Topic: 🍀🍀 whirlwind.money | Review Campaign | Write a review & earn up to $100! 🍀🍀 - page 3. (Read 3351 times)

I was testing whirlwind mixer for several days and I finally finisihed today and managed to find some time to write this review.

I visited both clearnet and onion version of website, but clearnet was not working for me, that is fine since I has intention to test mixing with Tor browser, but clearnet version should be released asap.
Whirlwind onion version worked very good for me and I used both deposit types Fast and Note during my testing.
First thing I noticed is missing information what is minimal amount of Bitcoin that can be mixed, so I had to find that info in Bitcointalk forum (this should be added on main page and in FAQ).

I like the freedom website is offering to select fees (from 0.25% to 4%) and hours (from 0-200), but I would like to enter numbers manually typing, not only with slider that is not very precise.
Anyway, first I selected Fast deposit, my custom hours and fees, with my BTC address, and saved my guarantee letter.
Everything went fine and I received mixed coins as expected, this Fast mode is easy for everyone.

 

Next I tried was Note option for mixing, and I choose custom time and fees, than I downloaded provided Note after I sent my coins.
I decided to wait for day or two before withdrawing my coins to achieve better mixing results.

There was nothing complicated with Note option, just remember to download and save both guarantee letter and note code.
Missing this part could mean you could lose your coins!

 

Everything worked fine but I noticed few things that can be improved, and I received few errors during Note withdrawal.
I also tried entering note that I withdrew before and I received message that Note is invalid or balance is empty.
I don't know what cause COULDN'T PROCESS WITHDRAW error, but maybe withdrawal was still in progress and I clicked WITHDRAW button two times.
For Invalid note I am sure I tried to enter old note again to see what happens.
I didn't combine notes yet, but this is on my to do list.

 

I have no complains about mixing procedure, but there are some small issues that can be fixed and improved.
Maybe WITHDRAW button should turn gray when I clicked it, or it should be replace with withdrawn message, because I don't remember I saw any message about that.
Minimum (and maximum) accepted amount of Bitcoin 0.001 should be clearly seen on main page, like I said before.
Clearnet website should be released without cloudflare if possible, and it should suggest people to use onion version for mixing.

bech32 address: bc1qjs846vvphyav6npn447tr50jk6eesrpark30d2

Here is my review:

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Now here are some screenshots of the FAST option

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As much as already been reviewed and though I have not read them all, I have read some of the reviews in some parts therefore would not want to reiterate the functionality side of things as that has been covered extensively in the reviews here. I would like to review my overall experience and views after touching on the two types of options to mix on Whirlwind.

FAST
This was a simple process. I entered the withdrawal address and chose to receive the amount within zero hours. As expected, I received the funds in under 60 minutes.

NOTE
After the amount was sent I withdrew the Note and chose to receive the amount within zero hours, which they did.

OVERALL VIEWS
I used the service twice (once with Fast and once with Note options) with the minimum 0.001 BTC sent on both occasions. I also used the lowest 0.25% fee on both occasions.

This is an easy to navigate website, there is very little going on with regards to excessive hyperlinks and focus is mainly on the core aspect of the business (which is mixing). The letter of guarantee is made available to download. When sending funds, two confirmations are required before any mixing takes place.

The captcha is an essential part of stopping spam and bots flooding the website, I did not find this one a problem with the 5 characters but during one test of refreshing I am fairly sure I entered the characters correctly but it took four attempts before I finally was allowed to proceed. Not sure what happened there but most probably my error rather than software or configuration issues.

After I withdrew the funds, I tried to go back and try again to withdraw and already withdrawn amount (for testing purposes only and not with the intention of scamming) and the pop-up alerts with a notice can be seen in the images above.

One thing that I noticed was after the withdrawal takes place, it shows Balance After Withdraw 0.00000001 BTC which gives the impression that the end user is owed 0.00000001 BTC (when that amount will be taken for the transaction fee) and it caused a little confusion. A quick attempt trying to withdraw again will show the pop-up alert above.

For the sake of testing functionality for this review, I should have withdrawn to several addresses but opted for one. Also, for both transactions I used Tor browser and found no issues with the settings on the strictest level.

Maybe I will revisit this review and update it if/when I re-test the Whirlwind service with multiple address withdrawals and by using clearnet. My review took place some time back but I posted the images and review just now when I had ample time.

