Topic: Localbitcoin as mixer? (Read 1725 times)

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Thanks for all the wonderful answers.
I think I have seen every possible answer now and do not need any more thanks again.
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Why are you even worried about that ? Nothing is wrong with the idea. You can do that if you want but you still going to have to send your bitcoin to an address you own so how will that help you in mixing ? If you want to do that you should rather exchange your coins from one exchange to the other then to localbitcoin then sell some and buy some more then you cashout to an address send them back to an exchange then delete that wallet you just used and put them back into an exchange then swap for altcoins then from altcoins to bitcoin on a completely new address.

Even if other persons have personal wallets and can be tracked how will other people know that you 2 have traded together. As far as I know personal details are hided in localbitcoins (I am not using it from a long time since I found bitpanda).

Still it's much better to use an appropriate service which only deal with bitcoin mixing. If you are serious about your anonymity you should pay the small fee to such website and get fresh coins to your new wallet (I am sure you have open up a new wallet for this )

I don't think so, because on localbitcoin we trade with another people who use bitcoin's wallets personal and it can be tracked. It is different with bitcoin mixing services that has reserve of bitcoins and make sure for keep be anonymous and can not be tracked by other people.

Just localbitcoins any other site like gambling, exchange or mining website which use different addresses can do the job.

I don't suggest you do this through these websites but rather do it from a mixer. If you really care for your privacy then you should definitely try to mix your coin through a good mixing service.

Try the one on my signature, it's relatively new but it's working quite well up until now and they are transparent with their data in their website.

If you try to mix coins this way, you can also 'mix' coins with any other sites that uses a random deposit address each time you send bitcoins to their site, but I wouldn't recommend this because(I think) the addresses use the same IP each time, correct me if I'm wrong please.

This must be a right point to consider as we all know there is no history of a mixer site got hacked whereas exchanges and other similar service providers had become victim of hacking. Not using appropriate service for particular requirement may end up in risking our wealth.

Any exchange or gambling site could be used as mixing services still using a proper service for mixing your bitcoin is good especially when you are going with high volume.

You will never know when your exchange or gambling site go down for maintenance or for any other reason. Still, a reputed mixing service will be free from this kind of down time usually as they do not have any other business to do frequent maintenance.

Using localbitcoins is maybe not the most reliable method but it might work. If you are so determined to save the few satoshies. It is better to use real mixer though but even then who can gurantee us for sure that no logs will be kept and exposed? We don't know the real background of mixers.

What you said is true about all the services that are not mixers!
It means you can use anywhere that there is an option to deposit and withdraw, it can be a dice site, it can be online wallet, it can be an exchanger. But you should know that all of these WILL keep logs.

The only option that "may not" keep any logs is a mixer and they only promise not to keep logs. Nobody knows what they really do!

If the coins are not directed linked with your sending address then you can use it as a mixer otherwise not, but I would suggest you to try also other services like exchanges because they receive lots of bitcoins as deposits and when you trade and move the altcoins to another exchange and withdraw bitcoin I don't think you can be tracked.

Seems like with a lot of explanation and the another theoretical and then OP is already having his answer with simple act.

...

localbitcoins would likely be a good option if you met your counterparty and paid in CA$H.  Presumably most people into BTC would likely be similar to most of us: wanting privacy.

Too bad localbitcoins does not work very well in my city -- although I have used it.

im not affiliate of any kind but basically use satoshimines as mixer.

play game or two and withdraw to new created wallet. coins will be mixed and no trace for owner of satoshi mines. So i assume there is no logs etc. But bitmixer service is so cheap that i really not sure why you actually going full retard using lbc. What if automated script will flag your account? What if lbc monitor tainted coins and you will end up with frozen account until you supply id and other stuff?

Think man, think.

Looks like you can use it but its not like other mixer or true mixer. for me its still the best to use the bitcoin mixer instead of localbitcoin..
but you can use local bitcoin as free mixer.

Even using HD wallet of blockchain like web wallet could be considered as mixing transaction with using different address for receiving bitcoin as well as the address from which bitcoin will be sended will be different than those receiving addresses. And if you have deposited bitcoin in any gambling sites, exchangers and localbitcoin it will be collected in hot wallet after lots of transaction so in somehow it may get connected to you. Better to use mixing services if you want complete anonymity however for normal day to day use using multiple addresses as well as not exposing your bitcoin address publicly will be enough.

With too many back and forth transaction from wallet a and wallet b, you will end up paying more of the trasaction fee unlike usimg a mixer, just 1 send and pay the fee and your done, no more waiting and transferring from one wallet to another just to avoid being traced and as mentioned above it mught be still traceable since localbitcoin is not really a mixer.

I understand what you mean, but they are not a mixing service so that there is all the transaction information you there maybe you can use their service for mixing as long you not do illegal act.

first of all you are repeating the same exact thing that i said but instead of saying it the simple way you are playing around with numbers.

second of all that 0.5% is only the minimum amount and the recommendation is to use a random percentage that is why when you ope the page the slider goes on a random number instead of a fixed one. give it a try an you will see

third the 0.5% on 1BTC (if that is what you want to mix) is 0.005BTC so you will pay 0.0055BTC if there is only 1 forward address.
now compare this to deposit in an exchange site and withdrawing. on poloniex withdrawal fee is 0.0001BTC and if you deposit with current fee you will be paying less than 0.0003BTC which is 18 times lower

if you want to mix 5BTC you pay 0.0255BTC which is 85 times higher this time. and so on

i should add that i am not suggesting this is a good way or fees are high, i am simply pointing out possible facts why some people are looking for alternative ways.


now if you kept on reading the rest of my comment instead of reading the first sentence and cutting the rest you could have seen that i have pointed out that this method is not the best for mixing and also has risks but it surely is the cheapest.
and the anonymity that you are talking about does not concern regular users who are not doing anything illegal and only want to protect their "privacy" from other regular users not the government.

