Topic: Privacy in Bitcoin (Read 764 times)

I fully support you. I think that no one should be interested in where and why I send my money. This is MY money.

davis196, the issue with cryptocurrency privacy currently is that it is a domain that is changing constantly.

Please be aware that *all* the privatization technologies available in cryptocurrencies today (including Monero, Grin) are broken, maybe with the exception of Zcash which relies on too exotic mathemathics and so ultimately you can never be confident that inflation not has happened unbeknownst to you.

Really private would mean that a third person is unable to reconstruct the transaction graph. The way they are broken is either at the networking level or in the cryptography used e.g. dandelion is broken.

Maybe the most promising research is the Lelantus algorithm.

In other words, Bitcoin with its Lightning is biggest because it's still the strongest, best, most rigorous and well understood technology, so much that there has been no reason to migrate.

Bitcoin doesn't offer anything that you won't already take, so if privacy's not your thing, if being the sole person in control of your money isn't your thing, then you likely won't take up Bitcoin.

I respect all beliefs, but I would always recommend you question. If you believe that the government sets rules for a purpose, find out what that purpose is, and question it. If you're still satisfied with it, then good for you. If not, seek alternatives.

Self-determination may be seen as a right in our part of the world, but many see it beyond that, as a divine duty to one's self.

We can't talk about any privacy in 2020. It's almost impossible.

Anonymity was not the goal for bitcoin. The most important thing is that no one can control this system

Privacy is just a bonus but you can make it possible when using some mixer but you need some advanced knowledge to use it. Bitcoin was never been made to hide everything from the transactions to the amount of BTC you are receiving. nevertheless, as long as we used it on a legal way, there's nothing to worry about it since Bitcoin right now has been known as a top currency in the world.

what the government dislikes bitcoin about is its anonymous nature, so the government made some policies like KYC so that it could erode the principles of the blockchain itself. however, the reason for that is money laundering and other crimes. Well, however, it's quite difficult to find fiat exchangers who don't do KYC, especially if it's in large quantities.

Privacy is essential in many aspects, always keep your privacy and never let anyone to have access with that. It is never easy to retrieve an account if it gets hacked and those information are the most important thing because it includes your identity. If you're a bitcoin holder, you must take care of your account. Every wallet is essential and it contains a lot of money and information and we should take responsibility of what we have in our wallet. Bitcoin is not easy to manipulate and to acquire so that we must think before we do some actions that will put your account wallet at risk. Increasing privacy in our account will help us to become more comfortable and confident with our bitcoin wallet.

Privacy in Bitcoin is good and amazing . If you don't share any information of your Wallet then this is looking impossible to hack blockchain technology.

This is the worst possible use for a centralized exchange. It is impossible to use a centralized exchange to cash out fiat without at the very least linking a bank account, which gives the exchange your real name and bank details. The vast majority of exchanges will ask for far more than that and want full KYC. You've now linked your real identity to any bitcoin addresses you used to deposit to that exchange, and any addresses which are obviously linked to those one. Decentralized peer-to-peer trading is most useful for trading fiat.

VPNs do not ensure privacy. If you are serious about privacy, you should be using Tor.

The real obstacles for privacy are centralized exchanges which require you to submitting personally identifiable documents. You may try any of the workaround available across the web to achieve privacy on Bitcoin, but if you go through a centralized exchange, your efforts will be in vain. For those that are paranoid on achieving full privacy, it's best to rely on a decentralized exchange for crypto-to-crypto trades. Only use a centralized exchange if you feel the need to cash out your coins into Fiat (or trade crypto to Fiat in a P2P manner if you want to maintain your anonymity).

For direct Bitcoin transactions, there are many solutions available which allow you to achieve privacy on Bitcoin (like the ones I've mentioned previously). But if that's too complicated for you, I'd recommend you use coins which are private by default (such as Monero and Grin). As for me, Bitcoin is all I need to achieve censorship-resistant transactions in the most private way possible. With crypto's recent developments, it's now possible to do many of the things you do on altcoins right on the Bitcoin blockchain itself. Privacy, smart contracts, and instant payments can be achieved on the main Bitcoin blockchain without the need to use another cryptocurrency.

If you're serious about privacy, just connect to a VPN, use Wasabi wallet or Samourai wallet (using the "Whirlpool: feature), and you're good to go. There's no such thing as 100% anonymity since nothing it's perfect. But it's better something than nothing.

