.

Exchanges that don't require any ID should be safer, but if they keep logs of their incoming and outgoing transactions and associate them with an account, then you could still be traced if your government pressured them into revealing the logs.

[BadBear]

Mixers are really not needed anymore. If you want to mix your coins, simply register with any exchange, send your coins to them, create a new wallet, and withdraw your coins from the exchange to that wallet. Bam! Your coins are now untraceable.

As was mentioned, depends on who's doing the looking. joe Schmoe tracking using the blockchain? Yeah, that works. Someone who can look at records from the exchange? Won't work.

[Upgrade00]

If you send btc to me directly and i have an unregisterd wallet, they will not know who i am unless my wallet gives out my ip. Use a good vpn like mullvad also.

Afaik, wallets do not store the IP information of your transactions (except probably it's not open source or is custodian). Transaction information are visible to the nodes which receive the broadcasted tx and they are the ones that can trace the IP related to it.
Using VPN services sounds secure, but it actually isn't especially for Bitcoin transactions. The protect you from someone looking in from the outside, but the VPN already has your details and most of them keep logs even if they say they do not.
For privacy;
• Run your full node, and
• Use TOR
• Use mixers or coinjoin services.

Use mixers or exchange btc to someone "offline".

If you're going to do this, make sure you adhere to safety procedures or do not do it at all without sufficient means. There are a number of peer to peer networks which can connect buyers and sellers, securely.
Always do your own research.

[pixie85]

Mixers are really not needed anymore. If you want to mix your coins, simply register with any exchange, send your coins to them, create a new wallet, and withdraw your coins from the exchange to that wallet. Bam! Your coins are now untraceable.

Unless your exchange knows who you are. Then authorities could pressure the exchange into giving them records of your transactions.

That's right. Your coins become mixed on exchange addresses in the way that some other anonymous person will not know who you are but the authorities will.

Say you have a number of incomes like a bitcoin forum campaign, altcoin bounty campaigns, gambling. You don't want other parties to know that you're gambling, selling nudes for bitcoin, bounty hunting, so you move all that money through a number of addresses on the same exchange under one account.

That won't help you when it comes to taxes though, while a mixer will.

[Kupid002]

Mixers are really not needed anymore. If you want to mix your coins, simply register with any exchange, send your coins to them, create a new wallet, and withdraw your coins from the exchange to that wallet. Bam! Your coins are now untraceable.

Unless your exchange knows who you are. Then authorities could pressure the exchange into giving them records of your transactions.

If it's from illegal activity then they can easily track your address and block your transaction or your account in that exchange if they have proof for that. Not safe way to mix your coins but if you are not doing anything bad with your money then exchange will be enough for example it is just came from gbling which other wallet have restrictions and policy for the balance came from gambling site then sending to exchange will be enough to removed the records .

[BayAreaCoins]

Mixers are really not needed anymore. If you want to mix your coins, simply register with any exchange, send your coins to them, create a new wallet, and withdraw your coins from the exchange to that wallet. Bam! Your coins are now untraceable.

This is a bad idea and not accurate.

[Poker Player]

Mixers are really not needed anymore. If you want to mix your coins, simply register with any exchange, send your coins to them, create a new wallet, and withdraw your coins from the exchange to that wallet. Bam! Your coins are now untraceable.

Unless your exchange knows who you are. Then authorities could pressure the exchange into giving them records of your transactions.

1. There are plenty of exchanges where all you need to register is a username, email and password.  Use an anonymous email account & password, and there is no way to trace who you really are.

2. Even if you register your real name, address, phone number, etc. with an exchange, why can't you send them overseas to a foreign exchange, where your local "authorities" have no jurisdiction?

I really don't think it's as hard as people think to anonymize your coins.

Wouldn't it be better to do it using a crypto casino instead of an exchange? I've always thought that the moment you deposit your coins get mixed so it would do a similar function to mixers. Most crypto casinos are non-kyc.

[3meek]

Mixers are really not needed anymore. If you want to mix your coins, simply register with any exchange, send your coins to them, create a new wallet, and withdraw your coins from the exchange to that wallet. Bam! Your coins are now untraceable.

If we act on the plan proposed by you, it is better to buy XMR to transfer between exchanges... In case of BTC they can trace you anyway... And if you made suspicious purchases in Darknet, then exchanges at least can block your funds...