POSSIBLE FUNCTIONALITY TO CONSIDER
Possible improvements or nice-to-haves would include a system where a withdrawal Note can be used to withdraw a percentage of the full associated amount. Technically, it might not be too difficult to have a superseded letter of guarantee to accommodate the disparities between the deposited amount and withdrawn amounts but the Whirlwind owner will know if this is possible (or even feasible) or not.

It could also be useful for a user that has deposited funds at Whirlwind to enter the Note and then have an option to generate a second Note or several Notes for an amount from their balance which could then either be used to withdraw another time or to provide to someone else for example in the form of payment for goods or service or trade. If there is a demand for this sort of service it might be something for the Whirlwind owner to consider implementing one day.

Earlier, the website on Tor was accessible but the clearnet came back with this:



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BTC address: bc1qpx4galy9ejnj5tsvzpyqmhrg2y6sd8px2wlpvr

As a participant in the whirlwind signature campaign I figured I should also try/use the service to get a better understanding on what I am promoting.
I will try to keep this short and informative, not trying to stretch this post to make it look more detailed or to earn more money

Background information about my mixer knowledge:
I have used another mixer a few times in the past so I am not what you would call a regular user but I have an understanding on how a mixer should work I guess.

Here are my thoughts:
I really like the name and design of whirlwind as it is creative and stands out from other mixers.

The clearweb site would not load for me sometimes. Right now as I am writing this, it is also not available.
-> I had to use the .onion link later this evening

I like the "quick deposit method" where you dont have to create a note and can just send bitcoin to one address and receive them on another address.
Privacy-wise it is probably not as good as the tradiotional way though.
For this review I have chosen the faster way.

The instructions are pretty simple and anyone interested in a mixing service should be able to follow through.

Having a minimum fee of .25% seems reasonable to keep whirlwind in business but I wonder if it would be financially possible to make the fees completely voluntarily. When mixing 100€ I wouldn't mind paying the 25 cents in fees so it's alright I guess.

For testing purposes I sent 50€ to be mixed and sent back to me after 10 hours.
It cost me .00184788 Bitcoin (including transaction fees on my side) and I received back .00171851 Bitcoin which amounts to a toal of roughly 7% fees in my case which consist mostly (~ 77%) of the fixed fee of .0001BTC per address.
Mixing larger amounts will therefore have less fees proportionally.

I would recommend saving the guarantee letter to have proof in case something goes wrong. It is also quite handy if you forgot what options you chose in the first place (which happened in my case) because you can look up what fee you chose for example.

Would I recommend whirlwind?
Yes I would, if you are looking for a mixer.

Will I use whirlwind personally?
If the service is available the next time I need a mixer I will definitely use whirlwind.

payment address: bc1qsam00000rymzeeyfwh7f3vcmc5y79fsqam5rc2

Happy Mixing
Sam

My Review whirlwind.money
When I am using this on andriod with Clearnet link on the Opera browser with VPN, I noticed that after off the VPN, the browser appeared blank and unresponsive "Backend offline" issue Please try again later but I reloaded the page I was pleased to see that this issue resolved itself after restarting the browser.


Fast and Note on Whirlwind
 The Curiosity led me to explore the two methods available on the website - Fast and Note. Upon testing both methods, I discovered that the only difference between them lies in the first step. In the Note method, we do not need to provide a BTC address, but it is crucial to keep and write down the Private Note as it functions similarly to a private key. Losing or damaging the Private Note would result in the loss of deposited funds, hence the need to handle it with care.





In the second step, there is no difference between the Fast and Note methods. The critical divergence lies in the final step, where the Fast method allows users to wait for their mixed BTC to arrive in their wallet without having to revisit the website. On the other hand, the Note method requires users to withdraw their mixed BTC.



Fast Method
While using the Fast method, I encountered a minor issue with the address box being too small to view in its entirety. I suggest that the developers extend the size of the box to facilitate double-checking and ensure that the mixed address is accurate.



Some suggestions:
Use a "Refreshing, please wait" message instead of a screen refresh.
Allow users to enter exact amounts for multiple addresses instead of using percentage sliders.
Provide the option to split notes as well as combine them.
Determine if two confirmations are necessary for small deposits.
Increase the size of the address field on the withdrawal page for easier verification.
Consider lowering the minimum deposit to allow for consolidation of multiple small deposits.



