Topic: If reusing addresses is a bad idea then why... (Read 1873 times)

Using multiple addresses is only theoritecally less secure than using only one for multiple transactions. Any way you would expect way more than a lifetime to crack your wallet.

But if you put your private keys in risky situations(connected to computers with internet, at reach of other people that might have the idea to stole it, etc..), sooner or later the change of your keys being compromissed will be high, then it might be a good idea change address from time to time.

Then you obviously do not know what the hell you are talking about.

Then you obviously do not know what the hell you are talking about.

I really don't see how it's realistically a problem at all.

Why?  Explain yourself.

I explained in detail above why address reuse is a bad idea and hurts Bitcoin, the idea of Bitcoin, the privacy and fungibility of Bitcoin, etc.

Do the same with your off the cuff comment.

I think the whole thing about reusing addresses is just a precautionary measure to make it safer, but I don't think it's something you need to worry about.

They just need a single address for people so they can donate BTC! They don't need to cover up their tracks, it's also a good thing for people to see that people really do donate BTC to them, so more people will follow!

The main reason you should not reuse an address is because of privacy. The more times you use a specific address, the easier it is to potentially link your identity to that address.

If you have a donation address, then privacy is not your goal. When you are receiving donations, the person donating the money obviously knows what cause they are donating to so this issue is not applicable.

Reusing addresses makes it easier to trace payments or link an address to someone. If it's just a simple donation address, it doesn't matter if the address can be linked, since everyone already knows that the address belongs to, say, WikiLeaks

Okay, granted. But maybe they thought it was more difficult to give everyone who wants to donate some BTC to them a new address dynamically, I guess they just opened up some address and told people to send their BTC there in case they want to donate.

Until WikiLeaks is found to be a "terrorist" organization and eveyone who sent them money a suspected "terrorist".  Using a static address would allow at least some of those that sent money to Wikileaks to be hunted down.

Until WikiLeaks is found to be a "terrorist" organization and eveyone who sent them money a suspected "terrorist".  Using a static address would allow at least some of those that sent money to Wikileaks to be hunted down.

Reusing addresses makes it easier to trace payments or link an address to someone. If it's just a simple donation address, it doesn't matter if the address can be linked, since everyone already knows that the address belongs to, say, WikiLeaks

...are there sites like WikiLeaks that have been using the same address for years:

http://blockchain.info/address/1HB5XMLmzFVj8ALj6mfBsbifRoD4miY36v

The above address has been receiving and sending out transactions since 2011. I have heard that by sending funds from an address, you lose an additional layer of protection and so if a method of cracking the single encryption now protecting your address is discovered, any bitcoins stored in such a used address could be stolen. But how feasible is this scenario?

And secondly, I have also heard that it is a bad idea to make multiple deposits into a single address since that also qualifies as reusing an address. But how would it be possible then to make a paper wallet to store 1 BTC in if you have multiple addresses with 0.01 or 0.05 BTC in them each? Say for example you sell a whole bunch of low-value items and generate a new address for each transaction, how would you then pool these funds together without reusing an address by making multiple deposits?

And do multiple deposits affect the security of the encryption? If not, then why are multiple deposits considered a bad idea? Or aren't they?

Apologies for the newbie-ish questions. It feels a bit weird posting in this section of the forums since I'm a senior member. You'd think someone who has been on the forums for so long and has more posts than Satoshi would be an expert by now but unfortunately, I'm still pretty far from it.