{"id":312035,"date":"2021-07-30T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-30T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/how-anonymous-is-bitcoin\/"},"modified":"2021-07-30T14:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-07-30T11:00:00","slug":"how-anonymous-is-bitcoin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/how-anonymous-is-bitcoin\/","title":{"rendered":"#How Anonymous Is Bitcoin?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a2198c7f4024\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a2198c7f4024\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/how-anonymous-is-bitcoin\/#Anonymous_vs_Pseudonymous\" >Anonymous vs. Pseudonymous<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/how-anonymous-is-bitcoin\/#Blockchain_and_Anonymity\" >Blockchain and Anonymity<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/how-anonymous-is-bitcoin\/#Exchanges_and_Proof_of_Identity\" >Exchanges and Proof of Identity<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/how-anonymous-is-bitcoin\/#Anonymous_Cryptocurrency\" >Anonymous Cryptocurrency<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/how-anonymous-is-bitcoin\/#Anonymous_Alternatives_to_Bitcoin\" >Anonymous Alternatives to Bitcoin<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p><strong>&#8220;#How Anonymous Is Bitcoin?&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<div>\n<figure style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"type:primaryImage wp-image-741528 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/bitcoin-anonymous.jpg?width=398&amp;trim=1,1&amp;bg-color=000&amp;pad=1,1 400w, https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/bitcoin-anonymous.jpg?width=1198&amp;trim=1,1&amp;bg-color=000&amp;pad=1,1 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, 400w, 1200w\" src=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/bitcoin-anonymous.jpg?width=1198&amp;trim=1,1&amp;bg-color=000&amp;pad=1,1\" alt=\"A stylized anonymous &quot;hacker&quot; using a laptop with a Bitcoin illustration.\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" data-crediturl=\"https:\/\/www.shutterstock.com\/image-photo\/bitcoin-gold-coin-anonymous-hacker-sittign-1028261551\" data-credittext=\"Lukas Gojda\/Shutterstock.com\" onload=\"pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\" onerror=\"this.onerror=null;pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"type:primaryImage imagecredit\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shutterstock.com\/image-photo\/bitcoin-gold-coin-anonymous-hacker-sittign-1028261551\">Lukas Gojda\/Shutterstock.com<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Cryptocurrency, and Bitcoin especially, has a reputation for being a completely anonymous form of payment, free from tracking and interference. However, if you look a little closer, you\u2019ll see that these digital currencies reveal a lot more information about you than you might think.<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Anonymous_vs_Pseudonymous\"><\/span>Anonymous vs. Pseudonymous<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The main issue with Bitcoin is with its wallet, where your Bitcoin is stored. Cryptocurrency wallets are <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/general\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"General\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">general<\/a>ly <i>pseudonymous<\/i> rather than <i>anonymous<\/i>.\u00a0Anonymity is about being \u201cnameless\u201d\u2014it comes from the Greek word for \u201cwithout name\u201d\u2014but instead, your wallet gives you a fake name, a pseudonym. Instead of \u201cMark Twain,\u201d you get some scrambled numbers and letters, but the idea is the same.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the Bitcoin Project itself disclosing this information on\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/bitcoin.org\/en\/you-need-to-know\">its website<\/a>, plenty of people have taken the scrambled nature of their wallet addresses to mean that payments can\u2019t be tracked. That\u2019s the point behind using a fake name, after all. But your Bitcoin wallet address <em>can<\/em> be tracked, and rather simply, too: It\u2019s right there in the way that the system is set up.<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Blockchain_and_Anonymity\"><\/span>Blockchain and Anonymity<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Bitcoin works on a blockchain, which for our purposes is a list of when Bitcoin came into being, where it was used, and by whom. (It\u2019s actually a little more complicated than that. Read our article on how blockchain works for all the details.)<\/p>\n<p>This list, also called a ledger, is public. Anybody can see which wallet spent which Bitcoin where. Although the person who spent the money is hidden behind a bunch of scrambled numbers and letters (One example is \u201cvBMSEYstWetqTFn5Au4m4GFg7xJaN,\u201d although that one\u2019s fake.), their activity isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>For example, with the knowledge that your buddy John spent money on a specific service\u2014a VPN, let\u2019s say\u2014on a certain day, you could go to the ledger and see which Bitcoin address spent money on that VPN then. Even if that search spits out more than one or two addresses, you can check where else money was spent. If one of the addresses that you found made a Wikipedia donation like John regularly does, you have a second data point.<\/p>\n<p>Like with browser fingerprinting, it isn\u2019t one specific data point that gives you away. It\u2019s the whole picture. With today\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/technology\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"4\" title=\"Technology\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">technology<\/a>, it\u2019s easy to piece all of these little bits together, too, making pseudonymous accounts next to useless when it comes to protecting your identity.<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Exchanges_and_Proof_of_Identity\"><\/span>Exchanges and Proof of Identity<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>There\u2019s another issue, though: Spending is one thing, but buying Bitcoin isn\u2019t anonymous, either. Exchanges, where you exchange your government-backed currency for cryptocurrency, all require some kind of proof of identity, be it a passport, a driver\u2019s license, or a government-issued ID. Just like regular banks, to operate, exchanges need to implement know-your-customer (KYC) protocols.