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Perhaps the word I should have used is "private key" rather than "address". There's no reason I couldn't have a dozen private keys and wallets that I use in dif
by stinkytaco 13y ago
Perhaps the word I should have used is "private key" rather than "address". There's no reason I couldn't have a dozen private keys and wallets that I use in different locations for different reasons. As long as that private key can't be tied to me personally (i.e. by protecting my identity during transactions, transacting in varying locations from varying IPs, etc.) it should be anonymous.
That would make the protocol useless for day to day transactions like buying groceries, but at least as anonymous as cash for more sensitive transactions.
- sliverstorm 13y agoBut see, the private key has to be funded! Unless people start exchanging private keys instead of bitcoins, and never transfer money in and out of the wallet, there will still be a trail. Exchanging private keys is fraught with peril- the originator doesn't lose knowledge of what the key was when they give it to you. The only way to make it work safely is to immediately transfer funds out of the key you just received (to ensure the originator doesn't pull the funds before you can use them), and then we are back to having a trail. As far as someone following that trail is concerned, it is just an extra "hop"- the money still flowed from IllegalVendorA to <unknown> to You. You can certainly try to obfuscate things, but the point is all the data is there and always will be, and even if it seems like a human wouldn't be able to figure it out, computers are very good at working through graphs!