Some of OPs point doesn't add up. There's no privacy in because of it's blockchain and it isn't necessary to know who owns the wallet address because they don't have name a tag but just some alphanumeric characters. The blockchain just serve as a chain where all transactions are stored and can be tracked without losing them or deleting them.
We all that already into the tech already know how it's benefits and must fight for financial freedom and not against it.

do you know? the difference between a fool and a smart person

only stupid people who want to do KYC,
they are people stupid giving data like ID cards, passports, home addresses and other complete data.

Smart people will protect their data from anything

Well, bitcoin does offer freedom, but breaking the rules and fighting against the government is not part of that freedom. We must be wise in addressing this matter, the government set rules there must be a purpose. Understand the rules well, then take advantage of the opportunities given or allowed, so that we can still earn money from crypto and become good citizens by obeying the laws and regulations

Coinbase is a custodial wallet, which means that you do not control you own private keys, and instead Coinbase have completely control over your keys and therefore your coins. You do not own any coins that are in your Coinbase wallet. Coinbase own them, and simply "promise" that they will let you withdraw them when you ask. Except sometimes they decide not to. Sometimes they decide they want you do undergo more invasive KYC, or submit more documents. Or sometimes they don't like where your coins came from, or where you want to send them. Or sometimes they freeze your account. Or sometimes they shut down your account completely.

Further, Coinbase's insurance only protects you if their servers themselves are hacked, which makes up a tiny minority of successful hacks on web wallets and exchanges. The vast majority of attacks are by attackers breaking in to individual accounts, either by guessing or resetting your passwords, breaking in to your associated email accounts, installing keyloggers, redirecting you to phishing sites, and so on. If your coins are stolen this way, Coinbase will not refund them.

The bottom line is that the least secure way to store bitcoin is with a third party. If you want security for your coins, then store them yourself in either an airgapped or a hardware wallet.

This is the advantage of bitcoin that I like is privacy, which is not owned by fiat currency. Although cryptocurrency maintains privacy,
but transparent too. Because every transaction can be seen on the blockchain network, this is what we must fight for now. So if
the government legalizing bitcoin will create a healthy economy. Because bitcoin besides being used as payment, it is very good for
investment too.

Ummm.... Seems like you're kinda mixing up the words.... I wont point at all of them but this one
Seems to be odd. We aren't fighting against financial freedom 🤷🏽‍♂. We're meant to fight for it, win it, and enjoy it.

Its not just about privacy but also security for you money. For those looking for the most secure Bitcoin wallet for Iphone Coinbase keeps 98 percent of customer funds in cold storage. What this means is that funds are kept offline so that know one can hack or get your money. They also distribute Bitcoin geographically in safe deposit boxes and vaults around the world. As a precaution they even insure each user up to 250k. They also make you use 2 step verification on all accounts using your mobile phone. Bottom line your money is secure. On a side note I have been using Coinbase now for the last 5 plus years. You can learn more about them here https://fliptroniks.com/most-secure-bitcoin-wallet-for-iphone/.

Bit the thing here is that bitcoin is not really anonymous, it is pseudo-anonymous. Decentralization is the main reason why bitcoin is created, faster transactions and lower transaction fees. Another thing is that, if people know your bitcoin address, they would be able to track the transactions you have just by searching your address in the blockchain.

Not necessarily. There are many ways that the sender of a bitcoin transaction could be de-anonymized. The IP address that broadcast the transaction, for example, or if you have made the transaction from any of the multitude of exchanges, web wallets, or other online custodial services.

This is often repeated, but has very little truth behind it. Studies have shown that less than 8% of bitcoin sent to mixers to be anonymized are from illegal or criminal activities, meaning that of the much larger pool of bitcoin in general circulation, only a tiny percentage is being used for money laundering. This is exactly because of the public nature of the blockchain. Using a currency which has a publicly viewable record of every transaction isn't exactly a great choice if you are trying to launder money. Cash remains king for criminals.

Bitcoin is rather pseudonymous than anything else, because your transactions are entirely public on the Blockchain. Of course, no one can tell who you are by directly looking at addresses and transaction hashes on-chain. Still, it's possible that the government manages to link your identity with an specific transaction or Bitcoin public address. That's because the blockchain ledger is open for anyone to explore at will. With privacy coins like Monero and Grin, it's nearly impossible for anyone to lookup an specific address or transaction hash using a block explorer of their preference. In the case of Monero, for someone to be able to explore all of your transactions you'd need to share your "view key" with that person. Without it, there's no way to tell how many coins you have or which transactions have been sent/received across the Blockchain.

