Coin mixer
Since bitcoin is spinning up across the globe, digital money holders have become more aware about the anonymity of their affairs. Everyone used to believe that a crypto user can remain incognito while depositing their digital currencies and it turned out that it is not true. Owing to the implementation of government policies, the transactions are meaning that a user’s e-mail and even identity can be revealed. But don’t be frightened, there is an answer to such governmental measures and it is a cryptocurrency mixer.
To make it clear, a crypto tumbler is a program that splits a transaction, so there is an easy way to mix different parts of it with other transactions used. In the end a sender gets back the same number of coins, but mixed up in a non-identical set. Consequently, it is impossible to trace the transaction back to a sender, so one can stay calm that identity is not uncovered.
As maybe some of you realize, every crypto transaction, and Bitcoin is no different, is imprinted in the blockchain and it leaves traces. These marks are important for the authorities to trace back illegal transactions, such as purchasing guns, drugs or money laundering. While a sender is not associated with any unlawful activity and still wants to avoid being tracked, it is possible to use available cryptocurrency tumblers and secure sender’s identity. Many bitcoin holders do not want to let everybody know the amount they earn or how they spend their money.
There is an opinion among some internet users that using a tumbler is an criminal action itself. It is not entirely true. As mentioned before, there is a possibility of coin mixing to become unlawful, if it is used to disguise user’s criminal activity, otherwise, there is no point to worry. There are many services that are here for cryptocurrency owners to mix their coins.
However, a crypto holder should be careful while picking a crypto mixer. Which platform can be relied on? How can a crypto holder be sure that a mixer will not take all the sent digital money? This article is here to answer these concerns and help every crypto owner to make the right decision.
Ethereum mixer
Let’s first find out which options need to be considered to make sure that a platform user trusts their digital money to a trustworthy platform:
- 1) there is normally a fee which is normally insignificant (around 1-3%).
- 2) no logs are kept. It means that no record about your online transactions is gathered. This option is exceptionally significant.
- 3) several outgoing addresses can be added which help to diversify risks and forward cleaned coins to different destinations. These addresses are used as a final destination for the sent coins.
- 4) types of cryptocurrencies involved. There are mixers that enable to mix some other coins except Bitcoin.
- 5) such platforms usually require confirmation, and the least confirmations it requires, the better.
- 6) If a mixer provides you with a Letter of Guarantee, it means that you can use it as a confirmation of your participation in the transaction and it keeps safe your digital money in case of scams. Most of the time it looks like a text file digitally signed using PGP technology. The defined options are crucial to choose which crypto tumbler to use. There are some more features that also need to be noticed and all of them are listed in the below table of the leading mixing platforms.
The crypto scramblers presented above are among the best existing mixers that were chosen by customers and are highly recommended. Let’s take a closer look at the listed mixers and explain all features on which attention should be focused.
Surely all tumblers from the table support no-logs and no-registration policy, these are important aspects that should not be overlooked. Most of the mixing services are used to mix only Bitcoins as the most regular cryptocurrency. Although there are a few crypto mixing platforms that mix other cryptocurrencies, such as Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin. Additional currencies give a sender more opportunities, some mixing services also allow to blend coins between the currencies which makes transactions far less traceable.
There is one option that is not represented in the above table and it is time-delay. This option helps a user and a transaction itself to remain anonymous, as there is a gap between the sent coins and the outgoing transaction. In most cases, users can set the time of delay by themselves and it can be several days or even hours and minutes. To get a better understanding of crypto mixers, it is essential to review each of them independently.
Blender has a clear interface, it is intuitive to use and simple. Time-delay option can be set up to 24 hours. With regard to the fee, there is an extra fee of 0.0005 % per output address. As one of the few, this cryptocurrency tumbler provides a user with a special mixing code which guarantees that fresh crypto coins are not blended with preceding deposits. Additional URL (Blender) is also here to make certain that users can get to the mixing service, even if the main link is not available.
As well as others, CryptoMixer has both a clear-web (CryptoMixer). This tumbler is remarkable for accommodating extremely large-volume transactions. After public verification of their reserve of 2000 BTC there is no doubt that users can trust this mixing service and their coins will not be stolen. The number of needed confirmations differs depending on the number of deposited coins, e.g. for depositing less that 25 BTC there is only 1 confirmation needed, in case of depositing more than 1000 BTC a user needs to gather 5 confirmations.
To operate on this platform, a CryptoMixer code needs to be created. A user should note it, so it is possible to use it next time. After entering a CryptoMixer code, users need to enter the outgoing address or several of them and then set a time-delay feature. A delay time is defined automatically and a user can adjust it if needed. A service fee can be also selected from the table depending on the deposited sum. Every transaction requires extra fee of 0.0005 BTC. Also, a calculator on the main page helps every user to understand the amount of crypto money sent and got back after mixing.
