More than 50% of bitcoins from Twitter hack have been sent through mixers

[o_e_l_e_o]

I don't see how could a normal user addresses be linked to the hackers.

I exclusively trade peer-to-peer. I do not know what address(es) the bitcoin I am going to be receiving is coming from until I receive it, and I certainly don't have the time to investigate several hops back from every address I want to trade with to ensure the bitcoin are "untainted".

Just improve yourself and verify the codes when you hear that the bank near you has been just stolen!
I hope you understand what I mean  

I do understand, it's just I disagree with where you are coming from. If you look back far enough, almost every active satoshi in existence can be "tainted" in one or or another or by one algorithm or another. We should not be seeking to declare some bitcoin as "tainted" and others as "clean". Doing so undermines the fungibility of bitcoin, and therefore undermines bitcoin itself.

If centralized exchanges want to block certain addresses to protect themselves from liability in terms of money laundering then so be it, they are private businesses and that is their right. However, as a community we should not be encouraging other services to differentiate between different bitcoin.

[BuNga_cute]

Scammers must know Bitcoin transactions can be traced, so they decide to use coinjoin / mixing services to eliminate traces.
But what makes me confused is why only about 50% of Bitcoin are sent through the mixers, maybe they are not sure about
risking it all of them use the Mixers service.

[shield132]

17,18 bitcoin? hah, that's nothing. Back in when binance was hacked, at Least 4,836 BTC was laundered through chipmixer. More than one year has passed since then if I am correct and nothing has happened to chipmixer, so, believe me, this amount is just a drop in the ocean.
Persoanlly I couldn't imagine if any mixer would try to really enter this market seriously but Chipmixer just rocks, they are not only great but greatest in what they do. Will be interesting to see if they were caught soon after using mixing services and which mixer succeed in this situation.

[2double0]

17,18 bitcoin? hah, that's nothing. Back in when binance was hacked, at Least 4,836 BTC was laundered through chipmixer. More than one year has passed since then if I am correct and nothing has happened to chipmixer, so, believe me, this amount is just a drop in the ocean.
Persoanlly I couldn't imagine if any mixer would try to really enter this market seriously but Chipmixer just rocks, they are not only great but greatest in what they do. Will be interesting to see if they were caught soon after using mixing services and which mixer succeed in this situation.

I am not in favor of mixers and also not against them, but I can clearly state that mixers are not responsible for the hacks and so we should stop blaming them for the 'laundering' we are talking here about. It is the hacker, stealer or even one of us who chooses their (mixer's) services to go for, uses them to move our funds in such a way that nobody finds any traces to our money. They are doing their service and if they start revealing people, what is the point of having mixers?

[erikoy]

Well clearly hackers have an it before executing of their activity. They have sought already this after receiving the hack bitcoins. Because mixers usually done anonymously then this is a better place for them to hide their identity and so that bitcoin will not be trace after mixing it.

I am not in favor of mixers and also not against them, but I can clearly state that mixers are not responsible for the hacks and so we should stop blaming them for the 'laundering' we are talking here about. It is the hacker, stealer or even one of us who chooses their (mixer's) services to go for, uses them to move our funds in such a way that nobody finds any traces to our money. They are doing their service and if they start revealing people, what is the point of having mixers?

Mixers function is to mix bitcoin from.of that other user to other user. And the mix will sort into one as the combination of btc coming from different users. It is most likely to get easy on sorting bitcoin into one user rather than having several users contributing to it.

[akram143]

17,18 bitcoin? hah, that's nothing. Back in when binance was hacked, at Least 4,836 BTC was laundered through chipmixer. More than one year has passed since then if I am correct and nothing has happened to chipmixer, so, believe me, this amount is just a drop in the ocean.
Persoanlly I couldn't imagine if any mixer would try to really enter this market seriously but Chipmixer just rocks, they are not only great but greatest in what they do. Will be interesting to see if they were caught soon after using mixing services and which mixer succeed in this situation.

I am not in favor of mixers and also not against them, but I can clearly state that mixers are not responsible for the hacks and so we should stop blaming them for the 'laundering' we are talking here about. It is the hacker, stealer or even one of us who chooses their (mixer's) services to go for, uses them to move our funds in such a way that nobody finds any traces to our money. They are doing their service and if they start revealing people, what is the point of having mixers?