Nonetheless, Bitcoin still enables you to perform private transactions either on-chain or off-chain. You'd need to have some knowledge on the different privacy solutions available within the Bitcoin ecosystem in order to obfuscate transactions from the general public as much as possible. For on-chain transactions, you can use Wasabi Wallet, the Samourai Wallet, or even Bitcoin mixers. Transactions performed in an off-chain manner using the Lightning Network or offline, are private by design. As long as you rely these workarounds, you'll be able to achieve privacy on Bitcoin without having to recur to another cryptocurrency. There's the always the choice of exchanging Bitcoin to a privacy coin like Monero or Grin, if that's not enough for you. Whichever way it is, Bitcoin is as private as you want it to be. Just my thoughts

What you are trying to say is that, bitcoin transaction can be tracked obviously because blockchain adds it up to the chain that can be viewed publicly however the sender and receiver's data is completely anonymous even the place of transaction that has been made is completely unknown. That is why bitcoin is also used for illegal activities like money laundering coz some people found bitcoin doing best at this  thing.

Unfortunately, that's the harsh truth Bitcoin is facing today. It was once thought to be private, only to be discovered that anyone can link your identity with any given address' transactions on the public blockchain network. I believe that most people had the misconception of Bitcoin being private in its early days since there were little to none block explorers across the web. Despite Bitcoin's transparency, it's still possible to perform private transactions on the BTC blockchain by relying on diverse solutions within the crypto space. You can use a new BTC address for each transaction you're going to perform on the network, use a wallet with a built-in mixer (like Wasabi Wallet or Samourai), or even use a Bitcoin mixer service online. Additionally, is possible to send BTC to many addresses at once on a single transaction to save both on fees (Batch Transactions) and even increase your privacy.

If you're still not comfortable enough in using Bitcoin privately with the aforementioned solutions, there's always the choice of using a privacy-oriented coin for your utmost sensitive transactions. Both Monero and Grin fit the bill nicely as they're private by default. You'd simply send "x" amount of coins on the Blockchain without having to recur to a separate solution. The process is simple enough for anyone to understand. Under the hood, privacy coins like Monero and Grin obfuscate your transactions making it nearly impossible for governments or other third-parties to track & trace your activity on-chain. It's said that Bitcoin has some sort of privacy within the Lightning Network, since transactions are performed in an off-chain manner.

Nonetheless, the decentralized nature of crypto allows you to circumvent KYC whenever it's necessary. If you want convenience over censorship-resistance, then verifying your ID would be the best path to take. But if you care about privacy, then I'd suggest you either trade your Bitcoin personally to Fiat or use one of the aforementioned solutions/methods to remain as anonymous as possible. Most people don't know that Bitcoin is not private by default, leading them to believe that their identity is safe from "prying eyes". With proper education, people will be encouraged to preserve their privacy on the Blockchain whenever it is necessary. Just my thoughts

I never said it was. If some three letter agency with a budget of billions of dollars is coming after you, then yes, it's going to be very hard to remain anonymous. That's hardly an argument for just throwing your hands up in despair and giving up on privacy, though. There is a big difference between being a focused target of a state-level agency and willingly handing over all your details to the complete strangers behind some two-bit web wallet and the third party ad companies who pay them.

Transactions taking place without delays is really the bare minimum metric to measure a wallet by. You are completely ignoring the massive invasion of your privacy as I outlined above, and the massive risk to your coins you are taking by holding them in a third party custodial wallet. Using a custodial wallet means you could lose access to your coins, or have them stolen, at any time for a myriad of reasons you can do nothing about.

All people can track bitcoin transaction, even if you need to make a transaction anynomously I'll suggest to choose money fiat to do it, I mean using money paper not digital money like in your bank account. There is missconception against bitcoin anynomity. Because in the fact, there are a lot poeple who consider that transaction using bitcoin is can't be tracked by people and it was wrong unless you use bitcoin mixer (although there is many cases where bitcoin mixing service failed to do that).

If you think that in the modern world it is possible to remain anonymous 100%, then you are greatly mistaken. And working with cryptocurrency is no exception
At the moment, CoinsBank suits me and for 3 years they didn’t give me reason to doubt, transactions take place without delays, I am satisfied

If you are in the country that is already implemented the use of the bitcoin they are not against it instead they are limiting the transaction for receiving and sending of the funds also they need to require the kyc to avoid getting some trouble if there is a scamming happens on both parties also if you want you can also use the mixer to avoid getting detected on your every transaction if you want. Also, you can use the different wallets that do not have kyc because still they are supporting the use of the wallet even does not require your information also it is quite good too to manipulate your funds and not getting detected easily.