Conclusion
I found the Whirlwind Money and its mixing methods to be easy to use and effective in maintaining my privacy when conducting transactions. However, I urge other users to exercise caution when handling the Private Note and double-checking the mixed address to prevent any potential loss of funds.

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Btc address: bc1qjksglf95sunr2m2rtccj6pyqhkfxewaj7x7wkv

It's not just that this review is basically useless, but this guy has most likely used AI to generate this text:

Did you really mean it [a] cons 🤣
It's a mixer, not banking database LOL

@Hhampuz, just to let you know, I am still working on my review. Mixing are in progress. After 48 hours received the fast option coins. And now progressing note options. I think so far I have spent over 3 to 4 hours in total. Other day around 2 hours and today since the last 2 to 3 hours I am on their website and their competitors' websites. Understanding what the F is going on behind these mixers. I will do some of my usual things after writing the post.

Let's not tell much until I have my review ready but for Whirlwind, it's a long road ahead. I guess my review will be brutal but I will try to keep the brutality as minimal as I can LOL.

So the latest changes are:
[Review for FAST option]
Sent: 0.01690363
Received: 0.01671138
Fees paid: 0.00019225

[Review for NOTE option]
First note
Sent: 0.00660254

Second note
Sent: 0.00474263
Status: Awaiting confirmation.

Thank you Hhampuz for managing this campaign and thank you whirlwindmoney for the opportunity. I wish the whirlwind app the very best in its endeavor and I hope that my review helped in at least some way!

The following users have been paid for their review:

shan85
hugeblack *
BenCodie
Smartprofit
ajiz138

* Pending further review, may be entitled to more once completed.

Thank you all for your suggestions and reviews so far! You've all been very helpful throughout this process and we appreciate you. Keep them coming

Tor V3 and/or Clearnet.

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Goals; This Review is made in two Chapter.

Chapter 1: fast deposit. I want to evaluate how fast it is and if it is true that in five minutes I could have my request ready.

Chapter 2: basically know how it differs from Fast.

In both cases we will analyze the process, we will highlight its virtues and deficiencies, determine if it is more accessible to what type of users, e.g. ,friendly for not so advanced users and we will end with my general vision of how satisfactory my user experience was to review.

My Review

Intro.
First impression before going to what is to be done here, a "mix" or better to say whirlwind.
We find ourselves with a minimalist interface, which seeks to deliver exactly what you need at first hand, a simple Page Home and just what you come to do, it is not a place for the frequency of daily visits or in-depth reading.

But!, perhaps for the web version, you can have it, then, a better impact friendly and it is a little day and night button.
Come on, as I said, just what is necessary at first impression, but in my case I don't like the black background, I would change it, at least in the desktop version.

In general, the visitors to this type of service are advanced users, so surely the niche determines that less is more, and yes, it is true, but the simple process of information that is needed from both parties (user-whirlwind. money) can be improved, alerts, etc. in fact they exist, but I repeat for an average user they can be better.

I mention this situations where applicable, hence MINIMALIST doesn't mean less friendly.

These types of things can help improve user traffic and make these sites more accessible to all and consequently a real and measured use to the "common" privacy needs/services.

In fact, it is what encourages me to carry out this Review, as long as one can verify the origin of their funds vs. the legal requirements of each country, the users do not have to fear using these services, so, again, it is about improving their anonymity, not about evade responsibilities.

In fact, if you have doubts about the use of this service due to legal or any other type of situation, do not use it, you should feel comfortable and very calm when using this service.

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Start the review process with TOR, but review access with Firefox, Brave, Chrome, no problem.


The page loads quickly, then, I immediately like to find the why we are here, on whirlwind.money. So, I have two processes, Fast and Note.



To find out what these services offer us, click(!):

: gives us the information,



In this case we will select fast:


Then in step 2 you can enter up to a maximum of 10 addresses, you can distribute BTC in each of the addresses you add to your liking, keep in mind that the page has a default fee of 10,000 satoshi/addresses.

I like in this step the precise information they add regarding the advantages of using multiple addresses and time between input/output  transactions:



These fees may be in the average for (big-money) important transactions but almost $30 for 10 transactions with low 3-figure amounts, it  is very high fee, I used a single address in my case and ended up paying almost $3, this not including the network fee in the deposit.