But they should not assist the hackers, I am not sure is it possible to get the traces back for particular transaction by the mixers itself but if yes they then should report it to the appropriate persons to keep their reputation up so in future as well scammers will get afraid of using mixers.

[ilovealtcoins]

The mixer can only be used to make those bitcoins legal. The mixer has been around for a long time and is the best tool for thieves to anonymize the money they've taken.
Currently, the ethereum network has a tornado cash, an application that anonymizes transactions similar to a bitcoin mixer.
Governments have been working against anonymous cryptocurrencies, but it is the need for privacy that bitcoin and ethereum have their anonymous tools.

[Sanitough]

The mixer can only be used to make those bitcoins legal. The mixer has been around for a long time and is the best tool for thieves to anonymize the money they've taken.
Currently, the ethereum network has a tornado cash, an application that anonymizes transactions similar to a bitcoin mixer.
Governments have been working against anonymous cryptocurrencies, but it is the need for privacy that bitcoin and ethereum have their anonymous tools.

But how can we achieve good regulation if we will not comply with the government standard?

Mixers is a tool used for scammers and hackers, although it is not its purpose but government has seen this risk and they won't allow these mixers to operate. According to this article https://cryptobriefing.com/bitcoin-coin-mixers-legal-crosshairs/.. there are two types of mixers, the Custodial and the  Non-Custodial Mixing Services, and part it expressed that both has to gain license to operate, as you can read this part of the article.

Money transmitters need to be licensed, unless exempted by factual circumstances such as where the act of transmitting funds is secondary to the business being offered or a necessary component of the operation of an entirely different service. Anonymizing the source and beneficiary of the funds has no bearing on the legal status of custodial mixing services. Mixing is transmitting and that requires a license.

[LogitechMouse]

Not surprising already knowing that these Bitcoins came from the Twitter hacking incident.

IIRC, its a teenager that has been accused of this incident. Mixers are the go-to site of these hackers when they are successful in hacking sites, exchanges etc. Can't blame these mixers though since they are just tools that the hackers are using when they want to transfer the funds.

What's surprising is they didn't transfer 100% of the total amount thru Mixers or I should say that 2.8% of the total amount has been transferred without using of Mixers.

[Debonaire217]

Not surprising already knowing that these Bitcoins came from the Twitter hacking incident.

IIRC, its a teenager that has been accused of this incident. Mixers are the go-to site of these hackers when they are successful in hacking sites, exchanges etc. Can't blame these mixers though since they are just tools that the hackers are using when they want to transfer the funds.

What's surprising is they didn't transfer 100% of the total amount thru Mixers or I should say that 2.8% of the total amount has been transferred without using of Mixers.

The main purpose of mixers is to provide anonymity for anyone in the bitcoin space. They cannot sue these platforms because they are neutral to the funds of the users and it is in the users responsibility to use these mixers. Though, we cannot escape the fact that most people who successfully stole BTC use it, bitcoin is built with this characteristic, to provide freedom, and once we accept it, the responsibility should be within us to avoid being hacked and to keep our funds to a safe place.

[Kong Hey Pakboy]

It is really the only way for hackers and scammers not to be traced or could sent transactions anonymously because using a bitcoin mixer is a kind of software that let users to mix their bitcoin to other users for them, so it will difficult for someone to tell who is the real owner. It is why hackers can freely steal someone's wallets without getting caught.

[ufaiz50]

I was surprised by the graphic that was made, they must be serious about researching this case. Mixer/coinjoin is a great way to do money laundering, many know that, but the truth is, there are still scammers who don't mixing but spend it directly. Based on this graph, it is highly probable that the money can be frozen if it cooperates with a company related to the money laundering place.

[tbct_mt2]

Hackers are aware that the bitcoins they hacked will be traced by victims and police officers so that they know what to do. Coin Join transactions with Wasabi wallet or bitcoin mixers are their best solutions. I am not surprised to see that article and the percents of hacked bitcoin were mixed through Mixer services and Wasabi.

Newbies don't know how to use coin control features but hackers know and sure they know more, about Coin Join, mixers and so forth. The article does not show after bitcoin mixing, what hackers use to do next. Mix again with Monero.

