Bitcoin does not provide full anonymity

[Casdinyard]

Traceable but as long as you don't go out of your own way to doxx yourself you're practically anonymous. Granted IP addresses are a thing and you can be tracked through that too but if that was the case you don't need bitcoin for it anymore. Bitcoin could provide full anonymity. Just cause transactions could be traced doesn't necessarily mean that you could track who the person is, and that is the primary ground that you need to fulfill in order to break the "bitcoin is anonymous" argument.

Imagine if bitcoin was a true "pseudonymous" cryptocurrency as what people are making it out to be. With proper investigation and tracking, you could even find out who Satoshi Nakamoto really is! After all his addresses are open for people to see, right?

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[goldkingcoiner]

Bitcoin is commonly referred to as "pseudonymous" rather than fully anonymous. Although transactions are registered on the public blockchain, the connection between wallet addresses and individuals' identities isn't direct. Nevertheless, transactions are traceable and subject to analysis. Additional information can potentially link specific transactions to certain individuals or groups. It's worth mentioning that privacy-improving methods can heighten anonymity while utilizing Bitcoin, yet absolute anonymity isn't an inherent aspect of the protocol.

People confuse the word privacy with the word anonymous.

If you connect your real life identity to your Bitcoin wallet address then obviously someone will know who that address belongs to. And by someone I mean any centralised platform under control of an entity (who has to follow whatever regulations the government tells them to follow). In most common cases this means cryptocurrency exchanges which have your kyc.

Bitcoin was never meant to be anonymous. Criminals who want anonymous money, use paper cash.

Bitcoin is private. Which means no third party can take it away from you without your permission. Not even the government.

[Z-tight]

Imagine if bitcoin was a true "pseudonymous" cryptocurrency as what people are making it out to be. With proper investigation and tracking, you could even find out who Satoshi Nakamoto really is! After all his addresses are open for people to see, right?

BTC transactions are pseudonymous, that is a correct fact because the blockchain is a public ledger and all transactions can be viewed, and you don't have to doxx yourself for your identity to be revealed through the details of your transactions in the blockchain, all you need do is to use your funds on a centralized exchange or service where you have to register with your ID before using. If you do that, blockchain analysis experts will be able to trace your coins to you if they are really looking for you.

Take note that Satoshi never spent his coins, never did he register with his real identity on any centralized service, so even if we all can see some of his addresses from the blocks he mined, they have no details that link to Satoshi's identity, just an address with a balance. This is why bitcoiners are advised to use decentralized or p2p exchanges to keep their anonymity, or they use CoinJoin services to protect their privacy.

[LogitechMouse]

Bitcoin is commonly referred to as "pseudonymous" rather than fully anonymous. Although transactions are registered on the public blockchain, the connection between wallet addresses and individuals' identities isn't direct. Nevertheless, transactions are traceable and subject to analysis. Additional information can potentially link specific transactions to certain individuals or groups. It's worth mentioning that privacy-improving methods can heighten anonymity while utilizing Bitcoin, yet absolute anonymity isn't an inherent aspect of the protocol.

I remembered the documentary regarding Jimmy Zhong with this one. He posted is address, and that's the main reason he got traced by the authorities thus, getting arrested.

Bitcoin doesn't really provide full anonymity at first already because you can still track the transactions thru blockchain. It isn't like those privacy coins out there that you can't really track the transaction that are being done. Your identity will not be known if you will not put your Bitcoin address online, or at least kept your personal info.

Bitcoin isn't intended to be anonymous, and it has never been, and I guess it will never be because it can be easily tracked thru the blockchain. On the other hand, if you didn't post your Bitcoin address online, then I guess you can keep yourself anonymous since nobody knows you.

[DapanasFruit]

In the beginning days of Bitcoin, those in authorities were then so afraid that this new form of currency can be utilized by all the illegal activities around most especially drugs and similar transactions since the parties involved in the transactions are not named unlike when you do a banking transfer where records can easily be retrieved by the portal owner. Later on, we realized that Bitcoin transactions are not really 100% antonymous since we can now mine data and see who can possibly be the owners of the wallet address used by the transactions and the record of transaction will always stay in the blockchain for anyone to see.  In case, one is looking for a 100% anonymity, then one has to use privacy coin and not Bitcoin.

