Are blockchain explorer threat to the privacy ?

[UmerIdrees]

I mostly use the blockchain explorers like https://www.blockchain.com/explorer or https://blockchair.com/ to view my wallet transactions confirmations or sometimes to even check the balance etc.

Recently i was away from home and was check my balance on one of these explorer at my relative home. He is also involved in cryptocurrencies so he knew what i was doing. He told me not to checl my balance through these sites as these are public sites and it can be a threat to your privacy.

I told him that i was putting my public address in these explorers and no one can hack my coins knowing only the public key. Only the private keys needs to be hidden while public keys can be entered anywhere to check the balance or given to anyone if they want to send us bitcoins.

Still he was insisting that you should avoid these explorers. I diagreed but what to know your point of view? What is the harm of checkng your transactions and wallets balances through explorers  

[1714242880]

1714242880

[1714242880]

1714242880

[1714242880]

1714242880

[Bitcoin Smith]

If someone is able to take away your bitcoins just by knowing your public keys or bitcoin address then bitcoin will be a utter failure in no time so your friend/relative has no idea about that.

But talking about privacy anyone who knows your Bitcoin address can track your wallet balance which you may not like it and if someone close to you got that information then it might get uncomfortable for you.

[philipma1957]

Well if you are on your own pc and it is not a legacy address there is not much to worry about.

If it is a public area you could be filmed and people would know that the address belongs to you.

Which could be illegal to have an address in some countries or people could see a large balance.


this belongs to me

https://btc1.trezor.io/address/bc1qmu9aky8nfqt7jrcp8pmzav5aurc5tj29w3y3d5

it is only 50 usd  so I don't fear someone knowing it is my address.

[mk4]

It's a lot more of a privacy issue. If you frequently search a wallet address on a block explorer, they could make the assumption that the wallet is yours knowing that your searches are pretty much tied to your IP address(hence potentially your personal information with the help of your local ISP). There's a reason why you see some people recommend using Tor when using block explorers.

[philipma1957]

It's a lot more of a privacy issue. If you frequently search a wallet address on a block explorer, they could make the assumption that the wallet is yours knowing that your searches are pretty much tied to your IP address(hence potentially your personal information with the help of your local ISP). There's a reason why you see some people recommend using Tor when using block explorers.

tor brings about other issues i.e. why is that guy using TOR

lets try to track him.

[virasog]

Still he was insisting that you should avoid these explorers. I diagreed but what to know your point of view? What is the harm of checkng your transactions and wallets balances through explorers  

When you use any blockchain explorer you IP address is logged with them and they know that this IP address access this btc address multiple times.
They can give this data to blockchain analysis companies who will put one tick in the box that since this IP address searches this btc address multiple times, so one possibility is that btc address belongs to that IP. I hope you already know that tracing you by the IP address is not difficult at all.

Its better to have a read only wallet configured where you can see your balances (For example , Blue Wallet) or if using the explorer is the only way, then better use it through TOR or VPN.

[albert0bsd]

Well that depends on the Point of view of each of us, some are more paranoid some not.

Lets say that you want to check the addresses of satoshi, Your IP become linked to  address of satoshi? I don't think so...

But what if you check for a specific Transaction ID or some new fresh address just to see if your balance appears there, Does your IP become linked to that address/TXID ? maybe.

All depends on how much chain analysis does those pages. Personally, I prefer the mempool.space explorer, It's a little more visual and intuitive.

Those explorers never will have access to your found of course, but maybe there is going to be a little of tracking

[BitcoinGirl.Club]

If it is a public area you could be filmed and people would know that the address belongs to you.

As long as there are no chance to know the public key by others, there are no risk involved.

[...snip....]

I think your friend is concerned about the IP log that may the explorer log when you are entering any address or transaction to check details. But as long as it does not have a lot of btc stored in any address, I don't think anything will trigger the admin of these explorers to check a specific address and the locations it was searched. Even if they get the location, there are no concrete evidence for them to hunt you down.

