Explain Like I'm 5 (ELI5)

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How is Bitcoin anonymous? (lemmy.world)

submitted 2 days ago by EfreetSK@lemmy.world to c/eli5@lemmy.world

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So my understanding is, you have a wallet, that wallet has a hash ID and thus is basically anonymous. But if someone connects that ID to you, you aren't anonymous anymore.

I heard you should use a new wallet for every transaction. But if I send money to the new wallet from my personal wallet, won't that be on blockchain forever? Thus making it identifiable? Or if I send euros/dolars to my new wallet, won't that connect me to the new wallet?

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[–] Rivalarrival 8 points 2 days ago

But if I send money to the new wallet from my personal wallet, won't that be on blockchain forever?

The two wallets will forever be connected, sure. But, are they connected as two wallets belonging to the same person, or are they connected as a buyer and a seller?

Bitcoin is not inherently anonymous. Quite the reverse: Every transaction is deliberately public.

[–] revv@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 2 days ago

It's not. It's at best pseudonymous. You are correct that every transaction is perpetually traceable. If you want anonymous crypto, look toward something like monero.

[–] MolecularCactus1324@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Yeah, it’s not anonymous and you can correlate activity. With KYC laws, it is be possible to identify who converted to BTC and who converted back to fiat if you’re using a regular old broker like Coinbase.