<blockquote>
<p><strong>Can they trace the BTC back to the original sender.</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Yes, a sufficiently motivated nation-state has the resources to attempt this. Individuals can only make it extra difficult for them.</p>
<p>The blockchain data doesn't identify individuals or businesses explicitly but is public. A sufficiently resourced agency of a nation-state can combine this blockchain information with external sources of information and may thus be able to infer underlying business relationships and participation in real-world transactions.</p>
<p>Avoiding address reuse and running money through mixers and multiple exchanges etc obviously makes this much much harder and more expensive for the nation-state's agencies, and more private for the transaction participants. But nothing can be 100% private.</p>
<p>I expect most people buying something, for their own use, whose purchase is a misdemeanour, would not worry much.</p>
<p>The next leader of Hezbollah, buying arms and ammunition, say, might be expected to be concerned about this sort of thing.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-10-01T15:33:01.173Z
2024-10-01T15:33:01.173Z
RedGrittyBrick
<p>This question concerns a friend of mine who has traded Bitcoin in a hostile country. If the authorities know his address would they know the addresses of who sent him Bitcoin. Let's imagine someone sent BTC to another person who aggregated it and sent to my friend. Can they trace the BTC back to the original sender. Some of the BTC was sent from exchanges at different stages of the transaction but some was bought from bitcoin ATMs, some from other people using different wallets ( exchanges, trust wallets, Blockchain etc) . How far back can authorities trace . Some was sent directly to the friends wallet, others were added to other purchases BTC and sent ,</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-10-01T07:11:23.777Z
This is a very broad question. You may want to read up on this topic at https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Privacy and ask more specific questions.
Antoine Poinsot
<privacy>
If someone knows my address, can they track where the Bitcoin I received came from, down to the fourth or fifth sender
John Doe
# If someone knows my address, can they track where the Bitcoin I received came from, down to the fourth or fifth sender

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-09-30)

This question concerns a friend of mine who has traded Bitcoin in a hostile country. If the authorities know his address would they know the addresses of who sent him Bitcoin. Let's imagine someone sent BTC to another person who aggregated it and sent to my friend. Can they trace the BTC back to the original sender. Some of the BTC was sent from exchanges at different stages of the transaction but some was bought from bitcoin ATMs, some from other people using different wallets ( exchanges, trust wallets, Blockchain etc) . How far back can authorities trace . Some was sent directly to the friends wallet, others were added to other purchases BTC and sent ,

**Tags:** privacy

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: This is a very broad question. You may want to read up on this topic at https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Privacy and ask more specific questions.  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2024-10-01. Score: 0

> **Can they trace the BTC back to the original sender.**

Yes, a sufficiently motivated nation-state has the resources to attempt this. Individuals can only make it extra difficult for them.

The blockchain data doesn't identify individuals or businesses explicitly but is public. A sufficiently resourced agency of a nation-state can combine this blockchain information with external sources of information and may thus be able to infer underlying business relationships and participation in real-world transactions.

Avoiding address reuse and running money through mixers and multiple exchanges etc obviously makes this much much harder and more expensive for the nation-state's agencies, and more private for the transaction participants. But nothing can be 100% private.

I expect most people buying something, for their own use, whose purchase is a misdemeanour, would not worry much.

The next leader of Hezbollah, buying arms and ammunition, say, might be expected to be concerned about this sort of thing.


---