I repeat, you have to remember the anonymity "service" to make this more massive, surely with the large transactions they receive, small transactions may seem insignificant but the more deposits there are, the environment benefits more. So at least the fast option should have a lower fee and a maximum deposit limit. Why not?

Now,  Choose service fee, it is defaulted to 1.5%.
But, please! whirlwind.money  you could leave it default at the value of 0.25%.



Why? well, on two occasions I had to go back to change it.
Anyway, I like that it can be accessed manually or by moving the bar.

Complete Captcha

Click on the GO button.

so... and from here I start counting the 5 minutes...(!?)


Keep in mind the information on the screen is very clear and precise.

Download guarantee letter

use the button

Make the deposit use the Qr option (recommended) or simply copy the address.

and after that we have the final step:



After a few minutes the transaction appeared on the screen, BUT despite the fact that 4 confirmations marked in my wallet, the status of 1 confirmation was still maintained on the page, it really exceeded 5 minutes and did not reach 2 confirmations.

end of Chapter 1...

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Chapter 2.

I made the following changes today, please let me know if you encounter any other issues.

Post already reserved has been deleted.

This is my review of Mixing in Whirlwind as well as his experience.

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I don't know why the Clearnet site can't be accessed even though I have activated JavaScript in a normal browser but it still can't be accessed, is it still under maintenance?
Well, I used the Tor Browser to continue mixing in Whirlwind.

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Site design Whirlwind

In my opinion, the appearance of the site is not fancy, but it looks very simple, between the black color as the background, white color as the font, and the green color for the header. At first glance, this is very simple. I like this look.

Deposit
The deposit type chosen is FAST

Here I'm just mixing on one address to try the first time in a whirlwind but I'll try again with multiple addresses later and it's greater than the minimum.
In this process, at first the Captcha didn't appear properly, I even had to refresh it so that the Captcha code would appear again and this only happened at the beginning, while several times after that it ran normally and I could see the Captcha clearly.



After I successfully made a deposit to wait for confirmation I tried to click "refresh transaction" but what happened in almost 1 minute was in a black blank state and had to wait a few moments for it to appear normal, but I think this needs to be improved so that it is faster where we should not wait any longer.

I don't know if 1 minute is almost long or not which is clear to me it's enough and maybe the whirlwind party can refresh even faster than usual.

Even multiple clicks of "refresh transaction" remain the same.



After waiting for almost 30 minutes, finally I can see the status of the deposit has been received and it depends on don't confirm it so it can be seen there.

After doing everything I had to wait over an hour to receive the bitcoins back in my wallet.



After the deposit status was confirmed I waited and just let it go but after more than an hour of receiving bitcoins the display here has not changed where the mixing has been successful, just waiting on what is in the picture.

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Those are some of the little problems that I experienced, I know I want to make a whirlwind review so they can improve better and faster but with this experience it will definitely help a little whirlwind with its little problems.

After all the steps were completed, I was still curious why the Clearnet site still couldn't be accessed in a normal browser, but when I opened it with the Clearnet version of the TOR browser, I could access it.

One more thing, I sent a few questions via e-mail but the replies took quite a long time, more than two hours, still no reply, I don't know whether the queue is long enough or not, and that's how I feel.

BTC Addy: bc1qnkpv5d232z7uh2nxalxgftygzfwfjd2uvh865n

whirlwind.money

1. Design

When using a software service, beautiful design is very important.  This is the first thing that the user of the mixer encounters, and the first impression cannot be corrected.  I liked the design of the whirlwind.money website.  It has a black and green color scheme that references the Matrix movie aesthetic.  I liked the corporate logo in the form of a green swirl.  The overall impression of the website design is technology, cyberpunk and speed.  Designers received money for their work not in vain.  The design of the site turned out to be very successful and futurological.

2 Technical support service

At the next stage, I decided to test the technical support of the project.  This is a very important service, as the user must be sure that he will be promptly helped if something goes wrong.  I quickly found the tech support email address on the site ([email protected]).  Technical support uses the Proton mail mail service to communicate with customers.  This e-mail service was developed by ex-CERN employees and the servers of this project are located in Switzerland.  The project uses the AES-256 encryption algorithm and is considered fairly anonymous and private.

