Can you hide your identity with bitcoin? (100%)

[ene1980]

Satoshi has hidden his identity very successful so far and he has every right to protect his privacy. I think that most of us at his place would have done the same. However, I don't think that is only with help of Bitcoin. Bitcoin has lost a great deal of anonimity since it first appeared and now it's much easier to track the person behind it and follow the transactions. To my opinion Satoshi relies on something completely different to protect identity.

The basic thing you miss here is that Satoshi did not move his coins from the known wallets and even if he wanted to move the coins during the initial stages when exchanges started popping up, you could easily sell the coins without verifying your identity and that way you could be anonymous but now the situation has changed and if Satoshi wanted to move the coins he will be exposed as you cannot find any exchanges you can trade without exposing yourself.

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[kolbalish]

I was having an argument with a friend. He says that you can't be anonymous to the bitcoin's network. Both nodes and wallets use, leads to an ip address where information can be found.

I had read in this forum that you can hide it with hardware? How exactly?

In short, it can be said that you can't. You cannot hide yourself and your friend's dialogue is right that your ip address is your tracking to them. So it us easy for them to find out you in this world.

[peter0425]

Satoshi has hidden his identity very successful so far and he has every right to protect his privacy. I think that most of us at his place would have done the same. However, I don't think that is only with help of Bitcoin. Bitcoin has lost a great deal of anonimity since it first appeared and now it's much easier to track the person behind it and follow the transactions. To my opinion Satoshi relies on something completely different to protect identity.

He's the creator and he knows things like this will happen any soon.

So I agree with that, aside from bitcoin he use something that will keep his identity

hidden to everyone, we see that until now we don't know or there's no clear information
about his identity.

[k@suy]

Satoshi has hidden his identity very successful so far and he has every right to protect his privacy. I think that most of us at his place would have done the same. However, I don't think that is only with help of Bitcoin. Bitcoin has lost a great deal of anonimity since it first appeared and now it's much easier to track the person behind it and follow the transactions. To my opinion Satoshi relies on something completely different to protect identity.

The basic thing you miss here is that Satoshi did not move his coins from the known wallets and even if he wanted to move the coins during the initial stages when exchanges started popping up, you could easily sell the coins without verifying your identity and that way you could be anonymous but now the situation has changed and if Satoshi wanted to move the coins he will be exposed as you cannot find any exchanges you can trade without exposing yourself.

Yes I am highly agree to you my friend. What did Satoshi is a great technique back then because he was the founder of bitcoin and yet nobody was able to track him down or find him co'z he was great at hiding but today if and only if he shows up, there will be a person who can track him down because of the KYC method and also nobody can say if he is still active here in crypto world because he can use random names.

[FlightyPouch]

Your friend is absolutely right, we can't hide our identity with Bitcoin. Because decentralization owned by Bitcoin has transparency,
which means that all Bitcoin transactions that we do can be seen publicly. Even though we use software or VPN, there are always gaps.
The conclusion is that in the internet world nothing is 100% anonymous.

Evwn though they can see the transactions in the blockchain, they will never know your true identity. Thry will never know anything about you, your address, your name or even email address. They do not know that is your bitcoin address unless it is someone you know or have a transaction with personally. That is why bitcoin is pseudo-anonymous.

[enhu]

Your friend is absolutely right, we can't hide our identity with Bitcoin. Because decentralization owned by Bitcoin has transparency,
which means that all Bitcoin transactions that we do can be seen publicly. Even though we use software or VPN, there are always gaps.
The conclusion is that in the internet world nothing is 100% anonymous.

Evwn though they can see the transactions in the blockchain, they will never know your true identity. Thry will never know anything about you, your address, your name or even email address. They do not know that is your bitcoin address unless it is someone you know or have a transaction with personally. That is why bitcoin is pseudo-anonymous.

Until you go to exchanges that will asks KYC. This is how you will not get away of the KYC.
Or encashing BTC going to bank account will then require him to submit data. There is no escape to this process already unless you just sell your coins to someone you will be meeting in public and he brings load of cash with him.

Right now I don't know if anyone just gave up all his coins in the exchange just so he won't submit KYC documents.

[carriebee]

No if you are going to do kyc in some exchanges or wallet apps using your ip address,they can trace it. Actually there is no secret that can hide forever ,the same with bitcoin.Using a modern technology ,I believed someone will make a way on how to know the owner of every transaction in cryptocurrency that will lead for the anonymity being useless.

