<p>It is considered pseudo-anonymous.  With casual usage, it is not very anonymous at all.  Transactions occur between cryptographic addresses and anyone can create any number of these addresses.  However, Bitcoin transactions can be traced back to your IP address.  The history of all transactions can be analyzed for spatial and temporal correlations.  If one address can be linked to a person, then related transactions can be identified.  I would say that bitcoin offers a degree of privacy not offered by other means of online payment, but for a sufficiently motivated entity, it is possible to reconstruct a person's bitcoin transaction activity.  There are steps that one can take to make it more anonymous, but it is certainly not as anonymous as physical cash.  And, you have to know what you're doing to use it in complete anonymity.  I would not advise using bitcoin if you are seeking complete anonymity.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-08-30T22:01:49.980Z
2011-08-30T22:01:49.980Z
Stephen
<p>Two researchers did a study on bitcoin at the Clique Research Cluster at University College Dublin. Their results say that bitcoin is not <em>inherently</em> anonymous. </p>

<p><a href="http://anonymity-in-bitcoin.blogspot.com/2011/07/bitcoin-is-not-anonymous.html">http://anonymity-in-bitcoin.blogspot.com/2011/07/bitcoin-is-not-anonymous.html</a></p>

<p><a href="http://arxiv.org/abs/1107.4524">http://arxiv.org/abs/1107.4524</a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-09-08T13:44:07.000Z
2011-09-08T13:44:07.000Z
BitcoinMedia
<p>There are ways to acquire and use Bitcoins anonymously. <a href="http://mndrix.blogspot.com/2011/09/easily-anonymous-bitcoins.html">This article</a> for example states:</p>

<blockquote>
  <ul>
  <li>install Tor and use it for all subsequent browsing steps</li>
  <li>visit Instawallet to anonymously create a Bitcoin wallet</li>
  <li>List $100 cash for sale on Silk Road Market</li>
  <li>Mail the cash through any US Postal Service drop box</li>
  <li>When the Silk Road bitcoin payment arrives, withdraw it to your Instawallet</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>You can now spend Bitcoins from this Instawallet with complete anonymity.  Instawallet doesn't know who you are (because of Tor).  Silk Road doesn't know who you are (because of Tor).  The USPS doesn't know who you are (anonymous drop boxes).  The person who sold you Bitcoins doesn't know who you are (anonymous US mail).</p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-02-10T09:54:58.300Z
Kudos to @eMansipater for suggesting summary in the answer, the link is indeed dead!
Vijay Chavda
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-09-30T20:28:34.600Z
You get an upvote because I was just thinking someone should mention that article here.  But you really need some kind of summary in the answer in order to make it link-death-proof.  Even a representative blockquote would be great.
eMansipater
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-09-30T20:22:02.960Z
2013-04-20T16:03:22.950Z
2013-04-20T16:03:22.950Z
Stephen Gornick
<p>They are not anonymous at all. Bitcoin is just a distributed accounting scheme - every client stores all transactions, so no secret transactions are possible. </p>

<p>However, if there's no way to tie a specific address to you (you bought your bitcoins with cash) and no way to tie the receiver of your transaction to you (you simply donated to the EFF) then it's pseudonymous. Everybody knows that a transaction to the EFF has taken place from some address, but nobody knows it's you.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-08-30T22:09:03.907Z
... unless somebody like Dan Kaminsky is monitoring the bitcoin network and sees which IP address the transaction starts at.  They they know either your IP address or the TOR exit node that you're behind.
gavinandresen
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-08-30T22:02:37.150Z
2011-08-30T22:02:37.150Z
Mononofu
<p>They are anonymous in that we don't know the name of the physical holder of a wallet. However, the interactions in terms of wallet ids are completely public. See these questions for more details:</p>

<p><a href="https://cstheory.stackexchange.com/q/7145/1037">https://cstheory.stackexchange.com/q/7145/1037</a></p>

<p><a href="https://crypto.stackexchange.com/q/508/617">https://crypto.stackexchange.com/q/508/617</a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-08-30T21:53:48.897Z
2011-08-30T21:53:48.897Z
2017-04-13T12:48:25.933Z
Artem Kaznatcheev
<p>One easy way to anonymize Bitcoins is to use a mixer based on Chaumian blinding (such as <a href="https://github.com/FellowTraveler/Open-Transactions/wiki" rel="nofollow">Open-Transactions</a>.) This enables fully-untraceable transactions. Then, connect over an anonymous network such as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I2P" rel="nofollow">I2P</a> for full-anonymity.</p>

