Dear Members,
I am new here and I have a few questions about purchasing Bitcoin:
1) If I purchase Bitcoin and then use the Bitcoin to buy something online, can the person I bought from trace me? Meaning can they find out my identity and physical location?
it is possible to find your IP address if you are the one who is broadcasting the transaction to network with your full node. check out a transaction on blockchain.info to see what i mean (although it is not 100%)
also if the bitcoin address is somehow linked to you personally you can do some research and for example by using something like walletexplorer.com you can find other btc addresses and eventually with some searching find you. but it depends on how much information you have available out there.
for example if you search my bitcoin address in google you find my bitcointalk account here. and if i have an address here you get the link to me.
If so, how to avoid this?
2) If I purchase bitcoin with cash, how does the person I buy the Bitcoin from, send me the Bitcoin?
I understand how it works online, you just enter your Bitcoin wallet address on the website you are buying Bitcoin from.
But in person, how do you give someone your Bitcoin wallet address? You can’t write it down on a piece of paper, because it is too long of a code.
If I email them my Bitcoin wallet address, then I am no longer anonymous.
using email doesn't mean no anonymity, don't use gmail use another email provider that respects your privacy.
besides you can use QR code if you want to do the trade face to face.
QR code is a picture with some dots on it
which you can scan with your mobile phone and it will be translated to something, in this case a bitcoin address.
3) About Bitcoin wallets: I started using Blockchain wallet yesterday. Seems pretty nice and professional. But then I read that I should use the anonymous TorWallet. Now I am confused. Which to use?
Thank you so much, sorry for the basic nature of my questions. I just started with Bitcoin yesterday.
A.
i have no idea what a TorWallet is (have never heard if it) and i suggest you stay away from things like this.
also i suggest you to do what i did:
- google TorWallet
- read the results
- haha, what do you know, they have an scam accusation here:
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/torwallet-scammer-112327- also
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/announce-torwallet-anonymous-mixing-wallet-service-87387