[Blitzboy]

Imagine if bitcoin was a true "pseudonymous" cryptocurrency as what people are making it out to be. With proper investigation and tracking, you could even find out who Satoshi Nakamoto really is! After all his addresses are open for people to see, right?

BTC transactions are pseudonymous, that is a correct fact because the blockchain is a public ledger and all transactions can be viewed, and you don't have to doxx yourself for your identity to be revealed through the details of your transactions in the blockchain, all you need do is to use your funds on a centralized exchange or service where you have to register with your ID before using. If you do that, blockchain analysis experts will be able to trace your coins to you if they are really looking for you.

Take note that Satoshi never spent his coins, never did he register with his real identity on any centralized service, so even if we all can see some of his addresses from the blocks he mined, they have no details that link to Satoshi's identity, just an address with a balance. This is why bitcoiners are advised to use decentralized or p2p exchanges to keep their anonymity, or they use CoinJoin services to protect their privacy.

Satoshi wasnt just a careful person; he was the personification of planning and vision. His choice to stay hidden has shown many people how we think we have privacy in the digital age when we really dont.

Yes, centralized exchanges are garbage dumps for people who give up their private rights without thinking. But its not just about them; its also about the way Bitcoin works. Its about putting institutions to the test, spreading power out, and taking power back from centralized organizations. If you dont see how this fits into the bigger picture, you might not be ready for this change.

[Fundamentals Of]

Yes, and I believe it's a good thing. We should all be grateful to Satoshi for how Bitcoin is particularly designed. There's a perfect amount of balance. A certain amount of privacy is provided by Bitcoin. At the same time, it isn't private enough that law enforcers would be totally blind when it is involved in a crime. Privacy was definitely not the most important thing that Satoshi had in mind when he created it. The result is a cryptocurrency that is easy to adopt even from the side of governments and authorities.

[justdimin]

Bitcoin was never created to be anonymous in mind, there are some facts that shows that Bitcoin is far from been anonymous.

Bitcoin has a public address that can always be tracked back to an ip address or even to any exchange account, if the investigation is to be carried out properly, an identity will be unveiled.

Let's also not forget that buying Bitcoin isn't anonymous too, those exchanges where you swap your Fiat to Bitcoin all requires some kind of verification, such as driver's license or national identity cards.

Pseudonymous is the right calling word for Bitcoin instead of anonymous.

But you could use many thing that will increase your privacy level, so it will not make you have no privacy when use Bitcoin.

The first task is avoid any centralized exchange or P2P that will ask KYC, use no KYC P2P e.g. robosats, agoradesk etc or decentralized exchange e.g. Bisq.

Second, use a non custodial wallet, run full node and use Tor to access it, no one will know your IP address.

Third, use Bitcoin mixer that will able to mix your coins and no one can link your old address with your new address.

Really? Like should you even do these? I am not really in favor of this much, I have all my money in my binance account that I did KYC for and nothing has happened to me, before that I was at poloniex, before that it was cryptsy as well, and none of them were neither scammed me (got out before cryptsy end up going down) and none of them gave my information to anywhere that used it against me.

This is why I feel like it is not really a big deal and we should not go overboard with anonymity if we do not want to. If this is what someone prefers then I could just say kudos and move out of their way and let them do it, but I do believe that it is not needed, it is a way too much and shouldn't be done and should be useless at that point.

[Wimex]

Bitcoin is commonly referred to as "pseudonymous" rather than fully anonymous. Although transactions are registered on the public blockchain, the connection between wallet addresses and individuals' identities isn't direct. Nevertheless, transactions are traceable and subject to analysis. Additional information can potentially link specific transactions to certain individuals or groups. It's worth mentioning that privacy-improving methods can heighten anonymity while utilizing Bitcoin, yet absolute anonymity isn't an inherent aspect of the protocol.

