How can a goverment trace you have BTC?

[Rana590]

As bitcoin is a decentralized method, it is not easy work for government to track identity. It is really difficult for the government to track anyone who using btc without giving proper information.

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[vnck25]

If you buy and sell Bitcoins from a person there is no way for ANYBODY to track it. If you can ask for cash when selling and pay in cash when buying that would make thing perfect, no trace what so ever that you made a transaction! Bitcoin transactions via the blockchain is 100% anonymous, so there's no way to track that its you who are move them everywhere. The one place that people can know that its you is if you buy/sell BTC or to that matter any other crypto via an exchange ( eg: Coinbase ).  Hope this helps! 

[jhonnydeep87]

Exchange now every day requires veriication of your information data for you to exchange bitcoin through fiat. The government can also use IP addresses to track you. When you can use decentralized exchanges to avoid them. I myself do not use any of it. You can also use something like TOR to hide your real IP address. You do not have to worry about not easily tracking you as long as you can hide your identity from an exchange that requires verification.

[Ishiro5]

I doubt this is really possible or practicable. For the purpose of investigating a crime, that may be reasonably feasible but not to monitor transactions for the general public.

[bitctrimor1]

How can the government discover I own BTC, let's say I'm from Venezuela where crypto is banned, what they can do to discover and arrest me?

At the moment, I don't think that a government is concerned with that, but I would say this, if a government really wants to do that, I would say that they have such capacity to do so. The government holds the most people in one country, including the capacity to use any technology they desire to better their interests even if its means invading one's privacy and looking into his dealings, including his cryptocurrency dealings, most especially if you are in technologically advanced countries like the USA or China.

[Brookie]

Probably, it depends on the governments who want to find bitcoin users who are already if bitcoin is banned in the country. You should be careful with transactions made using bitcoins.

[fernandoaleixo]

I've seen a lot of mixed opinions whether the government can or not track my transactions, so let's say unless you make really big deals in a country like Venezuela you won't need to worry, right?

[fernandoaleixo]

How can the government discover I own BTC, let's say I'm from Venezuela where crypto is banned, what they can do to discover and arrest me?

You should avoid reusing addresses. You should also be careful to use coin control: remember that signing transactions with outputs from multiple addresses associates all those addresses together.

You should always use IP address obfuscation when broadcasting transactions to the network. You can push raw transactions over TOR using a push service like https://blockchain.info/pushtx or you can connect to the network through a good VPN.

Bitcoin transactions are anonymous. As long as you don't reveal your identity, no one know you are a bitcoin holder.
For this purpose you have to buy bitcoin peer to peer from a person you trust. Never use exchanges that force you to verify your identity.

Bitcoin transactions are not anonymous. They are pseudonymous. Even if you never fully verify your identity with an exchange, things like IP addresses, cookies and PII like physical addresses (e.g. if you've bought an Amazon gift card with BTC and had something shipped to your home) can be used to identify you. Lots of PII gets leaked when dealing with third parties via web browser. And if blockchain analysis companies (working with governments) can identify one or two of your used addresses, clustering techniques may allow them to map much of your transaction history.

I see! Thanks for the info bro, and that leaves me with another question... What if I try to mask my IP? Is that possible? I'm worried about the people of small countries where BTC is banned but I wonder if the government also has the means to track you effectively (since they're really poor governments after all).

Be careful out there!

[HatakeKakashi]

It easy to track I think because of the IP address you used. Like if the account of your wallet also have your name and your idetification.
If you not do bad I don't think we scared to the government because bitcoin is a legit . If work with legit company and that is bitcoin.  But if you not submit any of your information maybe you will not be trace.

[joebrook]

How can the government discover I own BTC, let's say I'm from Venezuela where crypto is banned, what they can do to discover and arrest me?

Bitcoin transactions are anonymous. As long as you don't reveal your identity, no one know you are a bitcoin holder.
For this purpose you have to buy bitcoin peer to peer from a person you trust. Never use exchanges that force you to verify your identity.

Inspite of all these assumptions, there are still cases where bitcoins transactions has been tracked by law enforcement agencies like FBI and others and this goes on to show that it's really not that anonymous as we thought that it was and therefore can be traced.

[bitfocus]

Exchanges and KYC helps government to Trace you

[Thecryptocurrency09]

How can the government discover I own BTC, let's say I'm from Venezuela where crypto is banned, what they can do to discover and arrest me?

At first, I also taught that bitcoin was n metely fprmed anonymously. This b is how it is made and was made. Yet, as fast as technology evolve and innovate, so does organisation and/or people could great a way to track bitcoin users n

[squatter]

If you buy and sell Bitcoins from a person there is no way for ANYBODY to track it. If you can ask for cash when selling and pay in cash when buying that would make thing perfect, no trace what so ever that you made a transaction! Bitcoin transactions via the blockchain is 100% anonymous, so there's no way to track that its you who are move them everywhere.

This is the best way to retain privacy -- p2p trading with cash. Technically, it isn't anonymous since you still need to interface with the buyer/seller. He knows some things about you like Localbitcoins username, what you look like, maybe your phone number.

That's the only way I use Localbitcoins -- basically as classified ads. You won't pay escrow fees or deal with KYC that way.

The government can also use IP addresses to track you.

Use TOR for web browsing (including broadcasting raw transactions). You can also automatically route your internet connection through a good VPN like Private Internet Access.

I doubt this is really possible or practicable. For the purpose of investigating a crime, that may be reasonably feasible but not to monitor transactions for the general public.

Indeed. But let's think about that.

When you interface with the internet, web sites, merchants and third party payment processors, you leave behind an abundance of data. Cookies, IP addresses, email addresses, usernames, wallet public keys/addresses (as with lightweight wallets), browser and OS information, etc. Much of that data will be stored, somewhere, in a database.

And one day, when the police/government are investigating you, that information might become accessible to them. That may not matter, depending on what you are hiding (or not hiding). But due to the public nature of the blockchain, if they can tie some transactions to you, they may be able to discover much more about your historical activities and financial holdings.

Maybe this possibility is remote; maybe I am paranoid. But I think we all ought to be thinking about this shit now, before governments and blockchain analysis companies develop more sophisticated surveillance systems.

[Noli151821]

Of course they cannot as long as you don't reveal it by you own.

[bayu7adi]

it all depends on your privacy
what data do you share on the internet?
the digital world has a treasure, called DATA, where every information, is very valuable and can be used for various purposes

[chel0]

Since bitcoin transactions is done in a peer-to-peer network, I think government won't be able to trace if you have bitcoins unless you yourself or somebody tells them that you have.

[bamboylee]

It will be very hard for them to know if you own bitcoin or not, unless you are announcing it to the world. Transactions are almost anonymous and hard to track. Avoid centralized exchange that requires KYC and you will be fine. Good luck to them tracking every address in the blockchain just to find you.

[brawdias]

Good question !!

 I think the transactions are encrypted and decentralized, but the cypto exchanges aren't. I believe they can trace when you convert to fiat money or when you spend it.

[Cheenguboc143]

if you know this is banned  in your area , seek and you really to look for ways to you not to trace by government, they can't easily know you there because your account is anonymous,  unless your neighbor or friends will tell others that your a member of it.  That's why if it is not OK in your country,just private your details about it.

[Jocuserious]

Absolutely have some ways to field search bitcoin users and got them.buy sell tracker in your country.2FA verification of your NIC card. exchange KYC verification.