[Synchronice]

Still he was insisting that you should avoid these explorers. I diagreed but what to know your point of view? What is the harm of checkng your transactions and wallets balances through explorers  

Blockchain explorers can't harm your wallet, can't steal your coins, can't harm you, they are just explorers. The only concern here is that if you type your address in their search bar with your naked ip address, there is a chance that explorer will log this, i.e., explorer will save the data that you were checked address X. But you can search a lot of address, right? How can they know which one you really own?
I don't know if your friend knows it and told you but when you use Electrum wallet that is connected to other nodes, there is a chance that when you make a bitcoin transaction, those nodes log your IP with it. I say, there is a chance, we don't actually know. By the way, this is nothing to worry about but if you are super cautious and worry too much about your privacy, then run your own node.

tor brings about other issues i.e. why is that guy using TOR

lets try to track him.

That's what I am saying here for decades that the fact that you use Tor is an issue itself. For quick checkup that doesn't require a lot of bandwidth, one should use Tor bridge. Or use a VPN you trust.

[mk4]

tor brings about other issues i.e. why is that guy using TOR

lets try to track him.

I'd prefer the authorities knowing that I used Tor, as you can give deniable plausibility by saying that you're using it for educational purposes or whatnot. Your bitcoin wallet address being tied to your identity though, is a far bigger problem.

But yea, you don't necessarily need to use Tor. Maybe a proxy or a VPN. In the end it will totally depend on how tight you want your privacy to be.

[Charles-Tim]

I told him that i was putting my public address in these explorers and no one can hack my coins knowing only the public key. Only the private keys needs to be hidden while public keys can be entered anywhere to check the balance or given to anyone if they want to send us bitcoins.

Public key and public (address) which bitcoin enthusiasts are calling address are not the same, although you can use anyone that you like to track your bitcoin transaction.

For master public key, I will not advice you to use it to track your bitcoin transaction on any explorer for privacy reasons. It is better to get a watch-only wallet instead.

For anonymity, use Tor.

Still he was insisting that you should avoid these explorers. I diagreed but what to know your point of view? What is the harm of checkng your transactions and wallets balances through explorers 

If you do not care about privacy, you may not care. But take a look at this:



If you do not use Tor, knowing your real identity can be easier with IP address and it is not good to trust any site.

[AprilioMP]

Still he was insisting that you should avoid these explorers. I diagreed but what to know your point of view? What is the harm of checkng your transactions and wallets balances through explorers  

I am a member who is studying and will continue to study technical things because I really enjoy this field.
Browsing the blockhair.com or mempol.space sites for these two purposes has no impact on privacy as long as the access is done on your own device. When that is done, we do not enter the private key but the public address.

My guess is why he insists on what you are doing, because there are other things that your relatives are worried about to prevent you from frequently browsing the explore site to see transactions and check the balance. When someone sees a large amount of the available balance in your Bitcoin address, it might pose a danger to you which could threaten your personal security.

[Z-tight]

Browsing the blockhair.com or mempol.space sites for these two purposes has no impact on privacy as long as the access is done on your own device.

It can have an impact on privacy, you'll not lose your coins that way but you can lose your privacy. You should use Tor or vpn to hide your ip address if you want some form of privacy when you constantly use blockchain explorers. It is better to use your master public key to set up a watch only wallet on your online device to check your addresses and transactions.

When someone sees a large amount of the available balance in your Bitcoin address, it might pose a danger to you which could threaten your personal security.

Yes and it is possible for it to be exposed when you use blockchain explorers to check your address balance or transactions you've made.

[hosseinimr93]

It is better to use your master public key to set up a watch only wallet on your online device to check your addresses and transactions.

This will harm your privacy too.
With creating a watch-only wallet using your master public key, the owner of the node you connect to can know that all the derived addresses are owned by the same person.
If you connect to the node with your own IP address, you may even make the situation worse because the owner of the node can link all the addresses to your IP address.

[bitmover]

It is better to use your master public key to set up a watch only wallet on your online device to check your addresses and transactions.