I believe and I can even assure you that anonymity is not completely true in any system, they may have implemented such an imposing security that it can be seen in this way and many people are confused as they are new to this digital world, but that does not mean that what think, be it true, as many have mentioned, everyone who uses bitcoin is publicly encrypted in the chain of blocks, a kind of book where records are kept, so the addresses and amounts that are within them, can be seen by anyone and starting from there it can be proven that it is not what you think, another important aspect is that, despite the fact that there are other ways to increase the risk of not being discovered by having this coin in your possession to stay safe from those malicious who want to harm you.. for example, not using real personal data.. You have to be clear about the initial purpose for which it was created, and that is that Satoshi did not want people to remain anonymous, if not his approach was it was aimed at innovating a new transaction type that was free from manipulation by third parties.

[Medusah]

Bitcoin is anonymous in the sense that transaction do not include real names, as with banking transactions.  They carry however another fingerprint.  Inputs.  When spending ten inputs all at once, it is the same as broadcasting to everyone that one person owned those.  That is the basis of bitcoin's lack of anonymity.  The other part is that you can trace coins, but that is not solid evidence of ownership.

[Cryptomultiplier]

One reason why the government of many countries is fighting so hard to regulate BTC is so as to totally remove the blanket which makes BTC or crypto decentralized fully.

With KYC verification first of all, what should make one assume that they are still anonymous?

I really think the decentralized nature of BTC is to protect the user or investors coins/funds from being particularly quantified. Besides this, any other transactions one intends to do on the network can be tracked unless tools like mixers are used.
For countries where BTC/crypto is banned, digital footprint like emails or sms notifications, icon/logos of exchanges or wallets on the device has done well to reduce any chance of anonymity there may have been.

[worle1bm]

It was never meant to be in a such manner that it provides complete anonymous transactions as you can see all the records on blockchain for every address although with mixing services you can get privacy to full levels but not with the Bitcoin as it provides decentralization not being anonymous.

[Z-tight]

I have all my money in my binance account that I did KYC for and nothing has happened to me, before that I was at poloniex, before that it was cryptsy as well, and none of them were neither scammed me (got out before cryptsy end up going down) and none of them gave my information to anywhere that used it against me.

Storing all your money in Binance or any centralized exchange is too risky, exchanges are not for storing funds and you can lose your money there if the exchange collapses, just like ftx, Celcius, Three Arrows Capital and others that have bitten the dust did. If the exchange doesn't collapse, they can as well confiscate your money if they have any suspicion about you, or if they think you have just deposited "naughty" coins. Store your coins only in your self cusody wallet like Electrum, Sparrow, etc and own the keys to your money.

[taufik123]

Storing all your money in Binance or any centralized exchange is too risky, exchanges are not for storing funds and you can lose your money there if the exchange collapses, just like ftx, Celcius, Three Arrows Capital and others that have bitten the dust did. If the exchange doesn't collapse, they can as well confiscate your money if they have any suspicion about you, or if they think you have just deposited "naughty" coins. Store your coins only in your self cusody wallet like Electrum, Sparrow, etc and own the keys to your money.

It is not recommended to store all assets in CEX as it is dangerous, Learn from the FTX incident that made all users lose.
I only trade on Binance and deposit a certain amount of assets for trading capital, and it is also limited, only for a few trading assets.
When the trade is completed, take the rest and some profits made.

You also need to emphasize how to secure your personal wallet.
Secure the Private key, and make sure it is not hacked or exposed to malware.
Everything will be at risk if users do not provide more security to any storage.

[ancafe]

It is not recommended to store all assets in CEX as it is dangerous, Learn from the FTX incident that made all users lose.
I only trade on Binance and deposit a certain amount of assets for trading capital, and it is also limited, only for a few trading assets.
When the trade is completed, take the rest and some profits made.

You also need to emphasize how to secure your personal wallet.
Secure the Private key, and make sure it is not hacked or exposed to malware.
Everything will be at risk if users do not provide more security to any storage.

You are right and the incident that happened to FTX should be an important lesson for anyone in saving the assets they own, so that when the exchange has a problem we don't lose assets there too. I am also a user who trades on binance and whenever I make a profit I will transfer it to a secure repository like Electrum and I will leave enough left over to trade again. Even though it is a little more complicated, at least the assets we have are not at risk of loss caused by a problematic exchange or hacking.