Dudes, when you talk about some kind of anonymity, remember at least the story of the Silk Road. If you really need by from the power structures, they will find you, at least that you use. So just relax and enjoy life, and don’t do illegal things.

Bitcoin is just a "tool", it can be used for good or bad purpose depending on who use them. Many research state that only minority of Bitcoin or Bitcoin transaction is linked with criminal activity, example https://blog.chainalysis.com/reports/cryptocurrency-crime-2020-report

Besides, Bitcoin isn't really suitable for privacy-focused tasks due to it's pseudonymous nature. Cash is better option.

If bitcoin couldn't be used for illegal activities, then it would neither be a currency nor censorship resistant. The day you start freezing address or seizing control of bitcoin which you think have been used by criminals is the day that bitcoin dies, and becomes just another centralized scam coin.

There will always be criminals who abuse any piece of technology for illegal purposes. It doesn't mean we should ban or otherwise clamp down on said technology. Hackers use the internet to attack people, terrorists use mobile phones to communicate with each other, armed robbers use cars as get-away vehicles, etc. Should we ban or restrict all of these things? Obviously not.

Fiat is used for more criminal and illegal activity that bitcoin will ever be, by several orders of magnitude. Bitcoin is a lousy method to use for illegal purposes, precisely because the blockchain is public and anyone can trace the movement of stolen or otherwise tainted bitcoin. Criminals favor cash, which is truly untraceable.

I think everything with an advantage in some way has its own disadvantage. If we are all given privacy and to make use of Blockchain and cryptocurrency and do the way we want, trust me, there are lots of bad people that are going to take this advantage to ruin everything.

We have not even had such freedom and some people are already out there and ruining the name of Bitcoin. If only that there could be a way to punish those that are using it for bad, I will be very happy. Just recently some hackers have hacked the computer of a hospital in L.A and demanding that payments be made in Bitcoin before they release the computer.

Please tell me, what are people going to think when they see that those hackers are demanding for Bitcoin as payment? They will start saying that bitcoin is a currency used by thieves. Sometimes, having full privacy is not really good idea.

The reason for th e KYC is to prevent the chances that there is a money laundering scheme that is going to happen. Privacy has been the key feature of bitcoin so removing it defeats its purpose.

Well, as long as you are aware that CoinsBank record everything they can about you, from your real name, address, date of birth, IP addresses, etc., through to your crypto addresses, transactions, and holdings, and share that information with governments, law enforcement, marketing companies, third party merchants, banks, data harvesting and processing companies, and anyone else they like, as per their exhaustive privacy policy here: https://coinsbank.com/privacy.

I will never understand people who don't have a problem with such a complete and total invasion of their privacy.

Anonymity is only possible if you use cryptocurrency in the correct way to give yourself anonymity. The way you use cryptocurrency - via a third party custodial web wallet who shares or sells your data to anyone they like - gives you less privacy than if you used fiat.

CoinsBank sees my transactions and addresses, because I spend my transactions through them
And I do not see this as a problem
And anonymity is only possible when you use cryptocurrency
In the case of using fiats, then everyone will show their data

Never use the same Bitcoin address twice, find a reliable mixer. 

I can't believe some people want more restrictions for cryptocurrencies. Are you crazy? Cryptocurrencies are already being pounded left and right by KYC and other stupid "money laondering rules". They used to say cryptocurrencies have nothing to do with money, but when it comes to money laundering, suddenly they fit the profile.

If you reread the past few posts before yours, you should realize that bitcoin is pseudonymous at best. You should use it, not invest only. While you're on it, read some book about money to understand why bitcoin is an alternative for sound money.

There will always be a new project claiming that they're the best because this and that, but we all know all of that happens because it can create some money for the team. Nothing's going to stop them as long as there's a bunch of people who're interested in that matter.

The rule of Government on freedom of speech varies from country but we still have the universal but the financial freedom sometimes breaks the security of the country if not controlled. No absolute privacy in bitcoin and thats more reason we see relaxed law against the use in the top countries. Its more reason we see fewer projects going into privacy coin because it is not as attractive as it used to, we have enough of privacy coin and could see tougher restrictions.

