Why is bitcoin not anonymous?

[Kaidal]

If the creator of Bitcoin Satashi Nakamato created it as an anonymous currency, why does everyone say that it is not anonymous?

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[TrevorS]

FIRST

Its Satoshi Nakamoto, not Satashi Nakamata.


SECOND

You're wrong. The creator of Bitcoin Satoshi Nakamoto never said that Bitcoin is an anonymous currency.
That's what he says about privacy in  bitcoin's white paper:

The necessity to announce all transactions publiclyprecludes this method, but privacy can still be maintained by breaking the flow of information inanother place: by keeping public keys anonymous.  
The public can see that someone is sendingan amount to someone else, but without information linking the transaction to anyone.   This issimilar   to   the   level   of   information   released   by   stock   exchanges,   where   the   time   and   size   ofindividual trades, the "tape", is made public, but without telling who the parties were.

So long on the forum and do not know such simple things.  

[jackg]

I don't know if he intended bitcoin to be anything more than a proof of concept... On the point of privacy, I think there was a plan to make bitcoin anonymous with the hard forks that'll come with making the lightning network more secure... The lightning network also offers some anonymity compared with the regular blockchain however it isn't anywhere near fully anonymous (afaik evaluations of who gains and loses coins can be done for forensics etc).

[JeromeTash]

There was no point of making the blockchain and all the transactions in it public, yet they intended for the network to be "anonymous"
You can't be anonymous if using are using centralized exchanges which request for your documents for verification of KYC to buy and sell bitcoin.

Only you as a person will choose to determine the level of privacy you would want by avoiding KYC platforms, using Bitcoin Mixers, Using privacy based browsers like Tor etc. Bitcoin itself won't do that for you because the money trail is all public and it can all be traced up to you.

[Csmiami]

There was no point of making the blockchain and all the transactions in it public

Then how could you keep a record that every user has to check to know the balance of their own addresses? Maybe it's possible, but I can't think of a way to make something private in a decentralized network.

You can't be anonymous if using are using centralized exchanges which request for your documents for verification of KYC to buy and sell bitcoin.

Luckily, there are many more (and anonymous) ways of buying bitcoin. Exchanges are just a service; same than youtube, netflix or a bank. They are not something that comes with the network per se

[TrevorS]

You can't be anonymous if using are using centralized exchanges which request for your documents for verification of KYC to buy and sell bitcoin.

Luckily, there are many more (and anonymous) ways of buying bitcoin. Exchanges are just a service; same than youtube, netflix or a bank. They are not something that comes with the network per se

Nevertheless, the exchange (third party) will know who owns the purchased bitcoins if the identification procedure has been passed.
So this data can fall into the wrong hands by selling data by the exchange or hacking it by hackers, for example.
Others, we are to some extent dependent on third parties, which is not acceptable in cryptocurrency, in my opinion.

[Csmiami]

Nevertheless, the exchange (third party) will know who owns the purchased bitcoins if the identification procedure has been passed.
So this data can fall into the wrong hands by selling data by the exchange or hacking it by hackers, for example.
Others, we are to some extent dependent on third parties, which is not acceptable in cryptocurrency, in my opinion.

The solution to that is really simple: Don't use exchanges.

You can still buy and sell bitcoin to people in your city or use ATMs (2 first things that come to mind). Privacy totally depends on the user; it's easier to trust a third party to manage most of our operations; but at what cost? Google stores our password if we allow it, and then fills the user and password fields automatically. It's fast and convenient; but at what cost?

I'm aware the situations are not 100% identical, but I don't think it's a bad comparison

[coupable]

Satoshi said that bitcoin is psydoanonymous and asked to add more layers for security reasons. This extract can explain well the vision of Satoshi :

As an additional firewall, a new (address) should be used for each transaction to keep them from being linked to a common owner [...] The risk is that if the owner of a (address) is revealed, linking could reveal other transactions that belonged to the same owner.

Source: Bitcoin Whitepaper


We saw how the devs implement the Lightening Network to maintain privacy in bitcoin. Some others chose to mix their coins before to use them. While some others started working on another protocole called MimbleWimble which can pave the way for bitcoin and other major cryptos to adopt this new tech or even other similars. Take a look at Grin and Beam for better understanding.

[actmyname]

There was no point of making the blockchain and all the transactions in it public

Then how could you keep a record that every user has to check to know the balance of their own addresses? Maybe it's possible, but I can't think of a way to make something private in a decentralized network.

More important than that is the ability for users to verify that the system is in fact fair. You create the immutability of these transactions thereby solidifying their reality. With continued and subsequent mining you build upon that security... it's the whole point of the blockchain, is it not?

How do you make sure nothing is unruly about other financial instruments? Something interesting: in the past, the core client enabled sending to IP addresses... you can imagine why that was changed.

[Little Mouse]

Bitcoin is pseudonymous. You can't know who the owner of an certain address but all the transaction of an address is available to everyone. If you can know any of the address owner, it is easy to know what he is doing with his bitcoin.