I then decided to check out the Mixer support team and asked them an emotional question (pretending to be a not-so-smart and emotionally unstable customer).  When testing, I was interested in two things - how quickly I will receive a response from the technical support service and the constructiveness (adequacy) of the text of the letter.  The next day I received the expected response.  This is not indicative of poor customer support as I contacted tech support late last night.  At the same time, I want to note that in this situation it is possible to use a special mail bot that will explain to the client that if he wants to communicate with a person about his problem, he will be able to do this only tomorrow morning.  I liked the answer I got in the morning - the operator politely asked me to reformulate my question and made his guess about the possible cause of the problem.

3. Mixing

For mixing, I used an Android smartphone.  My smartphone has a large screen of 6.67 inches, it was quite comfortable to use the mixer on such a screen.  I didn't use TOR browser.  I used only Fast mode, besides it the mixer supports delayed mode.  In the first step, I indicated Bitcoin - the address to which I planned to receive funds.  I chose one address (in practice, you can specify two or more addresses).  Then I chose a delay time of 1 hour.  I then checked the address of the letter of guarantee (it was genuine) and downloaded it.  In the last step, I deposited satoshi (0.0011 BTC) to the bitcoin address offered to me.  The whole process went smoothly, I got my Satoshi.  At the same time, I was faced with the fact that the commission paid turned out to be more than I had planned, based on the information indicated on the site.  

In general, I got a very interesting and valuable experience.  Mixers, in my opinion, are a very important element of the crypto industry.

BTC addy : bc1q8wp0undpxqcdzzz0k440c2372ncar0qyk4vujj

It's impossible for a fungibility-preserving service to comply with anti-fungibility. And you also can't offer such thing without compromising privacy; AML score is without doubt resulted from the ability to trace the coin's origins. If you want low risk, you need to provide low quality product.

To avoid derailing this thread, if you want to respond, quote me on your ANN service thread.

Thank you for a very detailed response! I addressed what I could below


One thing I will address is about a singular fast input and output. Sure, the output may be from other coins. However, since the whirlwind hot wallet address is known, the same output and value would allow an outsider to easily deduce that the user deposited via Whirlwind, and received an older input. Hence, the level of privacy is lower/the chance of compromised privacy is higher. This is assuming a "not normal" threat level I suppose.

This is kind of irrelevant - Don't take it as a part of the discussion about the service itself, though I think it's worth noting. One could also argue that one sending Bitcoin between multiple wallets means that there is never 100% certainty that it is the same person, with each hop potentially becoming a new owner. However certainty is not always a primary factor, deduction of possibility is more so a primary factor. In this example, it would not be 100% certain that the hops are the same person, though it would be easy to deduce that it is.


It's not a disadvantage unless whirlwind is sanctioned like TornadoCash was. While right now it is tagged the same way as other apps, a sanction would mean that every coin involved in the service would be on high watch. Any usage where coins can be held from that point forward, would be a sure thing. Sanctions are possible if the app, its service and its coins can not be seized. If ChipMixer was operated as well as Whirlwind seems to be, I am quite sure that they would have been sanctioned rather than seized.

Until then, you are right that in this point in time, it's not really a huge disadvantage. It's more of a potential pitfall in the future if anything unfortunate like what I described were to happen for some reason.


I fully understand and am in agreement with where you are coming from in regards to breaking the trace via the improved methods that you offer (Notes, combining notes, time delay etc) in comparison to receiving "clean coins from centralized exchanges".


One thing that I did in my review was directed it toward the audience (potential users). For me to feel comfortable posting the review, I should aware anyone who is not so savvy of the risk of using centralized services after using a mixer. The principle would usually apply to all mixers. If you were to make a development that would seek to reduce AML score risk as well, definitely work on it on a fork of the current version that way the current version is not disrupted. If you did take that route and it actually worked 100% of the time, it might not increase privacy any more than the existing service but it would definitely increase usability. In fact, I would say that it would be a breakthrough, as this would essentially beat analysis companies.  


If it worked 100% of the time, why not? Fighting it is different to buying into it. By creating a sure-fire development that beats AML scores, that is fighting. Not buying into it.

It should be noted too that a development like this would probably create a lot more pressure or liability for operation...how much more than what there already is, I don't know!


The "AML score"/"tainted coins" discussion could go on debated for some time. I'm happy to leave my opinions as they are and respect everyone else's as right or wrong as mine would be. I don't think any of us can speak in certainty on the subject nor the best approach toward it.

