Anonymity and Privacy while using Bitcoin. Which one is the right word to use?

[JeromeTash]

Over the years, people have interchangeably mixed up Privacy and Anonymity in regard to Bitcoin transactions. My native language is not English, so I would like to know from community members. Which is the right word to use?

According to Oxford Dictionary;

Privacy

a state in which one is not observed or disturbed by other people.

Here's what I think. Since the Bitcoin blockchain is a public ledger, transactions are not private, anyone can observe any transaction and any address using blockchain explorers. So even if the owners of the sending and receiving addresses are not known, the transaction is still not private. People can still be able to see the amount of Bitcoin spent and the time it was spent.

Anonymous

(of a person) not identified by name; of unknown name.

Anonymity from Wiki

Anonymity describes situations where the acting person's identity is unknown

So long as the addresses involved are not connected to any centralized service. There is no way the public can know about the identity of the sender and receiver of a bitcoin transaction. Therefore, i think bitcoin transactions are sometimes anonymous and not private

What do you think, members?

[1715205730]

1715205730

[1715205730]

1715205730

[Charles-Tim]

Here's what I think. Since the Bitcoin blockchain is a public ledger, transactions are not private, anyone can observe any transaction and any address using blockchain explorers. So even if the owners of the sending and receiving addresses are not known, the transaction is still not private. People can still be able to see the amount of Bitcoin spent and the time it was spent.

If the transaction is not linked to your identity, it is still because you maintain privacy because no one will disturb you of anything. No thief will come to your house for your coin. If you have ways to increase your privacy online and no one will know about you, which means no one will disturb you. Only what they can see on ledger are transactions, not you, which means privacy.

So long as the addresses involved are not connected to any centralized service. There is no way the public can know about the identity of the sender and receiver of a bitcoin transaction. Therefore, i think bitcoin transactions are sometimes anonymous and not private

No, it is private pseudonymous, not private not anonymous. Example of anonymous transactions are that of monero in which no record of public ledger, so nothing known about the transaction.
Do not get it confused. The question people always ask is 'is Bitcoin transaction anonymous? Not is 'the person making use of Bitcoin anonymous'? Bitcoin transactions are not anonymous but the person making use of it in a way the Bitcoin is not linked to him is anonymous, while the person needs to maintain privacy in order to remain anonymous, but Bitcoin transaction itself is not anonymous.

[Vaskiy]

Being anonymous is staying unknown to the world. This means what we've done is visible to the world, but who has done is unknown to the world.

When we talk about privacy. It is a concealed think, only if the person himself reveals it gets known to the rest. As of now anonymity is the term that is right for the usage with bitcoin as it doesn't provide with the perfect privacy for the user.

[JeromeTash]

If the transaction is not linked to your identity, it is still because you maintain privacy because no one will disturb you of anything.

I mean, how do you maintain privacy minus people tracking your address? As soon as you buy BTC let's say using p2p. It means the other party who sold you the Bitcoins now knows your address and how you are probably going to spend Bitcoins in your transactions, even if you are anonymous.

I don't think that's privacy. The bitcoin blockchain is transparent. I personally don't think transparency and privacy can be in the same sentence, but transparency and anonymity can.

No, it is private. Example of anonymous transactions are that of monero in which no record of public ledger, so nothing known about the transaction.

Do not get it confused. The question people always ask is 'is Bitcoin transaction anonymous? Not is 'the person making use of Bitcoin anonymous'? Bitcoin transactions are not anonymous but the person making use of it in a way the Bitcoin is not linked to him is anonymous, while the person needs to maintain privacy in order to remain anonymous, but Bitcoin transaction itself is not anonymous.

What you are saying about Monero transactions is that they are rather private and anonymous if the parties in the transaction decide to be anonymous. Anything or transaction that has no public record or can't be viewed by the public is private, but something or transaction or donation can be anonymous and at the same time the transaction or what is donated can be viewed by the public.

Am not confused but from my understanding an anonymous transaction is a right term too, just like you have heard about an anonymous donation (you know what the donation is but the person who sent it is anonymous)

[electronicash]

If the transaction is not linked to your identity, it is still because you maintain privacy because no one will disturb you of anything.

I mean, how do you maintain privacy minus people tracking your address? As soon as you buy BTC let's say using p2p. It means the other party who sold you the Bitcoins now knows your address and how you are probably going to spend Bitcoins in your transactions, even if you are anonymous.

I don't think that's privacy. The bitcoin blockchain is transparent. I personally don't think transparency and privacy can be in the same sentence, but transparency and anonymity can.