[mk4]

I don't know what community you're in where everyone is saying that bitcoin is anonymous, but it's a typical statement from a misinformed person. It's sometimes a misconception that just because having a bitcoin wallet doesn't require personal information for registration like you have with a typical online account, that it's automatically anonymous; them not knowing that the blockchain is actually fully transparent.

[bob123]

Bitcoin is not (and never was) anonymous.
With an anonymous currency, it has to be impossible to identify a single participant.
This means the data can not be linked to an identity.

This is not the case with bitcoin. Bitcoin is pseudonymous.
You can easily identify single participants by their addresses / public keys. And once you have one connection between a pseudonym and the real identity, everything is exposed. That's not anonymity.

[Kakmakr]

Satoshi Nakamoto made Bitcoin pseudo anonymous, because this technology would not have been adopted if people knew everyone's financial matters. (How much coins you have and what you spend it on) He also knew this technology would also not work if it was 100% anonymous, because criminals would misuse it for criminal intentions. (Paying for Child porn and using it for money laundering and scams)

So, if you do not link your true identity with your Bitcoin address, then your financial information should be secure. The moment when you signup for a third party service, like some regulated exchanges / Wallet providers / Regulated Gambling sites etc.. you give up your anonymity and your financial history can be traced on the Blockchain to that Bitcoin address. 

People have developed ways to obscure your transaction history, with the introduction of Mixer services, if you want to be more anonymous.  

[Velkro]

If the creator of Bitcoin Satashi Nakamato created it as an anonymous currency, why does everyone say that it is not anonymous?

He didnt create anonymous currency. He created currency without central authority. Thats it.
All transactions are public, this is hell for privacy actually, we need improvements in that matter and people are working on it as we speak.

[20kevin20]

I don't think BTC would've had the same success if it was anonymous.

With 100% transparency instead of 100% anonymity, you have a currency whose ledger could still be checked and researched by intel agencies. If it was 100% anonymous and no authority had even a clue about where each coin goes, they would've kicked it out of the world from day 0 and this forum would've probably be located somewhere on a .onion domain.

Satoshi was simply a genius. By creating a pseudonymous coin, he/they created a coin in a friendly way in regards with the authorities - a coin that would not instantly become a state's enemy.

[BITCOIN4X]

If the creator of Bitcoin Satashi Nakamato created it as an anonymous currency, why does everyone say that it is not anonymous?

Your account is registered in 2018 and I am sure you are not new here. If asking can help you understand thing that make you confused, then reading will also make you better understand what you dont know. Hopefully the two articles below can help you find out about that question.

• https://bitcoin.org/en/you-need-to-know#anonymous
• https://bitcoin.org/en/protect-your-privacy

In my opinion, regarding anonymity, I dont think bitcoin should be completely anonymous on the grounds that bitcoin can be used as a special means for people to commit criminal acts such as money laundering and so on. For that reason, I believe that all bitcoin innovation can help users gain complete control over their own money and allow users to make transactions that are different from usual.

[LbtalkL]

For me, bitcoin is really anonymous when you look on block explorer there is no way you can identify each address only the site admin or exchanges and wallets administrators have the ability to track those addresses. Unless they will release it to the public which unlikely to happen or the website got hacked. If you have run KYC on a single site that is a given possibility and risk that your data might be exposed so be careful in doing KYC. Alternatively, we can acquire bitcoin through ATM's and other platforms with no KYC. But to have bitcoin adaption I guess KYC is really needed given that government regulation is very strict.

[ReiMomo]

Here is the simple answer to that question.

A bitcoin transaction is not anonymous/pseudonymous because it has transparent record in blockchain and every one of us can trace where it is landed.

BUT, it can protect someone else privacy if you own bitcoin, NOT on the exchange and any custodial wallets that provide KYC. Holders of bitcoin will become anonymous but not the bitcoin itself.

[Harlot]

I always have two things in mind when someone ask this question.

1. Blockchain - How can Bitcoin be anonymous if literally all transactions made through blockchain can be shown to everyone along with dates, amount, and transaction fee? How can Bitcoin be Anonymous if Blockchain is also known as a "digital ledger" for Bitcoin's transaction? A lot of the authorities are already connecting addresses and linking them to illicit activities with the use of Blockchain so the blockchain alone eliminated the ability of Bitcoin to be anonymous.

2. Government - Can the government really allow a cryptocurrency who has been used in the dark web successfully be in some kind of no regulation? Of course when they see that Bitcoin has the potential to be used in illicit activities from money laundering to tax evasion you know the government won't allow this to have some kind of restraint towards on how it can be used freely.

[Becky666]

Basically, the anonymousity of Bitcoin wasn't intended for Satoshi from creation because, there wasn't a provision made for a sole exchange for Bitcoin only which won't request traders information. Yes, there are exchange known as decentralized exchange but the government still clap on them for traders information to curtain the AML. Public keys can can be trace down to a particular trader when he or she convert coins to fiats.

The only are you can get anonymity is: using bitcoin to buy monero and buy back again before getiing your coins into mixers.