Blockchain is Watching You: Profiling and Deanonymizing Ethereum Users

[btc_angela]

I want to share this, it's a good read, a bit more technical though,

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2005.14051.pdf

We know that Ethereum is really inferior as far as anonymity, that's why we haven't seen any successful mixing tumbler. And this document really made a good case, but as far as Vitalik, this is very good so that they can improve their privacy.

If you are a Ethereum user, you should read this.

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[Jating]

Its not that ETH is inferior as an anonymous coin, but Vitalik Buterin admitted it was not designed just that. So obviously, they can "Deanonymizing Ethereum Users" by using the methods stated in that article.

I'm not really sure if ETH2.0 will include some sort of anonymity, but we all know that not even bitcoin is anonymous per se, blockchain is still there to give analysis more time to de-anonymised everyone. I think the fact that no ETH mixer has successfully stayed in the market like Chipmixer or other famous bitcoin mixing services, also shows that ETH is not a good coin if you are talking about anonymity.

[GreatArkansas]

I'm not really sure if ETH2.0 will include some sort of anonymity, but we all know that not even bitcoin is anonymous per se, blockchain is still there to give analysis more time to de-anonymised everyone. (....)

Speaking of Ethereum 2.0, I don't think that the being anonymity feature is a priority here, and as you said that Vitalik Buterin said, Ethereum was not designed just that.
So for me, it's ok that the anonymity is not included on the Ethereum 2.0 update, as there are a lot of things that are much priority compare to that anonymity feature of Ethereum.

[btc_angela]

Its not that ETH is inferior as an anonymous coin, but Vitalik Buterin admitted it was not designed just that. So obviously, they can "Deanonymizing Ethereum Users" by using the methods stated in that article.

Yes, obviously, it was not designed to be an anonymous coin.

I'm not really sure if ETH2.0 will include some sort of anonymity, but we all know that not even bitcoin is anonymous per se, blockchain is still there to give analysis more time to de-anonymised everyone. I think the fact that no ETH mixer has successfully stayed in the market like Chipmixer or other famous bitcoin mixing services, also shows that ETH is not a good coin if you are talking about anonymity.

It's not included as far as I know, Ethereum is very different to bitcoin and there should be no comparison as far as anonymity is concern.

@GreatArkansas - yes, anonymity should not be the priority of Eth 2.0. There are so many things that need to address, like validators, sharding and of course the most hype of them all, "staking".

[20kevin20]

@GreatArkansas - yes, anonymity should not be the priority of Eth 2.0. There are so many things that need to address, like validators, sharding and of course the most hype of them all, "staking".

And most of these "upgrades" are actually quite bad imo to its structure. Pseudonymity with the possibility of address change & generation should've been at least among the top 10 things on the "To-Do" list. Staking comes as a big turn-off for me. With the infinite supply, it all looks like a mixture of something deemed to fail (at least in the world Satoshi wanted to create).

Staking will advantage the rich which is very unfair and will create wealth inequality. But Vitalik does his thing. As long as there are supporters for all of this, why not..

[Ucy]

Its not that ETH is inferior as an anonymous coin, but Vitalik Buterin admitted it was not designed just that. So obviously, they can "Deanonymizing Ethereum Users" by using the methods stated in that article.

I'm not really sure if ETH2.0 will include some sort of anonymity, but we all know that not even bitcoin is anonymous per se, blockchain is still there to give analysis more time to de-anonymised everyone. I think the fact that no ETH mixer has successfully stayed in the market like Chipmixer or other famous bitcoin mixing services, also shows that ETH is not a good coin if you are talking about anonymity.

Guess you're referring to the PDF(at the bolded part), or is there another link in the post I didn't see? I haven't checked the PDF yet... Will probably do that later in a secure way.

Anonymity can be greatly improved on the networks if the communities are serious about it. I think people should have choice to be fully anonymous on the crypto networks but it should still be very possible to prevent people from misusing or abusing the anonymity.
Anonymity can be guaranteed... it should still be fairly easy to catch criminals hiding behind it to commit crimes without violating the anonymity right of innocent users. I believe strongly that is how anonymity tools should work on Blockchain /decentralized tech.

[btc_angela]

@GreatArkansas - yes, anonymity should not be the priority of Eth 2.0. There are so many things that need to address, like validators, sharding and of course the most hype of them all, "staking".

And most of these "upgrades" are actually quite bad imo to its structure. Pseudonymity with the possibility of address change & generation should've been at least among the top 10 things on the "To-Do" list. Staking comes as a big turn-off for me. With the infinite supply, it all looks like a mixture of something deemed to fail (at least in the world Satoshi wanted to create).