I think BTC's  main policy is anonymous transaction, i like it and some how good for me for invest. I really don’t want to share who sent me that's my privacy           

A good wallet will keep your coins secure, but there is a lot more to staying anonymous than simply picking a good wallet. While the correct wallet is necessary to stay anonymous, it is not the only factor. If you use a web wallet you will never be anonymous. If you run your own full node you could potentially be anonymous, but not without taking further steps and precautions.

A variety of wallets, holding different amounts of bitcoin, some of which I access daily, and some of which I haven't accessed in several years.

CoinsBank is a custodial web wallet, meaning they hold all your private keys, can watch all your addresses, and can see all your transaction. It is neither secure nor private.

Totally agree with you
The main thing is to choose a good wallet, and there will be no problems with security and anonymity
Which wallet are you using?
I have been using CoinsBank for 3 years, and there has been no reason to regret my choice so far

If you think the government want to monitor crypto trades and transaction for any reason other than they want a slice of the cake and they want to make sure people are paying the ridiculous taxes they have set, you are kidding yourself. Government invasion in your privacy has less than nothing to do with protecting individuals, and everything to do with lining their own pockets.

Absolutely disagree. The whole point of bitcoin is that you can make transactions without relying on third parties. Why should I be giving out personal information freely to help governments monitor me, when I can quite happily make transactions without doing any of that? If you want your government to spy on you and keep a record of everything that you buy and sell, then you might as well stick to fiat.

If you have committed some horrendous crime, then sure, the state can invade your privacy to gather evidence. However, that's not what is happening. The state is invading everybody's privacy under the false guise of "stopping the terrorists" or some other such nonsense.

Looks like you have misunderstood what blockchain is, if you have a public ledger that records each and every transaction that cannot be changed how can you call it anonymous, financial freedom and privacy are two different things entirely .

You can have a certain level of privacy when you are storing your savings in BTCitcoin but once you plan to cash out then your privacy is compromised as the government will enforce all the exchanges to comply with KYC AML rules or they will face legal consequences and will be forced to shut down.

Just like someone said here you can make use of crypto coin mixers to increase the privacy of your coin. There are some coins that might have been used for some bad activities online or maybe stolen and gotten through hacks; if you receive such a coin in your wallet, and send to an exchange wallet they might block your account and try to question you on how you received such a coin.

I have seen someone make such a complaint here in this forum on how the exchange that he has been making use of for long locked up his account saying that the coins he received can be traced to some bad activities. In this kind of situation I think coin mixers can help, but you don't experience such lol.

The decentralization that is handled in Bitcoin is unique, however many enemies of Bitcoin have tried to defeat it, 100% anonymity can not be achieved, even if you enter the DeepWeb from Exchanges from there there will always be traces so you go to Monero, privacy coins are not entirely anonymous, there will always be traces like this using Blockchain sidechains.

BTCitcoin allows you financial freedom.
I have been receiving payment in bitcoin and cryptos for three years because I was looking for a job. I am free to choose a Bitcoin wallet and receive my payments for an unemployed person who receives payments in Bitcoin is great.
When you can't find a position in the traditional job market and you decide to enjoy digital money for your daily needs, savings, and handle the volatility.
Bitcoin is made for you!
You decide what privacy to take with your Bitcoin activities; everything will depend on your environment.

No matter how much we would like to have complete financial freedom, we still won’t succeed. The interests of society and the state have always been above personal interests. In a civilized society, privacy is protected by law, but it does provide some exceptions. In society, there must always be a reasonable balance between the interests of states and the individual. The state provides for cases when it has the right to interfere in our privacy and intrude on our privacy and restrict it if it considers that individual citizens abuse their rights and have caused or may harm the interests of the state or individual citizen. Thus, a certain balance of our rights and obligations was and always will be.
States are unlikely to allow further confidentiality and especially complete anonymity of decentralized cryptocurrency in the future. Some states, primarily Japan loyal to cryptocurrency, have already banned the use of cryptocurrencies with a high level of confidentiality and anonymity, including Monero.
Bitcoin has a certain degree of confidentiality and relative anonymity.

I’ve read somewhere in a certain discussion here in this forum as well that the UK wants to monitor the Bitcoin activities and the US is proposing that there is more transparency in Cryptocurrency. I think what their governments are trying to exercise is their governance in this type of industry at the same time protecting those who transact and who you will be transacting with. I think it’s important that as a user of bitcoins you are able to preserve your privacy at the same time, give just enough information so that activities will be monitored. In this case, one will avoid illegal transactions.