<p>Here is a diagram of the concept in action:  <a href="http://opentransact.nevermeta.com/OT-Anon-CashOnly.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://opentransact.nevermeta.com/OT-Anon-CashOnly.jpg</a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-02-01T07:10:12.597Z
2012-02-01T07:10:12.597Z
Fellow Traveler
<p>One more step to make your identity more anonymous would be to use a second hand cash bought old laptop that you only use for anonymous bitcoin transactions. Adding to it, go use public hot-spots or use the war driving method to locate unsecured networks. That would make it much harder to track you.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-07T21:43:31.593Z
Welcome to Bitcoin SE!  You don't have enough rep to comment yet, but this is certainly more of a comment than an answer.  If you take the question "How anonymous are Bitcoin transactions" and apply your answer, it doesn't make a lot of sense.  It only works in context of other answers, which isn't really how SE is supposed to work.  Answer or ask a question or two, and you'll likely gain the rep to comment.
Jestin
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-04T09:15:34.613Z
2017-07-04T09:15:34.613Z
perfectminimalist
<p>Technically the appropriate term is "pseudonymous" - imagine that your bitcoin address is like an email address or an online alias: how hard it is to trace to your actions depend largely on what you do with it.</p>

<p>There is, for example, a bitcoin address in my forum signature that would obviously be VERY traceable back to me. On the other hand if I install the client on a separate system which only connects to the internet through TOR and obtain my bitcoins by mining them from a pool like <a href="https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Eligius">Eligius</a> (no accounts/email necessary, they only ask for a bitcoin address) then it would be very difficult indeed to trace those funds to me.</p>

<p>And of course there are shades of gray in-between. As I said, think of it as being an email address and then consider how your actions with that bitcoin address can be tied to you. It's difficult but possible to make truly anonymous bitcoin transactions.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-08-27T12:15:56.570Z
@StevenTilling, the public blockchain would show the transfers from the 'TOR' wallet to 'public' wallet.
Jason
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-11-11T21:26:17.780Z
@JamesRattray The blockchain would also show transfers from the pool operator to your mining address in your TOR wallet.  Most pool operators are known or can be determined from their spend patterns.  So it would be clear to any blockchain auditor that you mined those coins.
Chan-Ho Suh
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-11-21T18:44:04.290Z
Correct, the full path of the coins would be visible no matter what you do, the question is how useful that path is in determining your identity. Hence the suggestion of anonymous address-only pools.
David Perry
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-09-23T00:54:00.000Z
Right so if I had a secret TOR bitcoin wallet which mined/acquired and sent them to another bitcoin wallet, which was is not anonymous. Where I got them from/How I acquired them would be anonymous still right?
James Andrew
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-08-30T21:56:37.597Z
2011-08-30T21:56:37.597Z
David Perry
<p>I read some sources that say Bitcoin transactions are anonymous, some that say they are semi-anonymous, and some that say they are not anonymous at all.  In what ways are the transactions anonymous and in what ways are they not anonymous?</p>

<transactions><privacy><blockchain>
How anonymous are Bitcoin transactions?
Michael McGowan
# How anonymous are Bitcoin transactions?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2011-08-30)

I read some sources that say Bitcoin transactions are anonymous, some that say they are semi-anonymous, and some that say they are not anonymous at all. In what ways are the transactions anonymous and in what ways are they not anonymous?

**Tags:** transactions, privacy, blockchain


---

## 8 answers

### Answer by username_12 on 2011-08-30. Score: 45 | Accepted answer

Technically the appropriate term is "pseudonymous" - imagine that your bitcoin address is like an email address or an online alias: how hard it is to trace to your actions depend largely on what you do with it.

There is, for example, a bitcoin address in my forum signature that would obviously be VERY traceable back to me. On the other hand if I install the client on a separate system which only connects to the internet through TOR and obtain my bitcoins by mining them from a pool like [Eligius](https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Eligius) (no accounts/email necessary, they only ask for a bitcoin address) then it would be very difficult indeed to trace those funds to me.

And of course there are shades of gray in-between. As I said, think of it as being an email address and then consider how your actions with that bitcoin address can be tied to you. It's difficult but possible to make truly anonymous bitcoin transactions.

> **Comments:**
> **username_15**: Right so if I had a secret TOR bitcoin wallet which mined/acquired and sent them to another bitcoin wallet, which was is not anonymous. Where I got them from/How I acquired them would be anonymous still right?  
> **username_13**: @StevenTilling, the public blockchain would show the transfers from the 'TOR' wallet to 'public' wallet.  
> **username_14**: @JamesRattray The blockchain would also show transfers from the pool operator to your mining address in your TOR wallet.  Most pool operators are known or can be determined from their spend patterns.  So it would be clear to any blockchain auditor that you mined those coins.  
> **username_12**: Correct, the full path of the coins would be visible no matter what you do, the question is how useful that path is in determining your identity. Hence the suggestion of anonymous address-only pools.  