Happy to continue the conversation regarding the other points relating to the service with @whirlwindmoney though, to help improve their app or knowledge-base.

I completely agree with you, my concern is that even after some time users won't understand the huge advantages that Whirlwind offers from a privacy perspective since the service works differently than what they're used to. I hope it won't be the case, but if it happens then I'll be obliged to look for ways to offer what they want while not making compromises on privacy. It'd suck, sure, but it's a business at the end of the day so offering the best privacy means nothing if noone uses it.

You can't do this, and I suggest you not attempt to, because AML score is purely subjective and is pretty much against Bitcoin as currency. Buying it means you approve it, which is where the trap lies to.

Thanks for your review - I have a few comments regarding the mixing process and I'll explain why it's far from being easy to track or insecure as you suggest, in fact it's quite the opposite. Please read this previous message of mine first:


Regarding the other points you made:
-It's impossible to connect your inputs and outputs with 100% certainty thanks to the way the system works. Even if you are using Fast mode with only one output, that output could have originated from any deposit since the start of the service. Obviously you know which ones your transactions are, but for an outside observer it's impossible to know for sure since Fast and Note outputs are identical and you can't know which option any user chose when he deposited.

-The fact that it's easy to notice an output comes from Whirlwind is by no means a disadvantage in my opinion, all other mixers have their clusters tagged by analytics firms. Hiding that you're using a mixer is not Whirlwind's goal, our goal is to break the link between your transactions and we do that better than any other service, including those that send you "clean coins from centralized exchanges"

At first glance that may sound "better" since you get coins with low AML risk, but you need to ask yourself what do you value more and why are you paying for a service of this type in the first place?

Getting low AML risk score coins, but them being easily traceable back to you? Or getting potentially higher AML risk scores with Whirlwind, but achieving real privacy?

I would choose the latter any day, and Whirlwind was built with that in mind. It's all about numbers

If low AML risk score is really that important for users then I could offer this option too, without compromising the privacy. It would add more costs and complexity to the whole operation and that's why I'm not very keen on doing it, besides the fact that I don't believe it does anything better for your privacy.

Delete old reserved post and replaced with this one as per instruction:


My review is almost complete. I am just waiting for the transactions to finalize before I polish it off.

One thing I will say is that after the most recent update, I have found zero flaws in the app. I do however have some suggestions which I will include in the review!

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Review summary

My Usage
- I used the desktop interface with Javascript enabled. I did not try the mobile interface.
- I used the Note option and combined multiple notes. I did not use the Fast option as I believe the privacy level is inferior to the Note option.
- Tor browser & Linux OS. As everyone should be using at a minimum when using a service like this one. Optimally, one should be using Tails.

Pros:
- Extremely simple and easy to use interface.
- All processes are as instantaneous as they can get.
- The app works flawlessly as of the last update on 04/04. I did not experience any issues or speed bumps at any stage during my experience!
- Quite a cost effective solution. I paid around $14~ in network and service fees in total by using a minimal set fee.

Cons:
- The mixing process offers a basic level of privacy (and probably should) be improved if it wants to remain viable in the long term.
- Javascript must be enabled for smooth usage of the app.
- Future pitfalls may arise for users if there is scrutiny against Whirlwind in the future due to the simple mixing process.

Short summary
Using the platform was simple, easy and seamless. There was no delay caused on the platform itself (the only delays were waiting for confirmations). While the inside mechanisms have room for improvement, it's a good app with a great basis and a lot of potential.

My experience
From a UI perspective, the design is minimal and very pleasant on the eyes. I can't think of any flaws in it during the entire process.



For my test run, I chose the Note method over the fast method, to truly try out the privacy functionality of the app. To my understanding, depositing notes and combining them acts as a much better way to mix in comparison to the Fast method. I set the minimal fee to see how cost effective whirlwind is for attaining privacy, and completed the simple steps to make a deposit for each note.



After the first set of steps, the second step was just as easy. The notification that the deposit was received was real-time. Almost zero delay. Comforting!



As soon as my transactions had two confirmations, I refreshed and it reflected the information instantly.



After creating a note for a couple of transactions, I combined the notes easily on the combine interface, providing me with a singular note.




