Contrary to popular belief, Bitcoin is not anonymous, it’s pseudonymous. What may seem at first to be a barely noticeable distinction, is actually a crucial difference every crypto user should be aware of to fully gauge the potential privacy risks and take appropriate measures to protect their identity.
According to Bitcoin.org, “All Bitcoin transactions are public, traceable, and permanently stored in the Bitcoin network.” If the blockchain was truly anonymous, you won’t be able to see the sender’s address when receiving a transaction. But you can enter it into blockchain explorer and instantly access all information related to this wallet, including full transaction history, date of origin, and account balance.
On the Bitcoin network, your wallet address, represented as a string of alphanumeric characters, is essentially a pseudonym used to make transactions with other blockchain users. What is also true, however, is that this alias can be linked to your real-life identity — a burdensome and time-consuming task for an average user but a lucrative field for blockchain analytics firms like Chainalysis, Elliptic, and Nansen.
Before we dive deeper into how you can leave as little of a trace on the blockchain as possible, let’s do a quick recap on what is a Bitcoin address and how they work.
What is a Bitcoin address?
A Bitcoin address is a string that consists of numbers and letters — typically 26–35 characters long — that serves as a unique identifier on the network, allowing users to store, send and receive Bitcoin. Think of it as an email address: anyone who knows your address can send BTC to it, just like they can write you an email.
In most cases, a Bitcoin address is generated from a public key and can be created by anyone for free in a matter of seconds. You can create as many addresses as you need from your wallet, which serves as a sort of encrypted virtual keychain, that stores all your addresses and digital keys (private and public).
To get you a better understanding of what Bitcoin addresses look like, here are some examples:
32iF51FzoBUvvTPpWHjL39c5Hd6FANayYB
18uhzy546Qz7CxRNkHohg4W9VSkfTkbSvY
bc1qyczztd8ndpuzff2v6ltjkm7qn3h53trjffq8ya
bc1pnqz28fg9kkdl5h8ywtrrpz6zwyf7gvxdg7flt29fyglva6egh8tqtxsana
All mainnet addresses start with 1, 3, or bc, and although some of them may be longer and do not include any capital letters due to alternative formatting, they are all used in the same way and you should not worry about these differences when transacting.
A Bitcoin transaction is a peer-to-peer transfer of bitcoin from one address to another, which is digitally signed using cryptography and then broadcasted on the network, where each participant validates and propagates the transaction. Once it has been verified, it’s sealed into the block with a set of other transactions and the block is added to the chain, becoming the immutable and integral part of the blockchain history.
When talking about blockchain addresses and wallets, you may be tempted to visualize bitcoins as some virtual coins stored in your virtual account, just like gold bars are stored in the bank safe. In reality, however, there are no “physical” bitcoins, nor a particular account where owners hold them. Instead, it’s more accurate to think of Bitcoin as a book containing a list of transactions that have ever taken place between all addresses, and corresponding balances that are updated by the network participants (nodes) as users transact with each other.
Reasons to trace a Bitcoin address
So, why would anyone want to know the real-life identity of crypto users? Obviously, in most cases, the ones interested in pursuing bitcoin address owners are law enforcement agencies and governments doing blockchain forensics to crack down on criminals, but there are other curious groups lurking around the blockchain for their own purposes, which include:
Investigating criminal activity: cops and regulators from all over the world want to trace Bitcoin addresses to investigate and prevent illicit activities, such as money laundering, drug trafficking, and terrorism financing
Regulatory compliance: traditional financial institutions and centralized crypto exchanges are legally bound to perform Know Your Customer (KYC) checks to stay compliant with anti-money laundering regulations
Recovery of stolen funds: on-chain sleuths and crypto vigilantes often monitor the movement of funds from the compromised address to identify thieves and return stolen bitcoins to their rightful owners
Tracking grants and donations: charities and non-profit organizations that accept donations in bitcoin and crypto may trace the addresses to ensure transparency, accountability, and proper allocation of funds
Financial auditing and taxation: the national fiscal offices may trace Bitcoin addresses to verify income, assess tax liabilities, and ensure that crypto traders pay taxes on their gains
Analyzing market trends: business analysts and blockchain forensics firms may trace Bitcoin addresses to study market trends, analyze transaction patterns, and gain insights into the overall state of the crypto ecosystem
Personal security and privacy: crypto users may choose to trace their own Bitcoin addresses to monitor the security of their funds, identify potential vulnerabilities, or enhance privacy by using coin mixing services
How can a Bitcoin transaction get traced back to you?
