Hard Wallet Privacy

[gbr79a]

Considering privacy, is it better to send small amount of BTC to my hard wallet or there is no problem sending all my BTC at once?
I mean, if I send 5 BTC from 1000 diferent addresses to just one address in my Ladger Nano, it will be clear that all those adresses belongs now to just one person.
So, somebody could guess some of those addresses belongs to me, because let's say, I had some tip address in Youtube, therefore this bad guy could realize I consolidated my BTC on a Hardwallet, therefore he could want to kidnap me.
Am I right on this way of thinking?

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[mocacinno]

Considering privacy, is it better to send small amount of BTC to my hard wallet or there is no problem sending all my BTC at once?
I mean, if I send 5 BTC from 1000 diferent addresses to just one address in my Ladger Nano, it will be clear that all those adresses belongs now to just one person.
So, somebody could guess some of those addresses belongs to me, because let's say, I had some tip address in Youtube, therefore this bad guy could realize I consolidated my BTC on a Hardwallet, therefore he could want to kidnap me.
Am I right on this way of thinking?

You're right in this way of thinking. However, when funding several addresses on your new hardware wallet, your old wallet might use several unspent outputs to create a new transaction, and your old wallet might start creating change addresses. This way, all addresses of both your old and your new (hardware) wallet might get linked.

If you want to do this right, you'll have to start using coin control features, select which unspent outputs of your old wallet you want to spend and use them completely (without a change address). This way an attacker will know it's probably a transaction between your own wallets (due to the absence of a change address), but he won't be able to link the new addresses on your hardware wallet together (unless you start spending from your hardware wallet, in this case it to can select multiple unspent outputs and create change addresses).

This will only work if your old wallet has several addresses that are funded, but you never spent funds funding those addresses to begin with.

TL;DR; you are correct, but if you don't pay attention to which unspent outputs you use to fund wich addresses, things might still end up in a big, entangled mess

[GreatArkansas]

This is also applicable in all wallets, not only on hardware wallet.
Just what mocacinno said above.
As long as those bitcoin addresses  you have in your wallet has no connection to each other in transaction, like this x address and y address with different amount of Bitcoin will sent to another address, I don't really know what is called about that, it's something consolidating your bitcoin then send it to another address.

[Swordsoffreedom]

If you're really that paranoic and your youtube followers know your address (how else could someone kidnap you?) you can use mixing service for example the one in signature above.
You send bitcoins from donation address to mixing address and they will send almost the same amount to your hardware address. They will send from some random wallet, not the one that you send to. So no one can trace your donated bitcoins.

[Dabs]

I wouldn't worry too much about 5 BTC in one address. Or even 10 BTC in one address.

I would most likely separate my holdings, if I had that much, into 1 BTC portions, and it's not for privacy reasons. There are other people or entities that hold much more with no problems though.

[hatshepsut93]

You can try using this tool to develop better understanding of how addresses become linked together and check your own wallets: https://www.walletexplorer.com/

Your concern isn't specific to hardware wallets, it's the fundamental property of Bitcoin. Easiest and best solution is to use mixing services to avoid creating connection between your addresses. It's better to be safe than sorry, physical attacks on Bitcoin owners did happen in the past.

[blueteam09]

Considering privacy, is it better to send small amount of BTC to my hard wallet or there is no problem sending all my BTC at once?
I mean, if I send 5 BTC from 1000 diferent addresses to just one address in my Ladger Nano, it will be clear that all those adresses belongs now to just one person.
So, somebody could guess some of those addresses belongs to me, because let's say, I had some tip address in Youtube, therefore this bad guy could realize I consolidated my BTC on a Hardwallet, therefore he could want to kidnap me.
Am I right on this way of thinking?

adresse is random, and nobody can tell what is who's, if you stupid enough to tell them.
and private key is not easy to remember too, if they dare to kidnap you just because know you have bitcoin, so what happen to people with big money in the bank, so don't worry about it

[Kprawn]

Why do you not use a web wallet for the receiving address and then before you transfer it to your hardware wallet, you just use a mixer service to

destroy all links between your Youtube account and your hardware wallet. It would be the best option to accumulate a lot of donations or payments

in the web wallet before you push it through the Mixer service, because you want to keep the fees paid for the mixing to a minimum. I regularly do

that with coins I have to send to an exchange, because the KYC/AML regulations with these exchanges will also leave a tx history back to the

source.   

[Krislaw]

Best is to use mixing service or use web wallet like coinbase, bitpay and others before sending it to the mixing service.
BTW, you shouldn't be really disturbed about someone kidnapping you because you won't air your address on your YouTube channel. There are many donators on YouTube that never had any problem with security and privacy.

[bbc.reporter]

@gbr79a. If you are extremely scared for your safety and privacy, you should use a Monero donation address. You can use xmr.to to purchase something in bitcoin.

Also, do not listen to anyone who tells you to use webwallets.

[DreamStage]

As it was already mentioned i also concur with using mixer service for multiple transactions and harder addresses verification.
Also Coinbase or other exchange that provides you such variety of addresses will help you out on this situation.