I wouldn't call it those upgrades as bad, perhaps they just needed to re-adapt because Altcoins market have been evolving as well. Ethereum has so much competitor today unlike 3 years ago when they are still the dominant and favourite platform by most projects.

Staking will advantage the rich which is very unfair and will create wealth inequality. But Vitalik does his thing. As long as there are supporters for all of this, why not..

I get your point, the only reasoning, as far as I understand is that they need these validators to "secure" the network.

[CashbackLover]

For Ethereum blockchain privacy/anonymity shouldn't be the first priority, who cares? Ethereum is not Monero, it was never designed to be a privacy crypto coin, I'm a fan of Ethereum and I have my bag of eth but privacy is the least I want for the project.

[Aveatrex]

For Ethereum blockchain privacy/anonymity shouldn't be the first priority,who cares? Ethereum is not Monero, it was never designed to be a privacy crypto coin, I'm a fan of Ethereum and I have my bag of eth but privacy is the least I want for the project.

You completely missed the point. The point made here is that a lot of people think that if a coin is using a blockchain,it's automatically making their transactions anonymous which is clearly not the case. Ethereum is pseudo anonymous so are most cryptocurrencies, if users aren't careful they can easily be deanonymized. In short: If you care for privacy either use a privacy coin or be careful how you use other coins.

Staking will advantage the rich which is very unfair and will create wealth inequality. But Vitalik does his thing. As long as there are supporters for all of this, why not..

The rich always have advantage staking or not staking. Even with POW, only the rich who can afford mining equipment will earn money. Rich become richer that's how it is and how it will always be I guess.

[Looper_U]

I want to share this, it's a good read, a bit more technical though,

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2005.14051.pdf

We know that Ethereum is really inferior as far as anonymity, that's why we haven't seen any successful mixing tumbler. And this document really made a good case, but as far as Vitalik, this is very good so that they can improve their privacy.

If you are a Ethereum user, you should read this.

People don't actually use ethereum for privacy transactions this days, they know the difference between privacy coins and non privacy coins, ethereum wasn't programmed to stealth your transactions, if you are a darknet user better start using Monero  or the new ghost token

[qigong13]

Speaking of Ethereum 2.0, I don't think that the being anonymity feature is a priority here, and as you said that Vitalik Buterin said, Ethereum was not designed just that.
So for me, it's ok that the anonymity is not included on the Ethereum 2.0 update, as there are a lot of things that are much priority compare to that anonymity feature of Ethereum.

Same thought here. You would be in surprise to know many crypto adopters really don't care much about anonymity or hell-bent on wanting to have it. Only a fraction of crypto follower want the anonymity cause they need to hide their identity for whatever shady thing they have in their mind.

[Baofeng]

Speaking of Ethereum 2.0, I don't think that the being anonymity feature is a priority here, and as you said that Vitalik Buterin said, Ethereum was not designed just that.
So for me, it's ok that the anonymity is not included on the Ethereum 2.0 update, as there are a lot of things that are much priority compare to that anonymity feature of Ethereum.

Same thought here. You would be in surprise to know many crypto adopters really don't care much about anonymity or hell-bent on wanting to have it. Only a fraction of crypto follower want the anonymity cause they need to hide their identity for whatever shady thing they have in their mind.

You have a point, specially when crypto really took off in the last couple of years, it's like noobs scramble and went full nuts to join the bandwagon and just wanted to earn, i.e. bounty hunters. They will do everything just to get those rewards, like sending their full information or even email addresses which later on can be used to de-anonymised someone. It's a whole new ball game out there.

[btc_angela]

I want to share this, it's a good read, a bit more technical though,

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2005.14051.pdf

We know that Ethereum is really inferior as far as anonymity, that's why we haven't seen any successful mixing tumbler. And this document really made a good case, but as far as Vitalik, this is very good so that they can improve their privacy.

If you are a Ethereum user, you should read this.

People don't actually use ethereum for privacy transactions this days, they know the difference between privacy coins and non privacy coins, ethereum wasn't programmed to stealth your transactions, if you are a darknet user better start using Monero  or the new ghost token

Monero is already taking a heat just because they're privacy coins, many top exchanges are de listing them. But as far as being privacy coins compare to Ethereum, yes, I will tend to agree that it is how they are designed and I don't think that Vitalik's goals is to really used Ethereum to be a anonymity coin in the first place. So let's see how they are going to "improved" it though, there are a lot of open questions as far as ETH 2.0 goes.