Now. Withdrawal! After entering my new note, I could easily configure how I wanted to receive my coins. I decided to post an example of how the interface looked in the image below, though chose a different configuration for my actual output.



At the time of writing, I received all coins on time and everything went smoothly. At the end of the whole experience, I paid a total of 0.0005 BTC~ ($~14.2) in network and service fees in exchange for Whirlwind providing my Bitcoin with a basic level of privacy.


Suggestions

Suggestion #1 - Improve the mixing process

For those wondering how Whirlwind works, it's quite simple. An example of flow of the process is as follows:
1. Your input is received by Whirlwind.
2. Your input is moved to the Whirlwind hot wallet.
3. You receive your output from the Whirlwind hot wallet minus your chosen fee and after your chosen time delay.

If you are using the "Fast" option with one input and the same output, no matter what fee you use you can be sure that anyone that is trying to track your blockchain transactions will be able to match the output with the input and the use of the service would be quite worthless. If you must use "Fast", you must break up the inputs into multiple outputs and use the time delay. If you really want to achieve privacy, I believe that the best way to go is to create multiple notes, combine them and create multiple outputs of different value at different times.

No matter which method you choose however, it is very easy to distinguish that your input was sent to Whirlwind and that the output has come from the Whirlwind hot wallet. This should be noted if you do not want future receivers to know that you are using/have used Whirlwind. The pitfalls of this come forward if Whirlwind is ever black-listed or tagged by chainanalysis or another related company, or if Whirlwind is ever sanctioned (like TornadoCash). If this happens, all coins would be tainted. Whether you believe in tainted coins or not, any service that you use that does believe in tainted coins would probably ask you questions due to the usage of Whirlwind.

It should be noted as well that it is possible to receive outputs including inputs from your deposit. Use a longer time delay if you want to avoid this. It should become less common as the service increases in usage.

I believe that the service should be improved with a more sophisticated mixing process. I suppose that in its infancy, it is fine for the time being. Though I can't see it being viable for too long if there are interests who do not want Whirlwind to be a solution for privacy in the future. These forces evidently exist after recent events in the last month.

I suppose that one positive about the mixing process is that one can easily verify the reserves on hand. I was able to confirm that whirlwind controls at least 4.98 BTC at the time of writing (not including cold storage, if any)


Suggestion #2 - Ability to check status of outputs

One suggestion I believe that I can offer would be to add a way to check the progress of outputs. At this point in time, the moment you click "withdraw", you are given a message saying that the withdrawal was sent and that is it. There is no way to keep an eye on the status of the outputs and you are in a way "left in the dark" regarding its progress.

A simple page named "Check" which offers no more than a "pending" or "complete" information about the status of note outputs would be ideal, just to add some peace of mind for the user. It does not have to specify any sensitive information (such as time of arrival, delay or output address), just the amount and the status would suffice. Even finding a way to exclude the amount while still being able to identify outputs would probably make the page useful without adding any sensitive information at all to the page.  

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bc1q3muklj8egj72ux24vedjgtletu874whante403

To avoid duplicating replies, please create a brief one containing the most important recommendations and suggestions, and ask users to read it first before making new review.


* At first I tried to access the site without javascript, unfortunately the site does not work.

Suggestion:

Create a clean copy (e.g https://clean.whirlwind.money/) with basic features that do not require JavaScript.

** Fast Mode: The idea of delaying a transaction to enhance privacy is relatively old and has proven to be traceable.

Suggestions:

Why not trying to do some off-network transactions using, for example, anonymous LN hub or something like:
 - TumbleBit: An Untrusted Bitcoin-Compatible Anonymous Payment Hub: https://github.com/BUSEC/TumbleBit
 - A²L: Anonymous Atomic Locks for Scalability in Payment Channel Hubs

*** Note fees: I see that you give a variable range of note fees, and the reason is to enhance privacy. Humans use the same choice when they have multiple options.

Suggestions:

 that the notes fee be random at any rate from 0.25% to 1.5%.

**** Warranty message: I see that the warranty message contains "We have generated the deposit address," without a clear definition of the service name.

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I will test mixing process using the coins that will be sent here:

Btc add: bc1q64zq37ww5ls3xz8nylu8jjkmadvgzm3vjpfef4 (new address)

Is there a rank requirements to give review? Or anyone can give review?.


If it is,


Reserved