Unless doing kyc in the exchange our identity will be expose. There are other users who avoid in doing such kyc to protect identity. But I agree with others here in doing transactions  is we can use VPN connection to be safe. So we really have options to chose in every transactions we do.

[suzanne5223]

Satoshi has hidden his identity very successful so far and he has every right to protect his privacy. I think that most of us at his place would have done the same. However, I don't think that is only with help of Bitcoin. Bitcoin has lost a great deal of anonimity since it first appeared and now it's much easier to track the person behind it and follow the transactions. To my opinion Satoshi relies on something completely different to protect identity.

The basic thing you miss here is that Satoshi did not move his coins from the known wallets and even if he wanted to move the coins during the initial stages when exchanges started popping up, you could easily sell the coins without verifying your identity and that way you could be anonymous but now the situation has changed and if Satoshi wanted to move the coins he will be exposed as you cannot find any exchanges you can trade without exposing yourself.

Satoshi didn't move his coins from the well known wallets because people will track down his every move if he does then despite that KYC was not introduce by the SEC and if he had move those BTC his identity will be reveal by now. In other for him to keep his anonymity secure he have to sacrifice those coins.
With that been said, the pseudoanonymous in nature of bitcoin didnt mean people can not hide their identity 100%.

[ene1980]

~ also nobody can say if he is still active here in crypto world because he can use random names.

You never know, Satoshi will be lurking around this forum and you will never find out and my instincts say that he is having another account here and monitoring the entire market because he created something no one was able to figure out and he might be appreciating everything at a distance away from the normal crowd about how the market is growing as his invention is used by millions and having a billion dollar market  .

~ In other for him to keep his anonymity secure he have to sacrifice those coins.
With that been said, the pseudoanonymous in nature of bitcoin didnt mean people can not hide their identity 100%.

That is a valid point, as long as Satoshi wants to keep his identity secure he needs to sacrifice his coins, bitcoin is a money trail and you cannot expect complete anonymity but pseudo anonymous is perfect as i do not want anyone to see my wealth unless i want to reveal myself.

[junnar1968]

Bitcoin is not entirely anonymous. It is anonymous in the sense that the components of Bitcoin, such as addresses, private and public keys, and transactions, are all read in text strings, such as a public address, that in no way directly link to anyone's personal identity.Since users usually have to reveal their identity in order to receive services or goods, Bitcoin addresses cannot remain fully anonymous. For these reasons, Bitcoin addresses should only be used once and users must be careful not to disclose their addresses.

[Rafiqul]

Although Santoshi has been able to keep his identity very successful so far, I personally think it is not possible to hide 100% of my personal identity with Bitcoin. Because in addition to the IP, at least the identity that Bitcoin itself goes through will be recorded there, so if you store Bitcoin on the hardware, it will eventually give an identity to any one of the exchanges.

[lumeire]

You can surely put some practices in place to help with remaining anonymous but it's impossible to stay completely in the dark so to speak.  If you were able to stay in the dark 100% it would make it a very dangerous place and tool to be using.

Aren't the mixers sufficient enough to mix your coins and make you anonymous on the internet while using bitcoins, I know someone with a lot of resources and time can still search and find you but for that you can aslo shift towards other privacy oriented coins like monero, right??
Also what I do is never try to transfer my bitcoins straight from exchange address where I use to buy and sell my coins for bank transfers and never send straight from my wallet to that address as it is the kind of thing that should be kept private and can easily throw away your identity.

[Ryker1]

You can surely put some practices in place to help with remaining anonymous but it's impossible to stay completely in the dark so to speak.  If you were able to stay in the dark 100% it would make it a very dangerous place and tool to be using.

Well, that does not work like that. There is a big chance that you can hide and masking your identity but there is the chance you will unmask someday. Using tools on this is a great help just like bitcoin mixing and using TOR. It perhaps not directly be linked to you but at least your privacy has been protected by the possible negative side just like tracing and scam you personally.

[Cryptoreflector_666]

I was having an argument with a friend. He says that you can't be anonymous to the bitcoin's network. Both nodes and wallets use, leads to an ip address where information can be found.

I had read in this forum that you can hide it with hardware? How exactly?

Very simple, you can use various VPN programs that change your IP to another one. There is also software that makes your IP dynamic, i.e. it is constantly changing with each new visit to the Internet. Accordingly, the wallet will not be linked to a single address and you will be completely anonymous.

[Anna138]

Hmm I thought it was possible since this is how Bitcoin came about.  Anonymous transactions.  I know for sure most Japanese gangs still uses Bitcoin because of this.  Using proxy in a public network can definitely hide your identity no?