<\/p>\n<p>This means asking you for your ID (like here, on the site for popular exchange <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/redirect.viglink.com\/?key=204a528a336ede4177fff0d84a044482&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fhelp.coinbase.com%2Fen%2Fcoinbase%2Fgetting-started%2Fgetting-started-with-coinbase%2Fid-doc-verification\">Coinbase<\/a>) and maybe even for proof of income and the like. Like with banks, they do this because they have to: Governments around the world are cracking down on <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/roberthart\/2021\/07\/13\/british-police-seize-250-million-of-cryptocurrency-in-international-money-laundering-crackdown\/\">money laundering<\/a>, no matter the method.<\/p>\n<p>Since the ledger is public, authorities can see who bought how much and when by simply asking the exchange for your information. If you think that a fake ID might help, then you\u2019re in for a nasty surprise, too: You can also be identified through the bank account that you used. <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencemag.org\/news\/2016\/03\/why-criminals-cant-hide-behind-bitcoin\">This piece in <em>Science<\/em><\/a> goes into a lot more detail about how authorities make sure that criminals can\u2019t hide behind Bitcoin.<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Anonymous_Cryptocurrency\"><\/span>Anonymous Cryptocurrency<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>There are ways to get around such safeguards, of course, but these are often pretty technical or simply expensive\u2014like setting up a special protocol to hide the origin of your transfer or getting a middleman who (for a fee) will buy the Bitcoin for you. With the origins of the purchase covered, you\u2019ll need to regularly cycle through different wallets. That should be enough to cover your tracks, at least partially.<\/p>\n<p>Another option to get Bitcoin anonymously is to simply mine for it yourself, but that might not be profitable, depending on the <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.marketwatch.com\/story\/heres-how-much-it-costs-to-mine-a-single-bitcoin-in-your-country-2018-03-06\">price of electricity<\/a> in your country: In Venezuela, it\u2019s a great idea, while in Australia, it very much isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>One last option is to simply buy Bitcoin with cash using a Bitcoin ATM: Much like we discussed in our article about signing up to VPNs anonymously, cash really is still king when it comes to keeping your identity safe. However, these ATMs aren\u2019t free: They charge some hefty commissions, 7.5% on average, according to <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/coinatmradar.com\/blog\/category\/fees\/\">one source<\/a>. These ATMs also require you to visit them with a large wad of cash in your pocket\u2014a mugger\u2019s dream\u2014so that\u2019s something to keep in mind, too.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 645px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-741487 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/bitcoin-atm-e1626362849321.jpg?trim=1,1&amp;bg-color=000&amp;pad=1,1\" alt=\"Bitcoin ATM\" width=\"645\" height=\"500\" data-crediturl=\"https:\/\/www.hello-group.live\/bitcoin-atm.php\" data-credittext=\"Hello Group\" onload=\"pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\" onerror=\"this.onerror=null;pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"imagecredit\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hello-group.live\/bitcoin-atm.php\">Hello Group<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Anonymous_Alternatives_to_Bitcoin\"><\/span>Anonymous Alternatives to Bitcoin<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>That being said, there are options besides Bitcoin that you can use if you want to make anonymous online payments. <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.getmonero.org\/\">Monero<\/a> seems to be the most popular (other examples include <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/z.cash\/\">Zcash<\/a> and <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dash.org\/\">Dash),<\/a>\u00a0but all of them make use of some kind of technology to somehow obfuscate the wallet\u2019s address, making the coins much harder to trace.<\/p>\n<p>Much like with Bitcoin, though, we doubt that they will remain untraceable. Money is too important to run around unregulated, it seems, so we predict that eventually, these as-yet-anonymous coins will become trackable, and people seeking privacy\u2014for whatever reason\u2014will have to move elsewhere.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>\n setTimeout(function(){\n  !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n  {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n  n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\n  if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\n  n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n  t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n  s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s) } (window, document,'script',\n  'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n   fbq('init', '335401813750447');\n   fbq('track', 'PageView');\n  },3000);\n<\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/technology\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Technology category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/741484\/how-anonymous-is-bitcoin\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;#How Anonymous Is Bitcoin?&#8221; Lukas Gojda\/Shutterstock.com Cryptocurrency, and Bitcoin especially, has a reputation for being a completely anonymous form of payment, free from tracking and interference. However, if you look a little closer, you\u2019ll see that these digital currencies reveal a lot more information about you than you might think. Anonymous vs. Pseudonymous The main&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":312036,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/bitcoin-anonymous.jpg?height=200p&trim=2,2,2,2","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-312035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312035\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/312036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}