Uhm... I think localbitcoin is a market like another markets (coinbase,bitstamp,huobi,etc)  and it is not bitcoin mixer service, although there are new wallet in every new transaction at localbitcoin. And it is different working with bitcoin mixer service.

1. Basically any service which uses multiple wallets, addresses, allow you to deposit and then withdraw coins can be used to partially mixing your coins: it can be a casino, exchange, lending platform.
2. Bitcoin mixers were created with for the sole purpose of mixing coins - but there is always question if they are not secretly gathering logs about every mixed satoshi.
3. But in the end this problem with collecting users data and activity could be potentially present on every satellite bitcoin service: mixer, casino, exchange etc.

I'm not really sure if you bothered to do the research before you said that, but if you did, you'd realize that BitMixer.io charges a minimum of 0.5% transaction fee + 0.0005BTC. The second bit is so tiny that it should be ignored; as of right now, only about 30 cents. Even if you didn't go full cheapskate on the transaction fee and did the minimum 0.5% fee and used, instead, a 1% fee, you would have to be mixing 1BTC in. And if you're holding 1BTC, I hardly think that you'd be fretting about a $6 fee for anonymity.

Seriously, if you're worrying about the fees on BitMixer.io, you should stop hodling so much.

I am from a country that's run by absolute idiots and incompetance, where the President, who cannot read a number from a paper that is larger than 10 000 even if he practices for a month, openly declares if he showers he will be healed from AIDS and that Africa is the biggest continent in the world by far. I doubt if they can even spell "logs" or "record keeping" or know how to get the information from another country. Maybe that's the best way to mix your coins, come stay in a 3rd world country lol. Few here know what Bitcoin is, we have a single bitcoin ATM in this country that's not working 95% of the time and only accepts deposits   Jokes aside, I appreciate the comments above and agree with them all. Best to be 100% safe.

Even with sportsbet.io you can do this or any other casino that uses different wallets for depositing your coins and uses different wallets also for sending you the payments when you withdraw from their casino. This is helpful but still traceable.

Bitcoinmixer.io is great but what if it is run by the government and they tell you that they do not keep logs while they are keeping. One of the most experienced member posed this question so that made me worried.

Try different multibit wallets, they cannot be shown in wallet explorer as connected.

One important point is still missing in this discussion: you should probably not use localbitcoins as a mixer because it wasn't designed to mix coins.
AFAIK (haven't read their whole FAQ), they do not promise not to keep logs, they're public, they're easily identifyable, they're known by the authorities.
In other words: there is no solid guarantee that they will not keep logs, and since they're known by the governement, there is a reasonable chance they would have to hand those logs over whenever law enforcement forces them to.

Bitmixer on the other hand is designed for the sole purpose of mixing coins. In their TOS it is clearly indicated they do not keep logs, they don't have contact information, so there is no door to knock on by law enforcement.

In the end, it's about you... If you just want to sever the bond between your transactions because you kinda like the anonimity, things like localbitcoins or online casino's might be sufficient to mix your coins. If anonimity is your top priority,  you might want to start thinking about combining a decent mixing service with a second (and possibly thirth) "trick" to anonimise your coins.

it is simple: because of the fees!
if you have ever used a mixing service or if you check their website like bitmixer.io you can see that when you mix your coins you have to pay the network fee and also a percentage fee which is a percentage of the amount you want to mix so you can end up paying 0.01BTC for example.

i don't know how localbitcoins work but usually these exchanges that give you an address, when you deposit in that address your bitcoin will be mixed automatically because your withdrawal will simply be from another (or couple of other) addresses. and what you pay is only the network fee and that would be all.

this method is not the best to mix coins, especially since the exchange may get hacked like bitfinex and you lose coins , or they can keep logs but it is a cheap way of doing it for regular users.

As for you know, behind of your explanation i think some exchange will offering a features like you can generating a new address if you're wanna for sending bitcoin and seems like that is the another features is i can say that is just a simple mixer, well you don't need for creating another address for to do that but, if you're wanna for eliminate you trace for using an exchanging site. well that is the second option for using a mixing service in my mind and that is also a simple method.

Great replies thanks everyone. I just used Bitmixer.io and was surprised at how smoothly everything went. Thanks again.

the purpose of a mixer is to get your coins as untraceable as possible
with localbitcoins your coins can still be traced as there are no guarantee the traders  localbitcoins would cut the chain and use clean coins to pay you
basically,you can use any exchange as a mixer,but you have to follow certain steps (use clean addresses,exchange to altcurrency etc. etc.)
you would lose some amount due to tx fees this way or another,so why don't you pay the pros for that?

That's right, especially on tax or fee caused by just rotating your money into the different address and it's can't finish just for a one step like using bitcoin mixer.

Why not just use a service meant for mixing? Seems like it's a lot more complicated than using a reliable bitcoin mixer.

Usually that works. However, because LocalBitcoins is not a mixer, you may end up still being connected. This is because they are not actively choosing to not use your Bitcoin, unlike actual mixing services.

Hi guys, apologies from this total newbie if this question has been asked in 1000 different versions before

What is wrong with the idea that it's a way of "Mixing your coins", when creating a new Receive address (A) in Localbitcoins, then sending from outside, coins to (A) and then after a day or so send from LB again to another wallet or wallets (B and C)? I see the part 2 send address from LB is totally different from the receiving(A) so they are not really connected... or are they? From what I understand from LB's support, the receive address (A) is also not labeled as one from LB anywhere, so it should be rather difficult to trace the coins?  I am sure this question applies to most other exchanges or even something like Mycellium where you (can be kind of) anonymous. Thanks