---

### Answer by username_1 on 2011-08-30. Score: 11

It is considered pseudo-anonymous. With casual usage, it is not very anonymous at all. Transactions occur between cryptographic addresses and anyone can create any number of these addresses. However, Bitcoin transactions can be traced back to your IP address. The history of all transactions can be analyzed for spatial and temporal correlations. If one address can be linked to a person, then related transactions can be identified. I would say that bitcoin offers a degree of privacy not offered by other means of online payment, but for a sufficiently motivated entity, it is possible to reconstruct a person's bitcoin transaction activity. There are steps that one can take to make it more anonymous, but it is certainly not as anonymous as physical cash. And, you have to know what you're doing to use it in complete anonymity. I would not advise using bitcoin if you are seeking complete anonymity.


---

### Answer by username_3 on 2011-09-30. Score: 9

There are ways to acquire and use Bitcoins anonymously. [This article](http://mndrix.blogspot.com/2011/09/easily-anonymous-bitcoins.html) for example states:

> * install Tor and use it for all subsequent browsing steps
> * visit Instawallet to anonymously create a Bitcoin wallet
> * List $100 cash for sale on Silk Road Market
> * Mail the cash through any US Postal Service drop box
> * When the Silk Road bitcoin payment arrives, withdraw it to your Instawallet
>
> You can now spend Bitcoins from this Instawallet with complete anonymity. Instawallet doesn't know who you are (because of Tor). Silk Road doesn't know who you are (because of Tor). The USPS doesn't know who you are (anonymous drop boxes). The person who sold you Bitcoins doesn't know who you are (anonymous US mail).

> **Comments:**
> **username_5**: You get an upvote because I was just thinking someone should mention that article here.  But you really need some kind of summary in the answer in order to make it link-death-proof.  Even a representative blockquote would be great.  
> **username_4**: Kudos to @username_5 for suggesting summary in the answer, the link is indeed dead!  

---

### Answer by username_2 on 2011-09-08. Score: 6

Two researchers did a study on bitcoin at the Clique Research Cluster at University College Dublin. Their results say that bitcoin is not *inherently* anonymous.

<http://anonymity-in-bitcoin.blogspot.com/2011/07/bitcoin-is-not-anonymous.html>

<http://arxiv.org/abs/1107.4524>


---

### Answer by username_6 on 2011-08-30. Score: 4

They are not anonymous at all. Bitcoin is just a distributed accounting scheme - every client stores all transactions, so no secret transactions are possible.

However, if there's no way to tie a specific address to you (you bought your bitcoins with cash) and no way to tie the receiver of your transaction to you (you simply donated to the EFF) then it's pseudonymous. Everybody knows that a transaction to the EFF has taken place from some address, but nobody knows it's you.

> **Comments:**
> **username_7**: ... unless somebody like Dan Kaminsky is monitoring the bitcoin network and sees which IP address the transaction starts at.  They they know either your IP address or the TOR exit node that you're behind.  

---

### Answer by username_8 on 2011-08-30. Score: 3

They are anonymous in that we don't know the name of the physical holder of a wallet. However, the interactions in terms of wallet ids are completely public. See these questions for more details:

<https://cstheory.stackexchange.com/q/7145/1037>

<https://crypto.stackexchange.com/q/508/617>


---

### Answer by username_9 on 2012-02-01. Score: 1

One easy way to anonymize Bitcoins is to use a mixer based on Chaumian blinding (such as [Open-Transactions](https://github.com/username_9/Open-Transactions/wiki).) This enables fully-untraceable transactions. Then, connect over an anonymous network such as [I2P](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I2P) for full-anonymity.

Here is a diagram of the concept in action: <http://opentransact.nevermeta.com/OT-Anon-CashOnly.jpg>


---

### Answer by username_10 on 2017-07-04. Score: 0

One more step to make your identity more anonymous would be to use a second hand cash bought old laptop that you only use for anonymous bitcoin transactions. Adding to it, go use public hot-spots or use the war driving method to locate unsecured networks. That would make it much harder to track you.

> **Comments:**
> **username_11**: Welcome to Bitcoin SE!  You don't have enough rep to comment yet, but this is certainly more of a comment than an answer.  If you take the question "How anonymous are Bitcoin transactions" and apply your answer, it doesn't make a lot of sense.  It only works in context of other answers, which isn't really how SE is supposed to work.  Answer or ask a question or two, and you'll likely gain the rep to comment.  

---

