Question about bitcoin transaction privacy

[AgriTrack]

Well I might say technically your funds should be saved at some point since your private keys are not in the wrong hands….talking from experience for someone to know how much worth of BTC you have and your transaction patterns is a bad one….now the risk even without your seed phrases and keys let's say if someone finds out I'm worth having 2BTC and I live in a local community with such amount, I think that info is a big info to the scammer or kidnapper’s…which over the years I have noted such that bigger OGs never talk about their crypto amounts publicly.

Even though you are right that if someone comes to know that you have a good amount of bitcoins and they know where you live or even recognize you, that could become a big problem because they can come after you. However, someone cannot know that just by looking at your wallet. The only way one can find out that a specific wallet belongs to you is if you have publicly mentioned it somewhere, and your public profile reveals your identity, or if your wallet is connected to a centralized service with your identity.

Then again, a centralized platform will not give their customers' personal information to anyone except authorities who approach them professionally to get information about a case or anything important. It is not possible for some regular person to approach a centralized platform to get personal information or find the identity of someone who has a connection with a wallet address they have. So basically, those who don't reveal such stuff publicly should most probably be safe from these things.

[uchegod-21]

Bitcoin transaction is already public, but does anyone who goes through those transactions know you in person or have access to your bio data and other personal details? If the answer is a full NO, then you have nothing to be bothered about. Just incase you want to know how anyone could have access to those information, then you should know that everytime you provide KYC details on an exchange, you are exposing yourself.

If your personal information posted by you publicly or leaked by any reasons from any platform, your Bitcoin transactions related to a known address will be also known by other people, by web scrapers and more. It's really bad for privacy and maybe for your possible legal and tax issues with government in the future too.

Privacy is very important, and KYC breaks your privacy.
Why KYC is extremely dangerous – and useless.
A call to action: Stop the FCC's KYC regime.

Exactly. People don't realise how bad KYC is. They get scam messages on their emails and every other medium through which people could contact them, yet they keep wondering how these scammers could find them to send such messages. Someone should remind them that their KYC details were leaked!

I think I can see where you're going, but I'm not so sure it's as simple as you may suggest since a person's name is not actually written on the blockchain doesn't mean the person should not be concerned.  Someone might not know the person behind an address today, but the moment that address is linked to someone's real identity through an exchange or perhaps a payment that transaction history can become more meaningful.

Something else I would like you to know is that privacy is not just about concealing your identity.  Personally, there are some kind of informations about me that I may not want others to know even though they don't actually know my name.  If someone can really see and follow my financial activities, that alone is enough information about me that I really want it to be private.

If your personal details is not put out their for people to see, no one would link a certain bitcoin address to you. That is why you should avoid exchanges that require you to fill in those details that can be linked to you in the future. What use will it be to scammers and criminals if they can only see the activities going on on a particular address but do not know who is behind the wallet? This is the gift Satoshi gave to us but we undermine it. KYC is killing us.

[Cookdata]

Although it is not possible to know someone's identity through a Bitcoin address but if the situation is like this, when Bitcoin is bought such as through P2P the account that is used to message the buyers leaves information with the seller. If it is exchange P2P then if they buy Bitcoin through fiat the bank number or in the case of mobile banking the phone number. The biggest problem occurs when someone makes a transaction with another person through social media.
Sometimes an email or phone number or other such information goes to the seller which they may later sell to scammers and based on that information scammers may make some attempt.

Your explanation of p2p isn't implicitly well explain because there are decentralized p2p exchanges that does not ask for peoples details before they make transaction. In decentralized exchanges, transactions are handle in a way that both parties does not cheat the each other and still respect each others privacy, there is no way an outsider can know or track your transaction because you use a decentralized p2p, unlike centralized p2p that gives details if they are been forced.

You mentioned of social media, that's not true in all cases. I have done transaction on telegram like two times and never for once was I scam through the process. Although there are many scammers on telegram, it's not safe but transaction has been done by me and I don't even have a username on u profile before transaction was completed. Good thing, you can deactivate your accounts if you feel like not using the telegram again. One good thing about telegram, they respect people's privacy.