What exactly do you mean with "KYC help us keep our funds from unpleasant situations, please?", that's not correct. Let's imagine the said data you use for KYC then get hack from these exchanges and been used to commit crimes, then what do you think will be your fate then?. The negative impacts of KYC will always hurt but this many individuals never think of but its real, hacks have be going on and will still continue. Let's be more careful with our personal data, cryptocurrency was intended to be anonymous and not what we have seen with many today.

You missed this up comrade, Blockchain is the decentralization we talked about and not the anonymous which you refers here.  Blockchain being a decentralize technology doesn't allow anyone to control its data but always present transparency. My concerns to bitcoiners these days is, They prefer using KYC and not reason the negative impacts that will cause them in the future of their life if the data is hack. Say no to KYC today.

If you compare Bitcoin now with the time when it first appeared we can see that it has lost a great deal of privacy. Transactions have become more traceable.and users easier to identify, KYC has become the standard.
However, that doesn't mean that privacy is completely lost, it's still bigger than in dealing with fiat money but you can't stay completely anonimous anymore, there are ways and methods for identification, at least in one part.

I was shocked by the extent of where you will compare it.
Freedom of speech is way different than having a decentralized coin.

You said it already, it is transparent, there is record of every transaction that will happen.
Democracy is different, it is about people having more rights.
While in bitcoin, it is more like not having an owner (boss, whatever they call it) but for the people only or those who owns bitcoin themselves.
Manipulation is the only problem within it, since the rich could buy most of it by now. But of course there will be a solution for every problem.

From what situations? KYC doesn't protect your coins in any way shape or form. If you are holding your coins on a centralized exchange, then your risks are from someone compromising your account or from the exchange themselves. KYC doesn't add any more security to stopping your account from being hacked, being phished, your email being hacked and password reset, etc. KYC also doesn't stop the exchange from freezing your account, confiscating your coins, exit scamming, being hacked, etc.

KYC reduces risk from the exchange's point of view, but KYC only ever adds risk for the individual. It doesn't help protect your coins at all, and means that not only are you risking your coins but also risking your identity.

KYC is needed for additional protection of our funds from various unpleasant situations, personally I do not see any special threats for myself if I use this. On the contrary, it can save my money in case of some very big problems, which I hope will not happen.

Anonymity was never the intention of the creator to build but instead a decentralized network, have it a check okay , but inside that decentralization is the anonymity of the users coz you cannot just run above with those names. So to be anonymous was never the goal but it's part of achieving the goal, imagine if bitcoin privacy does not let anyone anonymous every person that will encounter it would just let it pass. For it does not define the financial freedom, it's not even free when you're spending it, so I guess it won't define that term.

I think the main ideas have been mentioned in the thread already, but I will try to summarise:
Bitcoin never aimed at anonymity. If it did, there would not be a blockchain where every transaction is available to anyone, it just doesn't make sense. However, it does not mean Bitcoin has nothing to do with financial freedom, it's just that this freedom can be understood in a different way. Namely, financial freedom can be freedom from the authorities that centralize and regulate money. And this decentralization is definitely the goal of Bitcoin.

Isn't comparing freedom of speech to financial freedom kind of stupid? They argue about freedom, yes, but they have completely different notions if you think about it. Also, why the use of against? Idk if it was a grammar error but isn't it fight for it? Anyhow, just by using Bitcoin or crypto, you're already entitled to the privacy you want. The only issue that crops up with BTC usage is KYC, but there are still DEX's out there that you can try using. Not to mention the mixers that help in resetting the coins you currently own.

Exchanges are platforms for you to buy and sell. You'd basically require KYC there. Wallets don't require KYC, yes, because you own those as a personal property. But if you were using an exchange to trade coins and fiat, you'd need to register up for KYC.

You can ask in meta.

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Finding the owner of an address is not as easy as it sounds though. What makes it easier to find who owns the address (identity, not some username in the internet) is either: it has lots of tx to an exchange address where the user has to undergo KYC, they use a payment processor that requires ID, etc.

Also, you try to use ONION, better than Monero. I am sure the mods will delete this post for mentioning ONION. They did in another post already. I wonder why the post about Monero wasn't deleted yet.

Right from the get go, the thought of bitcoin to be super private was only the thought of newbies and inexperienced crypto user because it was stated before that bitcoin  procedure are run through an unprecedented range of transparency and all it transactions are publicly stored on the block chain.

