<p>The Bitcoin blockchain does not have any concept of location, nor could such a thing be added to it.</p>

<p>There is no such thing as "tracing a transaction" in a corporeal sense.</p>

<p>If you had a comprehensive global surveillance network, you could attempt to connect to every Bitcoin node in the network (including all the nodes located in Tor) and use timing analysis to attempt to guess the originating node of any given transaction.</p>

<p>If you had that surveillance capability, it would only tell about the specific outputs which were being spent and nothing about outputs which the user of that wallet might possess which have not yet been spent.</p>

<p>Basically, Bitcoin was designed to make what you're trying to do impossible.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-07-14T12:38:52.913Z
2014-07-14T12:38:52.913Z
Justus Ranvier
<p>I think there is no such thing as a defined location for a wallet. Two main reasons:</p>

<ul>
<li>You can create an offline wallet, and the web doesn't even know about it. </li>
<li>You can have multiple wallets (back-up, multiple computers, whatever) </li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-07-14T08:17:00.630Z
Please note that the IP address shown on blockchain.info and similar sites is the IP address that *broadcasted* the transaction in question.  This is usually not the same machine as the one that *originated* the transaction (i.e., the sender).  There is no reliable way to determine where in the world the sender of a transaction is/was located.
Eric S
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-07-14T08:17:47.143Z
Ahh, so there is no information AT ALL where the transaction came from?
Mathias711
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-07-15T03:09:40.107Z
What I need is the IP address of the recipient of the transaction.
TheLazyCoffeGuy
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-07-15T03:12:06.753Z
Well, that is impossible I guess. Like Justus said, the whole Bitcoin thingy was made to be anonymous, and sharing your IP with every transaction is not going to help with that
Mathias711
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-07-16T18:43:31.010Z
@TheLazyCoffeGuy Since the recipient doesn't do anything and doesn't even have to have an IP address, you are looking for something that does not exist. (What is the IP address of the recipient of a cash transaction?)
David Schwartz
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-07-17T10:18:50.203Z
Bugger... well, is there any chance I could have one of you try to track a transaction to a friend, of maybe like a dollors worth of bitcoin, and see if you can trace its destination with the "netstat -a" command in CMD?
TheLazyCoffeGuy
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-07-14T08:04:42.523Z
2014-07-14T08:19:08.250Z
2014-07-14T08:19:08.250Z
Mathias711
<p>I need to trace a bitcoin transaction to find out roughly  where in the world the wallet is located. Is it possible to use a program, or manual-method, to trace/track a bitcoin transaction to find the recipients IP address or which area in in world they are in? If so, roughly how accurate is it?</p>

<traceability>
How do I trace a bitcoin transaction to find its location in the world
TheLazyCoffeGuy
# How do I trace a bitcoin transaction to find its location in the world

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-07-14)

I need to trace a bitcoin transaction to find out roughly where in the world the wallet is located. Is it possible to use a program, or manual-method, to trace/track a bitcoin transaction to find the recipients IP address or which area in in world they are in? If so, roughly how accurate is it?

**Tags:** traceability


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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2014-07-14. Score: 3

The Bitcoin blockchain does not have any concept of location, nor could such a thing be added to it.

There is no such thing as "tracing a transaction" in a corporeal sense.

If you had a comprehensive global surveillance network, you could attempt to connect to every Bitcoin node in the network (including all the nodes located in Tor) and use timing analysis to attempt to guess the originating node of any given transaction.

If you had that surveillance capability, it would only tell about the specific outputs which were being spent and nothing about outputs which the user of that wallet might possess which have not yet been spent.

Basically, Bitcoin was designed to make what you're trying to do impossible.


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### Answer by username_2 on 2014-07-14. Score: 2

I think there is no such thing as a defined location for a wallet. Two main reasons:

* You can create an offline wallet, and the web doesn't even know about it.
* You can have multiple wallets (back-up, multiple computers, whatever)

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: Please note that the IP address shown on blockchain.info and similar sites is the IP address that *broadcasted* the transaction in question.  This is usually not the same machine as the one that *originated* the transaction (i.e., the sender).  There is no reliable way to determine where in the world the sender of a transaction is/was located.  
> **username_2**: Ahh, so there is no information AT ALL where the transaction came from?  
> **username_0**: What I need is the IP address of the recipient of the transaction.  
> **username_2**: Well, that is impossible I guess. Like username_1 said, the whole Bitcoin thingy was made to be anonymous, and sharing your IP with every transaction is not going to help with that  
> **username_4**: @username_0 Since the recipient doesn't do anything and doesn't even have to have an IP address, you are looking for something that does not exist. (What is the IP address of the recipient of a cash transaction?)  
> **username_0**: Bugger... well, is there any chance I could have one of you try to track a transaction to a friend, of maybe like a dollors worth of bitcoin, and see if you can trace its destination with the "netstat -a" command in CMD?  

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