I think this is a basic consideration that needs to be made by everyone who holds assets in the long term and must also be selective in choosing a wallet that has a much better level of security. If it is not of particular concern then we are worried that we will lose the asset/bitcoin we have collected and in the end it would seem a waste if it befalls us.

[tjtonmoy]

Each and everything you do on the internet leaves a footprint. So if you back track those footprints, you can track those and find the first wallet. But... here's the question. You can not get information about someone just by a public wallet address. Your privacy is how you keep it. Your way of making transactions will determine your privacy level.
To me, I still think that Bitcoin is anonymous to some extent, but not totally. When you are using Bitcoin for service, you are leaving some sort of information out there. Which can be track back to you. But if you avoid such services and keep your Bitcoin to your private wallet, you are anonymous.

[BVeyron]

Bitcoin is commonly referred to as "pseudonymous" rather than fully anonymous. Although transactions are registered on the public blockchain, the connection between wallet addresses and individuals' identities isn't direct. Nevertheless, transactions are traceable and subject to analysis. Additional information can potentially link specific transactions to certain individuals or groups. It's worth mentioning that privacy-improving methods can heighten anonymity while utilizing Bitcoin, yet absolute anonymity isn't an inherent aspect of the protocol.

None of the digital projects provide full anonymity, just take a look at the ads in the apps. All of them are based on the things someone looks for via search engines. Also, mic and camera help ad service. Usage of these tools in ad-creating services implies that it can be used not only for ads, but also for deanonymisation. So the anonymity of BTC accounts is easily surpassed with non-anonymity of Android and Ios systems, which know many things about any person saying or typing the word "bitcoin".

[Bushdark]

Each and everything you do on the internet leaves a footprint. So if you back track those footprints, you can track those and find the first wallet. But... here's the question. You can not get information about someone just by a public wallet address. Your privacy is how you keep it. Your way of making transactions will determine your privacy level.
To me, I still think that Bitcoin is anonymous to some extent, but not totally. When you are using Bitcoin for service, you are leaving some sort of information out there. Which can be track back to you. But if you avoid such services and keep your Bitcoin to your private wallet, you are anonymous.

There is no way we can be fully anonymous in the market no matter the coin that we are buying or holding, there is always a footprint in the cloud that can lead to a trace. This is why even the Crypto scammers that have hacked different projects are always being apprended because there is always a trace to monitor anybody's activities. Just like the white paper says, Bitcoin is a decentralized currency even though it's not fully decentralized but we can still appreciate compared to our normal fiat currency that always create a bond between the government which regulate the bank and us.

[tjtonmoy]

~Snip

The white paper is old and there are many new things that will help you to get that anonymity. Then again it also depends on the service provider. I am not saying this just because I am wearing a paid signature, no. It is a way to do it and it is reliable. I am talking about the Bitcoin mixture. It is a great way to put an end to your online footprint and start over. But that also depends on how you are using it.

There will be more advance ways to hide your track in the future for sure. But as long as we are in the present, we have to use what we have at our hand.

[Fivestar4everMVP]

Bitcoin is commonly referred to as "pseudonymous" rather than fully anonymous. Although transactions are registered on the public blockchain, the connection between wallet addresses and individuals' identities isn't direct. Nevertheless, transactions are traceable and subject to analysis. Additional information can potentially link specific transactions to certain individuals or groups. It's worth mentioning that privacy-improving methods can heighten anonymity while utilizing Bitcoin, yet absolute anonymity isn't an inherent aspect of the protocol.

In the end, decentralization does not equal anonymity, this is one thing I believe a lot of us are understanding wrongly,  many people understand bitcoin transactions to be untraceable because Bitcoin is decentralized, this understanding is born out of pure misconception, one and easy way to know this is for the fact that we have a lot of mixers, this is different companies providing Bitcoin mixing services to interested customers, if bitcoin transactions were anonymous, there won't be any need for this mixing services, so for the fact that this mixing services are available and have people patronizing them, should tell everyone of us that bitcoin transactions and not anonymous even though bitcoin itself is decentralized.