This are one of the precautions bitcoin user needs to stop doing but with the use of multiple wallet either some transaction which is hidden now can be unfold in the future and this is the reason why it good to use bitcoin mixer.

kyc is now implemented on this times and required to some service such as exchanges  , ico's investing  , etc but for sending btc and recieving this doesnt really require a kyc beause many wallets dont require it  .

and what you mean by freedom of speech ? i think that is different anymore   . we arent talking here but we are only paying or recivieving money however yes its true that bitcoin and cryptos are block or will require a kyc on some so its not possible that we can totally live anonymously using them  .

No there wasn't. Bitcoin has never been anonymous.

Every wallet? What are you talking about? If your wallet requires you to complete KYC, then you are either using the worst-of-the-worst (and probably a scam), or you are not using a wallet at all. The only thing that requires KYC is an account on a centralized exchange, which is categorically not a wallet, and if you are storing your coins there long-term then you at high risk of losing them all. Any good hardware wallet, software wallet, paper wallet, mobile app, etc., does not require KYC or even an email address to use.

Further, any good hardware or software wallet will automatically generate a new address for each receiving transaction and a new address for each change output to prevent address reuse. If your wallet doesn't do this, again, you should change wallet.

There was a time where  Bitcoins transactions were thought to be super private but unfortunately one should understand that with the upcoming years with the advancing technologies people have identified it to be pseudo transparent .
One can actually trace the address and if a person uses the same address a lot of times it is really not hard at all to connect it to an identity because of the KYC that now every wallet needs .
Yes some wallets are exceptions like the hardwares , paper wallets and other wallets which does not require KYC but that does not stand for most of the people out there.

How much of crypto transactions are used to finance crimes? Where did you get the numbers?


The control level is probably around exchanges, the marketplace, and KYC. However, limiting the number of addresses a person owns, how much they store cryptos, where do they send the money, etc is going to be difficult. This is already happening btw, but not all countries do this. But to fully control the network, that would be impossible unless you want to control all the nodes & mining power.


Your government (or anyone who has the data) can hunt you down if they wish to. They can $5 wrench you multiple times to get your crypto and use it on their own. Also, just because there is no direct threat, doesn't mean you should not care about your own privacy. Imagine someone spamming your e-mail because they know you have 500 bitcoin.

Whatever technology exists in this world, if it is contrary to the law of any party, law enforcement agencies will immediately be interested in this product.  Based on this, I believe that it makes no sense to care about anonymity and hide the presence of your cryptocurrency funds, since while you are not engaged in illegal actions with the help of cryptocurrency, nothing threatens the person.  even if a person tries to evade taxes, one way or another it threatens with criminal liability.  But you correctly said that today the situation with the use of cryptocurrency is very difficult, since cryptocurrency is often used to finance crime.  Based on this, I believe that cryptocurrency should not only be supported at the legislative level, but also controlled, in order to avoid any problems.  But the main task of Bitcoin, in my opinion, is the exclusion of the possibility of inflation, as it happens with fiat funds.  In my opinion, Bitcoin will not allow depreciation of each person’s savings.

What is this 'footstamps' you speak of? The only known method of trying to reach the actual user of bitcoin is through taint analysis and cross-referencing information between exchanges (which isn't actually permitted unless the exchange in question is pressured by the authorities.)


The blockchain never really aimed for freedom. What it aims is a decentralized system wherein trust is never a factor since the transactions are all piled up in a chain that can be viewed by anyone at any point in time without knowing which belongs to whom. With decentralization, transparency and anonymity joined in one, it is very difficult to gain control over the network since you will need tons of resources in order to get the job going. Sustaining the attack would be a different question, of course.


Some governments do suppress their citizens' freedom of speech, and it's an important aspect of life since it gives you your opinion, feelings and sentiment towards a certain something which could spell either the society's end or progress. Just look at politically-oppressed countries being freed from dictatorship due to freedom of speech/expression. It is a vital part of society, and has been pivotal in freeing some of the world's locked-down countries due to tyranny and fascism.

I don't think a system like Bitcoin can be safe for users without good anonymity and privacy.

It's definitely built for anonymity if satoshi and early developers/contributors discussed or wanted anonymity ( I really doubt they didn't want anonymity).
Anonymity is a natural and common sense right. If you remove it from physical or virtual world, most innocent people could be totally enslaved/destroyed and both worlds will be dangerous place to be.
 You could combine users unique identities with anonymity in a very cryptic way, so that when an anonymous user commits a dangerous crime he/she can be identified.
 No one has the right to de-anonimize law abiding people without their consent.

