Why do some recommend bitcoin mixers over using XMR to get a new bitcoin address

[Anonohmon]

Why do people recommend bitcoin mixers over using Monero to get a fresh anonymous bitcoin address?

So I've found out that apparently... firstly... bitcoin mixers can still be traced if you dont do it for long enough of a time or if there isn't a ton of liquidity.

Second, the act of using a bitcoin mixer can "taint" your bitcoin on some exchanges.

Third, you're
trusting that the bitcoin mixing service isn't a glowing honey pot...
trusting that they dont log your data.

Vs you have bitcoin, you want to erase the public trail so you convert to XMR, then send XMR to a new anonymous exchange and convert to Bitcoin. That seems more simple, convenient, and surefire.

The only downside I can see is if you have a large amount. So if you have 9.57 bitcoin then it vanishes, and suddenly somewhere, 9.56 bitcoin shows up on the blockchain, it's a bit more "hmm.... there is a good chance that's it"

But if we're talking 1 btc or less, XMR seems to be the way to go right or am I missing something?

[pooya87]

Each method has its pros and cons, nobody recommends one over the other.
For example using XMR means you should find a way to convert your bitcoin to it first. You obviously can't do it using centralized exchanges and your option for P2P trading is limited and mostly bad considering the risks and the losses due to variable exchange rate. Meaning you could enter 1 BTC but only get equivalent of 0.9 BTC in XMR. It also has the additional problem of you having to install a XMR wallet and know how to use it correctly.
On top of that the "taint" nonsense may not go away since when you convert your XMR back to BTC you may get "tainted" coins again!

In short you want to decide what level of privacy you want to achieve. Obviously using XMR correctly would maximize your privacy but it also maximizes the effort you have to take.

[davis196]

Vs you have bitcoin, you want to erase the public trail so you convert to XMR, then send XMR to a new anonymous exchange and convert to Bitcoin. That seems more simple, convenient, and surefire.

Anonymous exchange?Can you mention a few "anonymous exchanges",which are totally anonymous and accepting monero transactions?I don't know about any anonymous exchanges.
BTC mixers are more popular,because most of the crypto users want to deal with Bitcoin rather than Monero.
BTC is accepted almost everywhere in the crypto industry,while Monero is accepted in only a few places on the clean web.I'm not talking about the darkweb,where Monero is the main cryptocurrency.
I don't think that anybody is recommending BTC mixers over Monero.Both options are risky and there's no way to achieve complete 100% privacy.

[OmegaStarScream]

Anonymous exchange?Can you mention a few "anonymous exchanges",which are totally anonymous and accepting monero transactions?I don't know about any anonymous exchanges.

Instant exchange seem to be what most people use when dealing with monero. Obviously though, these exchanges can still ask you to verify your identity if a "suspicious"a activity  is detected so it's probably not the best solution out there, not when dealing with very large amounts anyway. You can also use Localmonero, which is basically a copy of localbitcoins, minus KYC.

[witcher_sense]

Both these methods aren't ideal for the reason that while using them you reveal the fact that you're trying to hide something, which can make an adversary watch your transactions more closely. Have you ever heard of steganography, which is essentially a practice of hiding the fact that you're hiding something? This is how it works: you make an absolutely "normal" transaction in which you send funds from address A to address B, it will look like you're paying someone or making a self-transfer, but in reality, you receive funds from address C in such a way that is not possible to find the real source of funding or determine the connection between your initial address A and receiving address C.

Anonymous exchange?Can you mention a few "anonymous exchanges",which are totally anonymous and accepting monero transactions?I don't know about any anonymous exchanges.

Some examples:

https://unstoppableswap.net/
https://github.com/Reckless-Satoshi/robosats

Of course, these are not "totally" anonymous exchanges, but you can achieve a decent level of anonymity if you use them correctly.

[Anonohmon]

Btw, Kukoin lists monero https://www.kucoin.com/news/en-monero-xmr-gets-listed-on-kucoin

AND no kyc for withdrawals if its 1 btc or under. https://support.kucoin.plus/hc/en-us/articles/360015102254-About-KYC-Verification

[GreatArkansas]

Btw, Kukoin lists monero https://www.kucoin.com/news/en-monero-xmr-gets-listed-on-kucoin

AND no kyc for withdrawals if its 1 btc or under. https://support.kucoin.plus/hc/en-us/articles/360015102254-About-KYC-Verification

This is a centralized exchange, even though they have no KYC, there are still a lot of possibilities that your privacy is not safe here. Also, the downside here is your funds may get locked by them, so it's still not safe for me to use such a centralized service.
Another thing is, that I believe that converting Bitcoin to Monero is more hassle other than using some bitcoin mixers.

[franky1]

as some have said.
to get XMR means swapping for it and then back again.. which if using an exchange becomes meaningless because the exchange sees the btc->xmr and sees the xmr->btc so they still end up linking you to an allotment of btc

if your using an 'anonymous' exchange. then most of the btc sold for MXR has bad taint from majority of illicit things that people want anonymous. so when you buy xmr and then use the service to sell xmr to get btc. you end up grabbing someone elses bad taint from that exchanges pool of tainted coins many illicit people have previously deposited..

mixers/anonymous swap services problem is that those with illicit/nefarious uses are the ones using these. so your swapping your illicitly linked coins with someone elses illicit coins. which might result in situations where your somewhat low level dirty coin from a petty crime becoming your ownership of coins linked to a mega nasty crime.
yes some people are trying too hard to get good people doing clean activities to also use mixers by trying to propagandise that bitcoin needs everyone to use mixers, by suggesting FUD and fear tactics that everyone should be afraid of being caught doing something.

its the old script of 'if we make all coins dirty then authorities give up investigating dirty coins'.. which is a false script to play by.

but the end result is that no one that does clean activities cares about mixing. they certainly dont want to risk their own security/clean history to help out a criminal

oh.. and the other con of using tactics that can be seen as laundering.. is that it actually gets you highlighted and flagged much more easily to provoke an investigation..

yep by using a mixer you are defecto going to get a suspicious activity flag against your account. and exchanges would look into your activities alot more.. whereby if you didnt use a mixer. you just become part of the millions of logs of data an exchange stores for a few years but never looks twice at

[ChiBitCTy]

This is a really good question/topic, one don’t I don’t think anyones ever asked before but it’s something I’ve always wondered, and glad some people have left some good answers. Monero is one of like 3-4 coins in total I think are actually worth a fck. Anyways merited this post, glad you asked this.