Based on the experience of many users on the Internet, PrivCoin is one of the leading Bitcoin tumblers that has ever existed. This scrambler supports not only Bitcoins, but also other aforementioned crypto coins. Exactly this mixing service allows a user to exchange the coins, in other words to send one type of coins and get them back in another type of coins. This process even increases user’s anonymity. Time-delay feature makes a transaction untraceable, as it can be set up to 24 hours. There is a transaction fee of 0.0005 for each extra address.
One completely extraordinary crypto mixing service is ChipMixer because it is based on the absolutely different principle comparing to other tumblers. A user does not just deposit coins to clean, but creates a wallet and funds it with chips from 0.01 BTC to 8.192 BTC which a user can split according to their wishes. After chips are added to the wallet, a wallet owner can send coins to process. As the chips are sent to the mixing service in advance, following transactions are nowhere to be found and there is no opportunity to connect them with the wallet holder. There is no standard fee for transactions on this mixer: it uses “Pay what you like” feature. It means that the fee is randomized making transactions even more incognito and the service itself more cost-effective. Retention period is 7 days and every user has a chance to manually cleanse all logs before the end of this period. Another mixing platform Mixtum offers you a so-called free trial period meaning that there are no service or transaction fee applied. The process of getting renewed coins is also quite unusual, as the platform requires a request to be sent over Tor or Clearnet and renewed coins are gained from stock exchanges.
There are 3 phases of this mixing process that include:
- 1. pre-mixing coins and then mixing them with other coins;
- 2. forwarding coins to stock exchanges where they are mixed with coins of other traders;
- 3. clean coins are returned back to the original sender.
It should be pointed out that random sums are sent in two and more transactions to make them less traceable.
Another trustworthy tumbler is BitMix which supports two cryptocurrencies with Ethereum to be added in future. The mixing process is relatively standard and identical with the processes on other platforms. It is possible to choose a time-delay feature up to 72 hours and a sender has an opportunity to split the transaction, so the funds are sent to multiple addresses. Thus, sender’s funds are more protected and undetectable.
Two cryptocurrencies are also supported on SmartMix.io mixing service. This scrambler is listed because it works fast and it is reliable. The transaction fee is really low, only the amount of 0.0001 BTC needs to be added for every extra address. Dividing deposited coins between 5 addresses is also highly helpful for maintaining user’s confidentiality. Every user is able to select an additional option of delaying the payment meaning that the transaction is becoming even less traceable.
Let’s represent another one of the leading bitcoin mixing services which is extremely easy to use. Bitcoin Laundry (Bitcoin Laundry) has a user-friendly interface and it is worth mentioning that the service fee is the lowest possible, it is 0.0% with 0.0002 BTC per extra address. Retention period is 7 days when it is possible for a user to manually delete all the logs which are stored for this period because of any future transaction-related issues. There is a time-delay feature, however, it is not possible to be controlled by a user but the coin tumbler only.
Being one of the earliest mixing services, BitBlender (BitBlender) continues to be a user-friendly and functional mixing platform. There is a possibility to have two accounts, with and without registration. The difference is that the one without registration is less manageable by a user.
The mixing itself can be performed and the transaction fee is charged randomly from 1% to 3% which makes the transaction more anonymous. Also, if a user sends more than 10 BTC in a week, the platform reduces the fee by half. Using a time-delay feature the transaction can be delayed up to 24 hours. A Bitcoin holder should be afraid of security problems as there is a 2-factor authentication when a sender becomes an owner of a PGP key with password. However, this service does not have a Letter of Guarantee which makes it challenging to address this tumbler in case of scams.
And last but not least, there is a mixing service with several cryptocurrencies to tumbler named SmartMixer (SmartMixer). For now, there are three currencies and Ethereum is going to be added soon. This mixer offers a very simple user-interface, as well as the possibility to control all phases of the mixing process. A user can set up a delay not just by hours, but by the minute which is extremely useful. The mixer gives the opportunity to use a calculator to understand the amount of funds a user finally receives. The service fee is from 1 % to 5 % with fees for extra addresses (0.00045529 BTC, 0.01072904 LTC, and 0.00273174 BCH). Having funds from many resources helps the crypto tumbler to maintain user’s personal information undiscovered. This last tumbler does not offer its users a Letter of Guarantee.
All cryptocurrency tumblers presented in the article are reported to be reliable having all transactions anonymous. It is important to pick a crypto tumbler wisely, as a sender has no chance to turn to any governmental structure in case of scams. Of course, processing your deposits online can be unsafe, however, using scramblers that are listed in the article will help every user to reduce risks and be sure of success of the transaction.