Why do the bitcoin mixers exist?

One of the basic assumptions of cryptocurrencies is the belief that using them gives the sender or recipient of the transaction complete anonymity, but in the case of bitcoin (BTC) and many other digital assets, this is not entirely true. Bitcoin is described as pseudo-anonymous because it is not impossible to identify the source of the transaction. This problem is to be solved by the so-called bitcoin mixers, which, through a number of operations, make it much more difficult to locate the original sender or recipient of the cryptocurrency transfer.

While bitcoin is believed to guarantee anonymity, getting to the source of the transaction is easier than you might think.

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The problem of incomplete anonymity of BTC transactions is solved by mixers that cover up and mask the original source of the funds.

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Associated with this, however, is the risk of money laundering.

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Bitcoin mixer, or how a bitcoin mixer works‍

Every single bitcoin transaction is tied to the addresses of the blockchain network, being visible and transparent, remaining there forever. While government agencies cannot determine an IP address or personal information from the transaction address, these coins are typically used to pay for products or services. This is the trace that leads back to the sender and receiver.

In order to protect themselves from this, and maintain more complete anonymity and privacy, users use cryptocurrency mixing (or mixing) services. There are many popular and centralized solutions of this type, but there are also mixers on the market, which are used by frauds and thieves to launder money or cover up the traces of their illegal activities.

What is a Bitcoin mixer

A mixer is a type of platform that will encode multiple cryptocurrency transaction flows amenable to identification. By going through the hashing process, the privacy of every single transaction in the group is increased. At the same time, the activity of a single public key on the Bitcoin network becomes more difficult to monitor.

In order for this to work, the account owner first sends the cryptocurrency to the hash provider, which combines it with other transfers received within a certain period of time. The record of cryptocurrency transactions encoded in this way is then transferred to the destination addresses of all cryptocurrencies collected in the registry. Thus, there is no connecting thread between the original sender and the receiver. The amount of the cryptocurrency is randomly selected so that the transaction is a lot of small payments stretched over a long period of time. As indicated in the graphic above, bitcoin mixer collects a commission for the service provided.

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Bitcoin Mixers are unfortunately used by criminals

In April 2021, U.S. investigators detained the alleged operator of a bitcoin blender allegedly laundering $ 330 million. In recent years, Bitcoin Fog has provided anonymity to money-laundering fraudsters, and the accused himself, Roman Sterlingov, has been linked to the operations of the now defunct Mt. Gox. Please be aware that this site is vehemently opposed to the idea of using mixers for the purpose of crime such as money laundering. Our experts in BTC anonymity are actually working on both: the systems that enable anonymity for fair use, and systems that track money launderers.

In the recent years, using mixers to launder money is not advisable - using ANY method to launder money is not advisable, both for moral reasons, and the reason there are advanced systems in place to stop money laundering.