[2015-01-31] The Silk Road trial is proof positive that bitcoin is not anonymous

[LiteCoinGuy]

The Silk Road trial is proof positive that bitcoin is not (and has never been) anonymous

What crypto-currency insiders have long known, but much of the media, regulators, and general public failed to grasp about bitcoin – that it is not actually anonymous, but rather is only pseudonymous and, if you can connect a digital wallet address to an individual, you can track very transaction ever made to and from that account – was demonstrated in stark detail in a Federal District Court in Manhattan this week.


http://pando.com/2015/01/30/the-silk-road-trial-is-proof-positive-that-bitcoin-is-not-and-has-never-been-anonymous/

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[cr1776]

Nice article. I liked:

...this sense, it seems that the KYC (know your customer) requirements currently being mandated by regulators around the globe should prove to be a sufficient solution to safely embracing the numerous benefits of bitcoin (and Blockchain) technology.

All forms of currency, be they paper or digital, will be abused in some form or fashion by those up to no good. At least with the blockchain, there’s a trail of breadcrumbs to follow after all’s said and done.

KYC will work until dark wallet and similar technologies and various side chains become common. Then it will become much more difficult to track.

[Frijj]

I disagree with the headline. If they hadn't of caught him redhanded then they would have had a harder time trying to find his coins. It's like saying cash isn't anonymous if you track someone down and find them with money in their wallet. If you don't catch someone in the act and they've been clever they'll have no idea who that money belongs to.

[LiteCoinGuy]

http://gizmodo.com/a-friendly-reminder-bitcoin-is-not-anonymous-1682885318

[fcuk]

I think this is a good wake up call for everyone but I think bitcoin can still be anonymous, you've just got to be really careful. Like you can be anonymous on the internet if you use proxies or tor, but if you're not careful it's pretty easy for law enforcement to catch you.

[Furio]

The Silk Road trial is proof positive that bitcoin is not (and has never been) anonymous

What crypto-currency insiders have long known, but much of the media, regulators, and general public failed to grasp about bitcoin – that it is not actually anonymous, but rather is only pseudonymous and, if you can connect a digital wallet address to an individual, you can track very transaction ever made to and from that account – was demonstrated in stark detail in a Federal District Court in Manhattan this week.


http://pando.com/2015/01/30/the-silk-road-trial-is-proof-positive-that-bitcoin-is-not-and-has-never-been-anonymous/

Provided that someone how is in that sort of illigal business, to link a ip address, bunch of amateurs it were....

[Whitehouse]

I think the Silk Road trial is proof positive that Ross Ulbricht is not anonymous. There are ways to remain completely anonymous even whilst running a darknet market but he made some schoolboy errors and has paid dearly for them. If you're going to run such a market yopu need to be so paranoid with your security that you triple check everything to make sure you're covered before you even set the site up but most importantly during.