No, it is private. Example of anonymous transactions are that of monero in which no record of public ledger, so nothing known about the transaction.

Do not get it confused. The question people always ask is 'is Bitcoin transaction anonymous? Not is 'the person making use of Bitcoin anonymous'? Bitcoin transactions are not anonymous but the person making use of it in a way the Bitcoin is not linked to him is anonymous, while the person needs to maintain privacy in order to remain anonymous, but Bitcoin transaction itself is not anonymous.

What you are saying about Monero transactions is that they are rather private and anonymous if the parties in the transaction decide to be anonymous. Anything or transaction that has no public record or can't be viewed by the public is private, but something or transaction or donation can be anonymous and at the same time the transaction or what is donated can be viewed by the public.

Am not confused but from my understanding an anonymous transaction is a right term too, just like you have heard about an anonymous donation (you know what the donation is but the person who sent it is anonymous)

you just have to avoid any transactions that will make you input your name. this is hard to do whenever you want to cash out actually. p2p isn't private too. just like exchanges, they keep records. when kyc is submitted, they own it.

keep an account where you can disclose to any 3rd party which has enough funds no one will bat an eye. then also create a wallet where you could also keep privacy.

[odolvlobo]

So long as the addresses involved are not connected to any centralized service. There is no way the public can know about the identity of the sender and receiver of a bitcoin transaction.

If you send bitcoins to a merchant (for example), who isn't "centralized service", the public can still know your identity if the merchant makes the transaction public.

Furthermore, while individual leaks of privacy and anonymity might seem small and inconsequential, a dedicated and comprehensive effort by any entity, such as Facebook, Google, or a blockchain surveillance company, can uncover information about you and your identity, by collecting and analyzing huge amounts of data.

[20kevin20]

Bitcoin's privacy level is dependent on the user's behavior and full anonymity cannot be achieved. So I think the closest we can get is the "privacy" term, because anonymity is not present in BTC's current blockchain.

You seek privacy when you want people to simply not know why you're moving money or what other addresses you own. You seek anonymity when you want everything about your finance to be hidden.

You can't be anonymous if everything is transparent. Anonymity is wearing a full on cloak. You're hidden from others and nobody knows anything about you. Privacy means having just a little wall between you and others. They know you're there, but they can't do much more than that unless you leak crucial information yourself.

[tranthidung]

Privacy and anonymity are different and I think anonymity is at higher level than privacy.

What Satoshi Nakamoto achieved is anonymity. Satoshi managed to keep all activities on Tor and all things are anonymously. 12 years later, none of us can identify who is Satoshi Nakamoto.

If you leak your privacy, from evidence experts can trace them along the way and figure out who you are. From broken privacy, then you will likely have broken anonymity as consequences.

[Rruchi man]

With bitcoin, i believe it is more of a privacy thing than anonymity. To be private is different from being completely anonymous. If you are private, there is a restricted access to you, but if you are anonymous, there is usually no way to be accessed.

Also, you can stay private with bitcoin transactions but not completely anonymous because if need be, you can be traced by the authorities who have alligned themselves with some technologies to do so, that is not anonymity.

[cryptoaddictchie]

Also, you can stay private with bitcoin transactions but not completely anonymous because if need be, you can be traced by the authorities who have alligned themselves with some technologies to do so, that is not anonymity.

Actually can. How can a super careful guy whom doing a lot of bitcoin transaction using mixers can be traced without violating some terms by such third party? Unless the mixer site have a way to access customers information amd they breach their service term to give up some info regarding the customer. However this only works on crime purposes I guess.

[Dave1]

But you have to understand that there are blockchain analysis company that can find the link of your address and identify the person itself. Perhaps the best question is how to protect our identity and what measures to make it private?

1. VPN + Tor
2. Tumbling services or bitcoin mixers
3. Wasabi, Joinmarket, Samourai

There could be more practice to really protect our anonymity and privacy.

[tranthidung]

1. VPN + Tor

Do you really need to combine VPN and Tor?

2. Tumbling services or bitcoin mixers

Only top-notch tumblers/ mixers can provide services for your private transactions and there are many scam tumblers/ mixers.

• 2021 List Bitcoin Mixers Bitcoin Tumblers Websites
• Read scam accusations on scam tumblers if you have time

3. Wasabi, Joinmarket, Samourai

Some sources for recommended wallets and reviews.

• Recommended wallets
• Wallet reviews on Cryptowisser.com

[Cryptoshops]

There is no real anonymity with bitcoin if you are exchanging for fiat which is what 99% of people do with crypto,  and while crypto is linked to fiat there really is no "privacy" or anonymity and even if you purchase an item legitimately using only crypto there will always be a trace on it just like any other sale.

