Maintaining privacy while sending Bitcoin

Three tips on how to maintain your crypto privacy.

In our previous articles, we have mentioned the importance of privacy in several different cases. And that importance only seems to be growing. This is mostly due to the fact that nowadays, everything is going online. Once that happens, it will be theoretically almost impossible for non-tech people to have any form of privacy.

This also includes financial privacy. If people all around the world want to remain private, they need to actively look for alternatives that will help them with it. One of those alternatives is Bitcoin, however, the privacy with Bitcoin is not given, rather it is “earned.”

Pseudonymous Bitcoin

As we have explained more in detail, Bitcoin is not anonymous by default. Rather it is pseudonymous, which means that once you connect any form of identity or IDs to any of your wallets and make transactions, you can be easily traced.

This has become very apparent after current, and rather negative, news of Tornado Cash sanctions. One of the biggest and most important CoinJoin software programmes for Ethereum has been sanctioned by the U.S. authorities, leaving a huge dent in the privacy sector connected to the cryptocurrency world.

Luckily, there are different ways how people can stay anonymous and maintain privacy when sending Bitcoin. Bitcoin developers and enthusiasts have known for a long time that the privacy of Bitcoin needs to be improved and there are currently several ways it can be done, especially while spending Bitcoin. The news of Tornado Cash has only made their efforts more needed and emphasized their significance, which will only grow in the upcoming years.

Anonymous wallets for Bitcoin

First possibility of how anyone can improve their privacy while spending bitcoins is via the usage of anonymous bitcoin wallets. There are several Bitcoin wallets that are going above and beyond to improve the financial privacy of their users. These are for instance wallets such as Samourai wallet or Wasabi Wallet.

These wallets provide various techniques, tools and features to their users that can help them in staying or going anonymous in the financial world. One of them is CoinJoin, which is a way of obscuring transactions that benefits all of its users. There are other tools and techniques connected to privacy-oriented wallets, which we have introduced for example in the Samourai vs Wasabi article.

Lightning Network as an enhancement of privacy

Another useful technique, or rather a relatively popular option of Bitcoin transactions, is a Lightning Network. This layer-2 solution built on Bitcoin provides not only lightning speed of transactions for a fraction of a cost, but it also improves the privacy of the sender and receiver.

The importance of privacy that is provided by Lightning Network as well as the main reason why anyone might be interested to use it was highlighted by Evan Kaloudis. This developer of non-custodial Lightning wallet, Zeus, stated that it is virtually impossible to find out who paid for what, adding that as of now, Lightning Network provides great privacy for senders.

“Your employer should not be able to see where you spend your paycheck. The convenience store you make a small purchase at should not be able to see how much money you have or where else you make purchases.”

And that is where Lightning Network comes in very handy. For most of the small transactions it is probably one of the best ways anyone can send bitcoins, or rather satoshis, without the need for usage of special wallets or tools.

Whir to bring a wholesome experience

If you do not want to think about what Lightning Network or Samourai wallets are and how to use them, there is an easy solution for you. It is called Whir. Whir offers state-of-the-art privacy with extremely easy-to-use experience, which will not only make your transactions private, but does not need any accounts, sign-ins or downloads.

Moreover, Whir only charges a fee of up to 1 %, which, considering the privacy that it delivers, is much lower than any competition or providers of similar services. With the ability to transact up to 1 BTC over this platform, the combination of low fees, fast execution and enhanced privacy while sending bitcoins and satoshis, Whir offers one of the most well-rounded solutions for privacy enthusiasts out there.

Conclusion

Using Whir is relatively simple, which is one of the key aspects that any privacy-enhancing tool on top of Bitcoin should provide. If you do not believe us, try it yourself. See how simple it can be to send satoshis and bitcoins in a private manner.

Disclaimer: This article does not serve as a piece of financial advice or encouragement and inducement for the usage of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Its primary role is informative, explanatory, and educational. The readers have to decide themselves whether to use or not to use these types of services.