[Tetu100]

The second approach is getting worse, just like being mentioned by @Mr Reporter

• Blackmailing you with your secret stuff
• Robbery at your house
• Kidnaped you, demanded your crypto
• Kidnaped one of your family and demanded to pay the ransom

There is a higher possibilities of encountering any of these mentions above since the person in question has already made his or her wallet strength (  funds) being known to the public. Remember no body plot any form of evil for what they knows nothing about, maybe when you create the public awareness that you have such magnitude of funds in your possession is what attract the above mentions.

Note that the golden rule in bitcoin innovation is strictly on privacy, and privacy is what enhances security and it should be the first priority as a bitcoin enthusiasts least you put your live on the line.

[SilverCryptoBullet]

The second approach is getting worse, just like being mentioned by @Mr Reporter

• Blackmailing you with your secret stuff
• Robbery at your house
• Kidnaped you, demanded your crypto
• Kidnaped one of your family and demanded to pay the ransom

There is a higher possibilities of encountering any of these mentions above since the person in question has already made his or her wallet strength (  funds) being known to the public.

There are many bad people who are greedy out there, and they are bad in controlling their emotion and action. When they are greedy, lose control themselves, they will try to do physical attacks against people who are known as rich or shown off as rich.

If you plot yourself like a rich person, your family as a prosperous one, it's risky as such brutal people will aim at you and your family as very first and most favorite targets.

Make your home a fortress.
How criminals identify victims?
Practice strong privacy to protect your bitcoin from $5 wrench attacks.

[coinlary]

When you mentioned that, “If someone could figure out approximately how much BTC I have, when I receive BTC…”, then we have to look at it from the POV that someone could potentially link your addresses to your identity.

In such case, the worst  scenario you can expect would be a physical attack such as a wrench attack, if they dig deeper and eventually find out where you live or your precise location. Otherwise, the threats would generally be digital, such as cyberattack attempts and other forms of attacks you're probably already aware of.

That's basically the main concern.

[Somegory]

Let’s say my private keys are well protected. I use a cold wallet with a passphrase, and I keep my seed phrase somewhere safe. So, from a security point of view, my Bitcoin should be secure.

If someone could figure out approximately how much BTC I have, when I receive BTC, or which transactions are connected to my wallet, how could that affect me if they still don’t have access to my private keys? Bitcoin transactions are already public, and they don’t give away my identity anyway.

See, don't trouble yourself too much, and don't make things more complicated for yourself, if no one can get to your private keys no one can get to your Bitcoin, keep it this way.

Don't let your private key see the light of the day, always keep it safe away from online and humans then everything else can be public excluding your Passphrase, since you said you've activated that too.

Your wallet address will always be public, there are people who likes viewing people's balance and that's the highest thing they can do, some people monitors Alex beckers wallet address, even Trumps and others, it's normal.

[ImGenius]

If someone can find out how much Bitcoin you have then it can create a big problem. This is why people always want to remain anonymous, so that no one can become greedy over your Bitcoin and physically harm you. If you publish your Bitcoin on any online platform and they see a high amount of Bitcoin in that address then hackers through that platform might be able to track your identity. The most dangerous situation is when they physically attack you such as kidnapping, blackmail, or attacking you in other ways.

For this reason if you have a high amount of Bitcoin you should definitely use a hardware wallet and never make that address public on any platform where your identity can be tracked (Even an email address can be used to identify a person).

[qurbanshah02]

If someone can find out how much Bitcoin you have then it can create a big problem. This is why people always want to remain anonymous, so that no one can become greedy over your Bitcoin and physically harm you. If you publish your Bitcoin on any online platform and they see a high amount of Bitcoin in that address then hackers through that platform might be able to track your identity. The most dangerous situation is when they physically attack you such as kidnapping, blackmail, or attacking you in other ways.

This way, the motivation will be low and you will be seen as an attack in the eyes of people. So do not tell anyone about your Bitcoin, although you can tell them to explain. If you tell someone that many Bitcoins in your wallet and earn profits, then people will envy you and may want to steal your Bitcoin. This is why the price of Bitcoin is high and if someone has even 10 Bitcoins, it is a lot of money, so anyone will have enough incentive to steal it so that they can get the Bitcoin. This will be a clear theft and it is more dangerous, it will cause you a lot of loss of life. That is why many people here want to save their lives in such a problem. So it is not a problem of Bitcoin but based on other things.