When it comes to keeping your Bitcoin safe, one can never be too prepared. The crypto space is both exciting and dangerous for new users. As part of your journey to becoming an advanced crypto user, you must understand how to leverage blenders like Bitcoinmix.org to keep your coins out of harm’s way.
Crypto Thefts
This year has been a good one for crypto thieves. A new report by CipherTrace puts the total amount of crypto stolen in 2020 at over $1.4 billion. While much of this theft comes from fraudulent ICOs such as the Chinese multi level marketing scam Wotoken, a surprising amount of these losses is crypto stolen from individual users.
When you research the data further, you see that 98% of the total crypto stolen was accounted for by fraud and misappropriation. In many instances, hackers patiently gathered the necessary information to trick their victims into sending their crypto voluntarily. This info came from a variety of sources including phishing attempts and personal interactions.
How Did They Know?
The question you must ask yourself is “how did the hackers know to attack their victims? How did they know they had crypto in the first place?” Most intelligent people keep their crypto holdings true value and security protocols to themselves. The fact that Bitcoin only provides numerical addresses rather than names should be enough to keep you safe right? – Wrong.
Today multiple firms are offering to unmask the identity of Bitcoin address holders for a fee. These firms, such as Chainalysis, started with the goal to help government agencies crackdown on crypto crime. However, they found that their services were in high demand from the commercial and private sectors as well.
Mix It or Lose It
Nowadays anyone can pay one of these firms to discover more information on a particular Bitcoin account. That’s why it’s so important to utilize some form of mixing platform. Bitcoin mixers or blenders employ various anonymity systems to shroud your transactions and identity in secrecy.
Other Reasons to Mix Your Bitcoin
Aside from the security aspects of anonymizing your Bitcoin, there are plenty of other reasons to keep your coins fresh. For example, political donations are often better made in private. More politicians than ever now accept Bitcoin as a means to support their campaigns. Bitcoin mixers provide users with a way to provide support for candidates while keeping their political affiliations private.
Anonymous Gifts
Bitcoin is about to break into fresh all-time highs. As the market goes parabolic, it’s always nice to give back to those that helped you directly, or through their contributions to the market. Bitcoin mixers allow you to support your favorite crypto platforms anonymously. In this way, you help to further mainstream crypto adoption.
Finding the Right Mixing Platform
There are a bunch of Bitcoin mixers available online. Notably, not all of these platforms are legit or provide reliable services that can protect you. Using a subpar Bitcoin mixer can increase your chances of loss. There are also fraudulent sites that intend to keep your crypto. Here are the top three reputable Bitcoin mixing platforms for 2021.
Bitcoinmix.org
At the top of the list is Bitcoinmix. This platform leverages a variety of proprietary protocols to keep your true identity a secret. The developers behind Bitcoinmix.org wanted to create an easy-to-use mixing service that was suitable for both new and experienced mixers. You can quickly tumble your Bitcoin without providing any personal information.
Bitcoinmix.org earned a reputation for quality service and competitive fees. The entire mixing process is automated using smart contracts. Additionally, the platform offers mixing services based on a randomized fee ranging from 2% – 5%. Randomized fees make it more difficult for blockchain analysis firms to tell if a mixer was used.
Best of all Bitcoinmix.org never retains your emails or contact form data longer than 24-hours. This strategy ensures that Bitcoinmix is unable to provide any information on its clients if questioned. Lastly, the platform can mix Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin. If you are new to mixing, Bitcionmix.org is a smart place to start. Read a Bitcoinmix review to understand how it works.
Wasabi Wallet
The Wasabi Wallet is another mixing application gaining steam in the market. This wallet provides users with more than just the ability to send and receive cryptocurrencies directly from the interface. Users also gain access to powerful CoinJoin features.
In August the firm introduced a major design change that allowed users to CoinJoin with different values than their peers. This feature was a first for the wallet’s privacy-minded technology. Additionally, it introduces a variety of new use cases for mixing tech moving forward.
Notably, the Wasabi wallet is only available on our desktop. The platform combines network-level privacy protocols to hide your IP address. It also features an on-chain privacy system in the form of CoinJoins.
Samurai Whirlpool Wallet
The Samurai Whirlpool wallet functions similarly to the Wasabi wallet in that it integrates a convenient coin mixing feature directly into the user interface. Samurai, like Wasabi, implements Tor for routing transactions and querying information about the wallet. The main difference is that Samurai introduces a Whirlpool feature rather than utilizing CoinJoin as its primary mixing platform.
Additionally, Samurai offers a mobile version for users. This version is more convenient but it does reveal your xpubs to the Samurai back-end server. In this way, there is a trade-off for the extra convenience.
Stay Vigilant
The unregulated nature of Bitcoin makes it a hotbed for innovation as well as scammers, hacks, and frauds. If you want to be successful in your crypto endeavors, you need to make your security a top priority. Remember that everything you do on Bitcoin’s blockchain is traceable, and to the right person, your information is valuable.
Never let your guard down, even for a second. Always employ a top-quality Bitcoin blender to keep your true holdings a secret. Follow these steps and you are sure to grow old HODLing into the sunset.
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