And now the most intriguing part of our guide: how exactly can your Bitcoin transactions be tracked, and what can you do to avoid it? One may think that since Bitcoin addresses do not contain any personal information, there’s no way a particular address can be linked to your real-life identity. In fact, you couldn’t be more wrong, as there are numerous methods to deanonymize the Bitcoin address. Let’s take a look at the most common ways it can be done:
Searching for published personal information online
The easiest and most obvious way to link a particular address to a person is by looking for publicly available data posted by the owner themselves. Sometimes, individuals may be inadvertently posting Bitcoin addresses or linking them to their real-world identities, so you may want to search for social media profiles, public forums, content monetization platforms, and other potential places where the owner may have revealed their address soliciting donations or offering paid services.
Using specialized software
A number of blockchain analytics firms offer advanced software to detect and prevent illicit activity on the blockchain. The most prominent example here is perhaps Chainalysis Reactor, the investigation tool developed by Chainalysis that can connect bitcoin addresses to real-life activity. According to the company, its software maps hundreds of millions of addresses to real-world entities — including illicit services like darknet markets, scams, and ransomware, and legitimate services such as DeFi platforms, mining pools, and merchant services — and adds over 100 new tags every week.
Some time ago, such tools were mostly tailored to institutional clients, not retail customers. However, the situation has changed in recent years and now private blockchain investigators can make use of them as well on a subscription basis.
Address tagging
Some blockchain analytics companies and platforms often solicit the wisdom of crowds by allowing users to tag wallet addresses with specific labels or identifiers. These tags may provide information about the individual or entity associated with the address, or reveal their most distinct records — a rugpull survivor, a known scammer, a satoshi-era whale, etc.
Requesting information from service providers
Centralized crypto exchanges and on-ramp gateways often require users to undergo mandatory KYC checks, which involve identifying customers and verifying their sensitive data, such as address, birth date, ID, and origin of funds. If there are reasonable suspicions that an address that interacted with the exchange was involved in illicit activity, the service provider may be forced to comply with disclosure and seizure requests from the authorities.
Tracking IP addresses
Although tracing an IP address associated with a certain Bitcoin transaction can be challenging and may not allow one to pinpoint the exact individual, it can nevertheless provide some information about the network used by the bitcoin address owner and their physical location. Combined with other methods listed above, IP tracing can be a powerful tool in the hands of a skilled blockchain detective.
Tips for protecting your privacy when using Bitcoin
Now that you know what are the potential points of failure that may endanger your privacy, let’s look at how you can protect yourself when using Bitcoin.
Always use a new address
As you already know, your wallet can generate as many addresses as you need, so don’t hesitate to use this feature. Since the bitcoin balance on each address is public and easily searchable, it may be a good idea to break up that trail and make it harder to connect your activity on the network by using a new address for each transaction.
Don’t use your real name
If you want to leave no trace behind, make sure you never link your real-life identity to your Bitcoin address. That would mean avoiding any centralized service providers with mandatory KYC. You can opt instead for decentralized exchanges to trade and to Bitcoin ATMs/ local p2p marketplaces for on-ramping and off-ramping.
Use coin mixers
Coin mixers, also known as tumblers, are services designed to enhance the privacy and anonymity of crypto transactions, including Bitcoin. By pooling together coins from many users, mixers — hence the name — break the link between the sender and recipient addresses, making it more challenging to trace the flow of funds. However, you should keep in mind that in some jurisdictions, crypto mixers operate in a legal gray area or are outright banned, so make sure to check if using such a service may get you in trouble with the local laws.
Use proxy and VPN services
To add an extra layer of privacy, use a proxy server or a VPN to conceal your IP address. In this case, tracing the IP would lead to the proxy or VPN service provider, making it difficult to link your Bitcoin transactions to your identity.
Use privacy coins
Finally, if you need to keep your privacy rock solid, consider switching from Bitcoin to privacy coins such as Monero and Zcash that offer greater security and anonymity features. If you're looking for a way to purchase Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, visit https://paybis.com/