Nevertheless a hard wallet is safe as it sounds, hard to crack, hard to pirate.

[aardvark15]

Considering privacy, is it better to send small amount of BTC to my hard wallet or there is no problem sending all my BTC at once?
I mean, if I send 5 BTC from 1000 diferent addresses to just one address in my Ladger Nano, it will be clear that all those adresses belongs now to just one person.
So, somebody could guess some of those addresses belongs to me, because let's say, I had some tip address in Youtube, therefore this bad guy could realize I consolidated my BTC on a Hardwallet, therefore he could want to kidnap me.
Am I right on this way of thinking?

Yes someone could trace that wallet back to you theoretically, although they may not know if it’s your wallet or you paid someone.  This is why Bitcoin is not completely anonymous. It is anonymous until you make a transaction to a vendor or account that has your personal info attached to it. At some point, the governments will have compiled lists of wallets connected to people.

[pooya87]

I mean, if I send 5 BTC from 1000 diferent addresses to just one address in my Ladger Nano, it will be clear that all those adresses belongs now to just one person.

it depends on what the source of those 1000 addresses/inputs are!
for example if you bought bitcoin 1000 times from the same exchange but each time sent the coins to a different address, they are already linked in a bunch of different databases! so consolidating them into one transaction is the more reasonable option.
but if the source of each and every one of 1000 addresses are different and you are certain they can not be linked then consolidation will link them for the first time so it is not a good idea.
and also like always, in the end it will come down to whom you are trying to hide from? is it your wife or is it any random third party on the internet or is it the government? depending on your answer the chosen approach could be very different.

[hello_good_sir]

@gbr79a. If you are extremely scared for your safety and privacy, you should use a Monero donation address. You can use xmr.to to purchase something in bitcoin.

Facts. I know a bit of a privacy freak that only accepts payments via XMR, and then uses a mixer/exchange (I forgot which one) to then instantly transfer the amount into BTC, and then he sends it instantly to his cold storage.

I wouldn't be really scared about holding any amount below 10 BTC, especially if it's on a hardware wallet, just keep that safe and you should have no issues with hacks/privacy exploits in the future. If you still want to go through the hassle, mocacinno has a great post for you to follow.

[mobnepal]

Also Coinbase or other exchange that provides you such variety of addresses will help you out on this situation.

In no way coinbase or other centralized exchange will help you to remain anonymous as almost all of them will have enough information that may lead up someone knocking at your door also if you think about nunber of data breaches in those platforms risk of getting your privacy blown out is very high.

Possible solution include use of multiple instant exchange platform that doesnt ask for verfication and sending those exchanged alt (eth) to multiple addresses (created as paper wallet) than using dex platforms to gain wrapped btc than exchanging it for real btc before sending it to one address. Also never use same computer/browser/ip/network in all of this exchanges.

[pawanjain]

Yes you are right. You can try using mixers but then that's risky too if you deposit such a big amount.
Anything would be risky for such a big amount. Anyway, ultimately the amount will be in your hardware wallet and the transaction will be recorded on the blockchain.
So if it's a public blockchain like bitcoin has, then any person who has the whole blockchain's data in his PC would be able to track down addresses which has more number of bitcoins.
It's not so hard for a hacker to find out addresses with large number of bitcoins.
But I think you should yourself safe if none of your addresses reveal your identity.

[ragavancoin]

Yeah, as other members mentioned above Mixer Service is good for multiple transactions. Bitcoin is anonymous,

each and every single bitcoin transaction is actually  recorded in the Bitcoin ledger as well and it is visible publicly.
Whenever you either buy and transfer for other wallet or address. Whenever you transfer its completely visible and transparent.

This bitcoin Mixer Service allows you to send bitcoin from one address to many other  address at once itself. In just a single click.

[khaled0111]

You are right. By sending a single transaction with multiple inputs, anyone seeing this transaction on a blockchain explorer will know that those inputs belongs to the same wallet (yours).
However, by sending multiple transactions, you will have to pay much more for fees.
Some members suggested to use a mixer! I don't know how that would help as the transaction sent to the mixer can be used to link your different addresses to each other!

[bbc.reporter]

@gbr79a. If you are extremely scared for your safety and privacy, you should use a Monero donation address. You can use xmr.to to purchase something in bitcoin.

Facts. I know a bit of a privacy freak that only accepts payments via XMR, and then uses a mixer/exchange (I forgot which one) to then instantly transfer the amount into BTC, and then he sends it instantly to his cold storage.

I wouldn't be really scared about holding any amount below 10 BTC, especially if it's on a hardware wallet, just keep that safe and you should have no issues with hacks/privacy exploits in the future. If you still want to go through the hassle, mocacinno has a great post for you to follow.

That would be the user's risk if he trusts the exchange or the mixer. Be careful, however. If intelligence agencies can control some exchanges, it can also control some bitcoin mixers.

[javainn]

if it's only 5 btc it probably won't be a problem and it won't do any harm. because of your BTC position you will store it in the hardware wallet so it is not a problem and it will be safer.