Privacy is actually a common misconception when it comes to cryptocurrency. More currencies, bitcoin included, are actually the opposite of private – every transaction is completely public for everyone to see. There are currencies (i.e. Monero) that aim to add privacy, but by and large it doesn’t exist.
I think that many people believe bitcoin is anonymous. But in my experience, privacy has always seemed to be high up on the list of reasons for cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin is terrible for privacy. Every transaction you make is distributed in a global database and preserved for all eternity. If you want privacy you're much better off with a real privacy-coin like ZCash or Monero.
Bitcoin does not offer any form of privacy as a direct result of being decentralized. In many ways bitcoins are a huge step back from a privacy perspective simply because private people can follow all transactions.
All the claims of Bitcoin being anonymous were either incredibly misguided or delusional. Bitcoin is arguably far less anonymous than even cash, as it creates a permanent record of transactions. If your account is ever de-anonymized, and there are good techniques to do that, then any transaction you’ve ever sent ever is going to be visible. The only privacy benefit Bitcoin has over cash is that it’s easier to transmit it remotely, which eliminates in person risk.
Monero is at least designed to be anonymous. It’s possible that some flaw or mistake will eventually be uncovered that will break its privacy, but the underlying structure is better.
Trivially, cryptocurrency is less private than credit/debit cards, because every transaction is written to the public log. This is true of Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, and Ethereum.
Coin tumblers exist for all these currencies. But these a) cost a small fee, and b) are back to centralization, requiring you to trust the tumbler maintainers not to record the transactions.
ZCash[1] is the only cryptocurrency I know of which attempts to actually be private, but the unpopularity of ZCash relative to Bitcoin/Bitcoin Cash/Litecoin/Ethereum shows that most people involved in cryptocurrencies actually don't care about privacy.
But most crypto is anonymous, not private. It's usually worse than even banks since anyone can look up your transaction history given your wallet address. All it takes is one place where your wallet links to your identity and you have even less privacy than with banks.
You can tumble it, but Bitcoin is not private by default. It might provide opt-in privacy if you go out of your way to use mixing services.
> It is the most anonymous digital currency after cash cards.
Monero is far, far more private. There is a reason why most reputable cryptocurrency exchanges don't accept it and it's because of its privacy features.
These make it impossible to trace your transaction history (and comply with regulations), which is quite trivial to do with Bitcoin.
Bitcoin is not private. It's probably even easier to trace than traditional bank accounts. There are better projects focused on privacy. Monero, for example.
This is the inherent problem with Bitcoin. It's just not anonymous! Imagine a dollar that has a history of every transaction written on it. Monero is the coin you want.
reply