Only 2.8% of stupid hackers cashed-out hacked bitcoins.

[travwill]

Not surprising.

The use of coinjoin/mixing services is the new getaway for hackers since centralized exchanges are more regulated now and often asks KYC. They've been using it more and more since 2019 as shown in the study made by Chainalysis
I wouldn't be surprised also if we see another round of posts/articles accusing mixers/coinjoin services of aiding money laundering.

I believe Chipmixer, being centralized, is also capable of blocking those btc's if they wanted to but that would put a huge dent on their reputation.

Not the best example of using mixers for mass adoption, but indicative. I was also surprised that they decided to withdraw part of the BTC in a different way.
Another interesting point is that they decided to use two withdrawal routes.  Maybe they were afraid to risk putting everything through the chip mixer? Or they wanted to test all possible options.
In any case, this is a good test of mixer efficiency.

[CarnagexD]

Not surprising.

The use of coinjoin/mixing services is the new getaway for hackers since centralized exchanges are more regulated now and often asks KYC. They've been using it more and more since 2019 as shown in the study made by Chainalysis
I wouldn't be surprised also if we see another round of posts/articles accusing mixers/coinjoin services of aiding money laundering.

I believe Chipmixer, being centralized, is also capable of blocking those btc's if they wanted to but that would put a huge dent on their reputation.

Not the best example of using mixers for mass adoption, but indicative. I was also surprised that they decided to withdraw part of the BTC in a different way.
Another interesting point is that they decided to use two withdrawal routes.  Maybe they were afraid to risk putting everything through the chip mixer? Or they wanted to test all possible options.
In any case, this is a good test of mixer efficiency.

Probably the first speculation you gave. They wouldn't do that if they weren't aware of what's coming at them. And these mixers honestly wouldn't really mind where the people got their coins as long as it means profit to them. so they wouldn't lock it. They'd probably give a statement or two, but that's about the end of it perhaps.

[AjithBtc]

Mixers were used to have more security to their holdings as well as for the purpose of anonymity. People using it a way to stay secure on the illegal business. For this we can't go check every address from which the transaction has taken place.

Some users have suggested for a block of specific address within exchanges, but that isn't a possible solution and that affect the circulation in the market. Rather than making large funds idle let it get circulated.

[tbct_mt2]

Mixers were used to have more security to their holdings as well as for the purpose of anonymity. People using it a way to stay secure on the illegal business. For this we can't go check every address from which the transaction has taken place.

Some users have suggested for a block of specific address within exchanges, but that isn't a possible solution and that affect the circulation in the market. Rather than making large funds idle let it get circulated.

Mixer services are expensive and quality of mixing service you use is unknown. If you are not a technical guy and can not check their quality (if you know to that, you would have not use their mixing service), you simply believe in what they advertise and use their service. By that I meant, your anonymity can or can not be protected by the service you are using for your bitcoin transactions.

Use non-custodial wallets
Turn on Coin control feature
Use change addresses
Use Tor when you broadcast your transactions
Use Wasabi wallet if you need to use Coin Join.

Most "tumblers", like the now-defunct bestmixer.io or even ChipMixer, aren't great because they are needlessly expensive, you're trusting the service not to run away with your coins, and you're trusting the service not to keep logs. Maybe they're the best current solution for small amounts where lasting anonymity isn't mission-critical, but in most cases you shouldn't use them.

Anonymity is very difficult, especially with blockchain-based systems where so much data has to be public, but also in other areas (eg. there are several known weaknesses with Tor). You should always operate with the expectation that any anonymity system you use will eventually fail you. If you're ever confident in your anonymity, then you're wrong.

[rodskee]

Scammers must know Bitcoin transactions can be traced, so they decide to use coinjoin / mixing services to eliminate traces.

Most hackers do actually,because this will save their asses from being monitored and trace.

But what makes me confused is why only about 50% of Bitcoin are sent through the mixers, maybe they are not sure about
risking it all of them use the Mixers service.

Because this maybe just a trial if they will be track down and marked so they remain the 50% in case worst thing happen for future use.

if this transaction may cleared in the next days then they will send another 50% for completion .