How 'Anonymous' is Bitcoin?

[spyro]

We all know it's not anonymous, but curious to hear opinions from the experts around BCT.

What steps need to be taken to make it anonymous?

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[raskul]

i'd like to know how you are going to get a custom designed tor-qt!!!???

not happening mate.

[halcyon]

For instance, would running behind Tor protect me?

use some Coinjoin service... many of them around

[Altoidnerd]

For instance, would running behind Tor protect me?

Ask Ross Ulbricht what he thinks.

[Foxpup]

Not entirely. Tor will hide your IP address, but not your Bitcoin address(es). Anyone who knows one of your Bitcoin addresses (eg, because they paid you, or you paid them) can see all past and future transactions involving that address (though they won't necessarily know what those transactions are for), and may provide that information to the authorities. Using a new address for each time your receive coins will reduce the number of transactions you can linked to, and you can use mixing services to further conceal the true origin of your transactions, though the fact the you used a mixing service may still be evident, even if nobody can tell where your mixed coins went.

i'd like to know how you are going to get a custom designed tor-qt!!!???

not happening mate.

What are you talking about? Bitcoin-Qt has Tor support built in. If you're looking for a GUI for Tor itself that uses Qt, I suggest Vidalia.

[empoweoqwj]

Bitcoin is not anonymous, was never designed to be. Just the owners of Silk Road had to persuade it was so they could sell their "wares" to people, and those people thought they were safe. Very funny DPR. The joke is on you now.

[raskul]

Bitcoin is not anonymous, was never designed to be. Just the owners of Silk Road had to persuade it was so they could sell their "wares" to people, and those people thought they were safe. Very funny DPR. The joke is on you now.

^THIS
I feel self regulation is the only way a currency can work properly.

[spyro]

Some very interesting thoughts here. Opened my mind up a little.

[genjix]

With stealth and CoinJoin, Bitcoin is basically anonymous. These concepts are workable and will soon be delivered.

https://wiki.unsystem.net/index.php/DarkWallet/Stealth

CoinJoin is already working since ages in all different ways and through tor too. You can use stealth using SX (command line tools): https://wiki.unsystem.net/index.php/Sx/Stealth

These tools are not yet readily available for the common user but they will be.

Together with other new emerging innovations, we will have decentralised uncensored crypto markets within this year.

[CryptoHits]

It is my understanding that any bitcoin address inside of one wallet can eventually be associated with any other addresses when coins are sent.

That said. If you take coins from wallet A and send them to almost any service that sents out payments in bulk for withdraw requests, this effectively anonymizes your coins in most cases. At this point all you need to do is withdraw to a wallet (Wallet B if you will) seperate from your original one and the coins should have few ties to the original.

Unless you tell someone or advertise or are found in possession of the private keys controlling a wallet there is no way to conclusively prove any particular individual owns any particular said address. Sending someone coins is effectively telling them you own that address.

[halcyon]

It is my understanding that any bitcoin address inside of one wallet can eventually be associated with any other addresses when coins are sent.

I don´t think this is true. How do you think you would be able to link one address of a wallet to another address of the wallet 

[reymarkperry]

It’s anonymous because no one controls it. It is not regulated by the bank or government, so it is anonymously circulating in the market.

[hostmaster]

  It's anoymous because you dont have to give your NAME or email on transactions...

[Zarathustra]

If you know how to use Gold 1.0/Gold 2.0 anonymously, it is anonymous. If you don't know, it is not.

[spyro]

Gold? is that a private tor like software?

[DannyHamilton]

It is my understanding that any bitcoin address inside of one wallet can eventually be associated with any other addresses when coins are sent.

I don´t think this is true. How do you think you would be able to link one address of a wallet to another address of the wallet 

It depends on the wallet you are using.  Here's an example with the Bitcoin-Qt wallet:

Imagine you create a brand new wallet.  Then you create 2 addresses in the wallet (address A and address B).  Next you receive 1 BTC at address A, and then receive another 1 BTC at address B.

Now, if you want to send 1.2 BTC from this wallet to somewhere, the wallet will create a transaction that spends both the output that was sent to address A and the address that was sent to address B.  Both of these outputs will appear as inputs in the same transaction.  Then the wallet will create an output sending 1.2 BTC to your intended recipient as well as a second output sending 0.8 BTC (less any transaction fee you might be paying) back to a brand new address that your wallet creates for you and keeps hidden (the new bitcoin address is kept hidden, not the 0.8 bitcoins) from you.  Finally the wallet will provide 2 signature using the private keys from both you address A and your address B.

Since a single transaction has signatures from both address A and address B, it can be inferred that a single entity very likely has control of both addresses.  The addresses are therefore "linked together".

[freebit13]

It’s anonymous because no one controls it. It is not regulated by the bank or government, so it is anonymously circulating in the market.

No, it is pseudonymous, the blockchain and ALL transactions are public, any address ever used is public, there's no way to hide that, it's about whether you can be connected to the address or transactions that counts...

[halcyon]

It is my understanding that any bitcoin address inside of one wallet can eventually be associated with any other addresses when coins are sent.

I don´t think this is true. How do you think you would be able to link one address of a wallet to another address of the wallet 

It depends on the wallet you are using.  Here's an example with the Bitcoin-Qt wallet:

Imagine you create a brand new wallet.  Then you create 2 addresses in the wallet (address A and address B).  Next you receive 1 BTC at address A, and then receive another 1 BTC at address B.

Now, if you want to send 1.2 BTC from this wallet to somewhere, the wallet will create a transaction that spends both the output that was sent to address A and the address that was sent to address B.  Both of these outputs will appear as inputs in the same transaction.  Then the wallet will create an output sending 1.2 BTC to your intended recipient as well as a second output sending 0.8 BTC (less any transaction fee you might be paying) back to a brand new address that your wallet creates for you and keeps hidden (the new bitcoin address is kept hidden, not the 0.8 bitcoins) from you.  Finally the wallet will provide 2 signature using the private keys from both you address A and your address B.

Since a single transaction has signatures from both address A and address B, it can be inferred that a single entity very likely has control of both addresses.  The addresses are therefore "linked together".

very good explanation. Do I also have the same "problem" when I use e.g. Electrum or some other client?

[spyro]

Thank you DannyHamilton. You pretty much hit the nail on the head.

[bittyweb]

Dany Hamilton answered perfectly for this question.

But the answer is, Bitcoin is anonymous since you dont need to give any personal info.