     

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Anonymity by Wikipedia:





The above is a basic human right as long as the anonymous person remains law abiding. The world is doomed if a technology/technologies to track every single person on the planet is available to evil person/people or intelligent things.


     

As far as financial freedom goes, crypto's such as bitcoin has given us an alternative, so that we won't be tied to banks or other financial institutions out there which we have been using for centuries now and we all know that those systems are broken.

And now comes cryptos, just imagine using bitcoin to transact around the globe, borderless, and I think that is financial freedom for us.

wrong. if you want "real anonymity" then use cash instead of a digital currency.

what @ETFbitcoin said about people not caring that much about full anonymity but also it may be because of the horrible scaling issues that Monero has which are a lot worse than anything bitcoin has ever faced.

Privacy is a human right and we should respect each and everyone's privacy. There is a law regarding it and it is what we called "Privacy Law" and it deals with the personal information of an individual, including financial and professional information, address, contact and etc. Every transaction using cryptocurrency must be private because scammers and hackers can use your identity if they enter and know your account's privacy. That's why we need to improve or enhance our security when we are managing our personal accounts. Freedom will make us comfortable and let us live our lives with the use of cryptocurrency. Freedom will give us power to make our own future and destination so that we will have no regrets during our cryptocurrency experience. The importance of privacy is that you will have your own identity and at the same time you can manipulate yourself.

What Pooya said. Since when was anonymity the main goal? Blockchains are obviously public by default as you can see with like 99% of blockchains(besides privacy focused ones like Monero).

Also, it's not the end for Bitcoin's privacy. For now, we're stuck with Mixers like ChipMixer and CoinJoin services like Wasabi and Samourai.

Well said mate, there is private thing about the bitcoin transactions because it is really essential thing and those essential things are meant to be secured so they put it in private transactions. It will also gives privacy to the person who has so big amount of money in his or her e-wallet because as we all know those rich people are hackers and scammers want. So if the transactions in bitcoin is not private then the hackers will know who the person behind the big transaction of money which is really dangerous for them. So basically it is a good idea that this thing made to be private.

Actually, freedom is really important in one country, freedom will make people not to fight against government, because those people who do not experience freedom are tend to think to fight against government.

We all know that the bitcoin transaction is one of the fastest and secured transaction for all time and that is the reason why many people prefer this kind of payment because sometimes it does not need to have KYC or more verification about your identity sometimes they need because they make sure all of the transactions are legal and they can monitor which is the user send and received the payment also we are looking forward this is the future transaction method. Also, we can secure our money and coins to have a safe and secured device too because even the transaction is hard to access by the hackers by the device are not safe it is useless because they can easily access to your accounts and information.

I guess Bitcoin is the symbol of decentralization rather than privacy. It represents community rather a centralized control. It was never meant to oromote privacy.

This is why we have coins that are only for privacy purpose. If you are looking for privacy then you should invest in monero and other privacy centric coin.

BTC is the most transparent payment network in the world, similarly it can provide acceptable levels of privacy when used correctly. Remember that it is our responsibility in order to protect privacy, BTC address should be used only once and the user need to be very careful and they should not disclose their address to anyone..

OP,you want us to fight AGAINST financial freedom,or you want us to fight FOR financial freedom?
I'm confused.Your thread doesn't add something new to the conversation.It's just random preaching.


I agree with the second part(using multiple addresses),but I can't agree with using mixers.
I think that CIA is currently spying BTC mixers and some BTC mixers are scamming their users.


I wonder why monero  isn't bigger than Bitcoin,in terms of price,global market cap and the amount of active users.If everyone in the crypto world wants complete privacy,why aren't people using monero instead of Bitcoin?

Try to use monero if you want real privacy. And there are others privacy projects with better than btc privacy too

no, anonymity was never the goal. the main goal was to create a "decentralized" system that nobody can control so that they can not put their hands in your pocket and/or dictate how you use your own money. and that is how it gives you financial freedom.

I heard about footstamps in bitcoin, that can bring directly to user. Does anyone know somwthing about this?

You can always use a mixer to increase privacy. Use your bitcoin addresses only once too.

Bitcoin transactions are transparent to all users while providing some sort of privacy because it's no easy to know which address belongs to who unless they let you know or that person involved in KYC which was not aimed. Blockchain aimed  to go anonymous so people would have freedom financially
Privacy provides freedom, but Countries citizen fight against freedom of speech and forgot that speech will not give wealth financially, We Are and must fight against financial freedom in a modern way as Blockchain do until we all involve in Bitcoin and general cryptocurrencies.