You can hide your identity, but if the police want to find out who used a particular wallet, then the proxy and VPN will not help you here, since any VPN service is required to provide data on which IP requested the proxy service at a certain time in a certain place. Then you will be found by geolocation.

[20kevin20]

OK fine, how about if I am at Starbucks, using a disposable phone, while running Tor.

I made the transition in 10 minutes, then I'm out and never return.  Now what?

It's very hard to keep your identity completely hidden. Probably impossible to have it exactly 100%.

There are cameras that could be used to facially recognize you. Your disposable phone, unless it has all antennas removed, will send and receive information from and to the service provider it's been registered to (and even without it, AFAIK, a phone with battery in it could still send and receive information - especially if it's a smartphone, and assuming you're using Bitcoin with it... it most likely is). Just think about it - even without a SIM card you can still call 911, right? Even if you turn your phone to Airplane Mode, do you have any guarantee that it has terminated any communication?

What is the source of your Bitcoins? What if your government or a third party has been doing blockchain analysis for a long time and your identity has been easily found? Mixers do not hide your identity 100%. While it hardens the analysis process and makes tracking your coins a pain in the arse, it does not mean it's impossible to find who the owner truly is. With enough resources and time, someone looking after your BTC address may link some crucial information to find your identity.

There's more to it. It's just that, while you do improve your privacy, you never push it to perfection. There's always going to be some leakage you may not even be thinking about, yet important enough for authorities or someone tracking you.

Edit: Tor does not hide your identity either, if you do not use it the right way. First of all, a lot of people use it with JavaScript enabled - which is just enough for your real device's information to be leaked. The thing is, you're mistaking anonymity for pseudonymity. It's not anonymous. It's not like I send you 0.001BTC and nobody knows who sent money to who, or how much. The ledger is entirely public, which means that once data is stored, it's going to be there forever. In other words, any little mistake is going to be recorded without the possibility of reverting it. It's just like our usernames on here: you have usernames, you're not sure who is who.. but with enough research, you may find out. We're just pseudonymous - not anonymous.

[7788bitcoin]

It's very hard to keep your identity completely hidden. Probably impossible to have it exactly 100%.

There are cameras that could be used to facially recognize you. Your disposable phone, unless it has all antennas removed, will send and receive information from and to the service provider it's been registered to (and even without it, AFAIK, a phone with battery in it could still send and receive information - especially if it's a smartphone, and assuming you're using Bitcoin with it... it most likely is). Just think about it - even without a SIM card you can still call 911, right? Even if you turn your phone to Airplane Mode, do you have any guarantee that it has terminated any communication?

A complete anonymity is just a dream now a days especially if the authorities are targeting you. The speaker in your phone can be activated and if the authorities knows your IMEI number of your mobile they can activate your mobile speaker even if you turned your phone to airplane mode your communications can be captured.

When it comes to bitcoin it is impossible to stay fully anonymous if you are using exchanges because they force us to verify our identity, if you are making money online and if you are accepting it in bitcoin and not using the traditional exchanges it is possible to be anonymous.

[(o)(o)ilikeboobs(o)(o)]

Previously the official website of bitcoin contained the phrase anonymity, but they later removed them. It's not possible to anonymize conventionally, but there are many ways it can be used to remain anonymous. I listened to the TOR network and the mixer, those are the two best ways to combat IP tracing the best.

[XCANA]

Both nodes and wallets use, leads to an ip address where information can be found.

Nodes knows the IP addresses of each other and it is possible for a node to predict the IP address for which a transaction has originated from but it is nowhere near accurate. For someone to be able to track this accurately, one has to connect to all the nodes within the network and that is impossible.

If that's possible for anyone, we could findout who is Satoshi Nakamoto and thus all the doubts about the creator/creators of Bitcoin might be revealed. As you say that one has to connect to all the nodes which is really impossible. But china produces the most of the hashrates of bitcoin networks, so it might be little possible to them to check/watch our transections, IMO. Also , it's just an hypothesis from myside. 

Though China has majority of these nodes but believe me, there are still thousands of nodes outside this jurisdiction which won't accept any connection from new IPs. In as much attack can't be feasible so is connection to all Bitcoin nodes.

Why are we so afraid of our identities? Identities are meant to be known and not hidden forever. Those with clean hands can't be afraid of this so called reveal identity, haven't our Banks knows our identity?. As for me nothing to be afraid of because am clean.

[Rana590]

As bitcoin is a decentralized coin, basically it is not possible to trace the transaction. We are unable to find who is sending and who is receiving it. Both users are safe and hidden.