[zanezane]

Privacy and anonymity is the same in my opinion so either word you choose it will be the same for bitcoin. Anonymity is a bit debatable though since bitcoin is sometimes considered pseudonymous.

[20kevin20]

Actually can. How can a super careful guy whom doing a lot of bitcoin transaction using mixers can be traced without violating some terms by such third party? Unless the mixer site have a way to access customers information amd they breach their service term to give up some info regarding the customer. However this only works on crime purposes I guess.

The only way to stay as close to anonymous as possible is by never selling your coins for anything physical (or even digital such as games). As long as you sell your Bitcoins, you have cancelled your anonymity and I think there are other ways you could do this as well besides selling.

Once you buy a phone from me through BTC, even if those Bitcoins have been mixed and so, even if this happens P2P, I know your public address so I know who exactly you are on the blockchain. Monero gives you anonymity instead: besides the amount received, there is nothing you get to know about me. It's very close to cash payments, but even those are numbered (have a serie written on it).

You can't really be anonymous when a ledger is transparent, but you can definitely achieve high levels of privacy.

[semobo]

Bitcoin transactions are pseudo-anonymous which means its, not 100% anonymity and you can be traced in some way even if you mixed the coin if you involved in something highly offensive as per the laws but it gives privacy to anyone who wanted, they no need to visit a bank to make a transaction and also the receiver no need to reveal his identity to receive money.

[stompix]

No, it is private. Example of anonymous transactions are that of monero in which no record of public ledger, so nothing known about the transaction.

Bitcoin transactions are not private, privacy is about someone not being able to observe and document those actions, the blockchain is public, there is no privacy about transactions, the only thing that makes them semi-anonymous is that you can't link the sending address to a person in most cases. Bank transfers are private, only you and the receiver or sender will know about that transfer, nobody is able to monitor it freely, the merchant that has got 100$ from you won't be able to look at a chain and see all the payments you have made in your entire history from that bank account, but the same time they are not anonymous since they are linked to your name and ID details.

Actually can. How can a super careful guy whom doing a lot of bitcoin transaction using mixers can be traced without violating some terms by such third party? Unless the mixer site have a way to access customers information amd they breach their service term to give up some info regarding the customer. However this only works on crime purposes I guess.

And how do you keep your privacy when you spend those coins?

Mixers are being used to break the links when somebody wants to trace your movement, so :
I get paid by X, I use a mixer, I buy something from Y, no matter how closely you watch all the payments made by X you will never find out one of his employees bought something from Y. That doesn't change the fact that X knows who I am , and that doesn't change the fact that Y also does as I went to him to buy the stuff or he had it delivered to my home

[kryptqnick]

I don't think it's a language problem. At least, in my native language there are also two separate words for privacy and anonymity, so the issue of choosing the proper word persists. If we treat anonymity as merely the lack of identification by name, then Bitcoin can indeed by used anonymously. However, since all transactions are publicly available, it seems weird to call it an anonymous currency, so the term 'pseudonymous' is preferred. As for privacy, Bitcoin allows for some precisely because the transactions are not automatically linked to one's real identity, but it also doesn't seem to be the best word for describing Bitcoin because transactions can be easily traced and observed by anyone.

[cryptoaddictchie]

The only way to stay as close to anonymous as possible is by never selling your coins for anything physical (or even digital such as games). As long as you sell your Bitcoins, you have cancelled your anonymity and I think there are other ways you could do this as well besides selling.

Make sense. Just curious how many are still can manage to keep their anonymity from everyome except Satoshi. So indeed you also give up that, everyone must have sell their bitcoin right?

And how do you keep your privacy when you spend those coins?

Cant disageee with that cause you are right but keeping it as long as I can is the preventive way of keeping my privacy somehow.

[Charles-Tim]

Bitcoin transactions are not private, privacy is about someone not being able to observe and document those actions, the blockchain is public, there is no privacy about transactions, the only thing that makes them semi-anonymous is that you can't link the sending address to a person in most cases. Bank transfers are private, only you and the receiver or sender will know about that transfer, nobody is able to monitor it freely, the merchant that has got 100$ from you won't be able to look at a chain and see all the payments you have made in your entire history from that bank account, but the same time they are not anonymous since they are linked to your name and ID details.

Do not mind me there, the blockchain is open to be public, so it is public, not private. Which means bitcoin transactions are public, but yet pseudonymous because the transactions can only be accessible on blockchain but can not be linked to the person making the transaction(s) if the the person is maintaining privacy while such person making the transaction can be regarded as anonymous, because who made the transaction is not known.