This will harm your privacy too.
With creating a watch-only wallet using your master public key, the owner of the node you connect to can know that all the derived address are owned by the same person.
If you connect to the node with your own IP address, you may even make the situation worse as the owner of the node can link all the address to your IP address.

The only way to achieve privacy and to avoid having your wallet tracked is by running your own node. Because your node will have all addresses.

[AprilioMP]

Browsing the blockhair.com or mempol.space sites for these two purposes has no impact on privacy as long as the access is done on your own device.

It can have an impact on privacy, you'll not lose your coins that way but you can lose your privacy. You should use Tor or vpn to hide your ip address if you want some form of privacy when you constantly use blockchain explorers. It is better to use your master public key to set up a watch only wallet on your online device to check your addresses and transactions.

This means that every time you carry out the process of checking transactions and balances on a bitcoin address using the explore site, you must turn on the VPN to avoid the possibility of our IP being copied because the browser used to browse the site cannot be trusted.

It doesn't matter to me that in order to protect privacy I have to use a VPN, because they above have answered the same thing regarding VPN and Tor.
Regarding using a master public key, I don't think this will solve the impasse regarding privacy that is questionable when checking transactions using the blockchair.com site and other sites with the same function.

The only way to achieve privacy and to avoid having your wallet tracked is by running your own node. Because your node will have all addresses.

I agree to this in order to protect privacy and avoid having my wallet tracked.

[pooya87]

He told me not to checl my balance through these sites as these are public sites and it can be a threat to your privacy.

I told him that i was putting my public address in these explorers and no one can hack my coins knowing only the public key. Only the private keys needs to be hidden while public keys can be entered anywhere to check the balance or given to anyone if they want to send us bitcoins.

Still he was insisting that you should avoid these explorers. I diagreed but what to know your point of view? What is the harm of checkng your transactions and wallets balances through explorers 

To be fair you are not disagreeing with the warning you were given. Your statements are correct but they are about security and have nothing to do with privacy. Privacy is about your identity, the list of addresses you own which also includes your total balance and being able to link these two together.

When you visit a blockchain explorer, the owners of that site can create a link between your identity (IP address, browser finger print, etc) and the address you checked there. Eventually they can build a database which would determine which addresses belong to you and how much bitcoin you own.

[apogio]

When you visit a blockchain explorer, the owners of that site can create a link between your identity (IP address, browser finger print, etc) and the address you checked there. Eventually they can build a database which would determine which addresses belong to you and how much bitcoin you own.

That's absolutely true, but I ll add 2 more things here:

1. They can safely assume with a high level of certainty that the owner of IP XXX.XXX.XXX owns the keys to access the addresses you search for. They can't be sure, since you could be looking for an address you found online or for many other reasons. But yes, they could track multiple addresses and link them to you.

2. Running your own node and your own mempool explorer upon your node, solves a lot of issues.

[UmerIdrees]

When you visit a blockchain explorer, the owners of that site can create a link between your identity (IP address, browser finger print, etc) and the address you checked there. Eventually they can build a database which would determine which addresses belong to you and how much bitcoin you own.

Wow these so called "Block Chain Analysis" companies has so much time to watch my IP addresses, link my bitcoins to my IP and then what ?
Even though i do not have much bitcoins, but even i have, they can't get my bitcoins.

Also all the top wallets are publically avaiable as to which address contain how much bitcoins. Sometimes if i also search other addresses, not belonging to me. Also, there will be people who would be using VPN to check the addresses on blockchian explorers. I think that this data wil be a big mess rather than anything useful for analysis.

[hg_away]

Privacy is something different from bitcoin security. I see that some people recommend using Tor, but Tor does not provide a new IP address for every time you open your browser, so this blockchain explorer gives a piece of data and if there is a party willing to pay the costs and can obtain information from Microsoft, Apple, Google, then just using Tor will not save you.

Quick tips to enhance your privacy when using Tor:

increase your knowledge, properly configured your settings, Don't torrent, and avoid installing browser add-ons.