How can Bitcoin users protect their financial privacy?

CYC
6 min readJul 8, 2020

This article will answer the process of how Bitcoin users can protect the privacy of their transactions.

本文将回答比特币用户保护自己的交易隐私的方法流程。

Abstract

The following is a summary of ways that the average Bitcoin user can improve the privacy of their transactions.

普通的比特币用户改善其交易隐私性的方法摘要如下:

  1. Don’t give out your personal information when conducting transactions

在进行交易的时候,不要随意透露自己的个人信息

2. Don’t reuse the address. Don’t use the address again when the money in it has been spent

不要重复使用地址。当里面的钱花完了就不要再使用这个地址了

3. Choose to use the Tor network

选择使用Tor网络

4. Choose a wallet with CoinJoin functionality

选择使用有CoinJoin功能的钱包

5. Choose to use Lightning Network in the right scenario

在合适的场景下选择使用闪电网络

Loss of personal privacy

个人隐私丧失问题

The gradual loss of an individual’s right to privacy is a fact of life. The current external environment is much more complex than the above, and how can you protect your privacy?
个人的隐私权的逐渐丧失已成为不争的事实。当前的外部环境比以上还要复杂得多,而你怎样才能保护自己的隐私?

For us, the correct interpretation is that personal privacy is our right, and that we can choose for ourselves when and where to disclose or withhold it from whomever we wish, without being forced to expose anything about ourselves to the public.
对我们来说,正确的解释是:个人隐私是我们的权利,我们可以自行选择何时何地对何人公开或不公开,而不是被迫地将自己的任何事情暴露于公众之中。

Cryptopunk believes that we need ways to safeguard the privacy of individuals, using cryptography techniques to protect them in the Internet age.
密码朋克认为我们需要方法去保障个人隐私,用密码学的技术在互联网时代保护个体的隐私。

Over the years, one theory has been proposed and one idea has been put into practice. Through the hash algorithm, b-money, RPOW and so on, this group of people have been exploring and laying the groundwork step by step. Finally, based on these theories that were perfected step by step, Satoshi Nakamoto proposed Bitcoin, a peer-to-peer electronic cash system.
这些年间,一个个理论被提出,一次次想法被实践。经过哈希算法、b-money、RPOW等等,这一群人经过不断的摸索,一步步打下地基。最后基于这些一步步被完善的理论,中本聪提出了比特币,一个点对点的电子现金系统。

Don’t give out personal information about yourself

不要随意透露自己的个人信息

Bitcoin safeguards the freedom of financial transactions for two main additional factors.
比特币保障了人们的金融交易自由,主要又有以下两个因素:

  1. Independence of the Bitcoin system

比特币系统的独立性

The system operates independently and no one has control, but everyone can be part of the system network.
系统独立运行,没有人有控制权,但所有人可以成为系统网络的一员。

2. Does not correspond to real identity

不与现实身份对应

There is no KYC, so your address doesn’t correspond to a real identity. The public can see all the records, such as the addresses of both parties to the transaction and the number of transfers, but there’s no way to associate those transactions with a specific People go above.
没有KYC,所以你的地址不对应现实身份。公众可以看到所有的记录,如交易双方的地址,转账的数量,但是没办法把这些交易关联到具体的人上面去。

These two factors even gives anonymity above cash, as the transaction process has no direct contact and no character traits are present.
这两个因素这甚至给予了高于现金的匿名性,因为交易过程没有直接接触,没有人物特征的出现。

However, Bitcoin is not truly anonymous. Bitcoin addresses can achieve anonymity by blocking certain information before it is tied to a real identity.
然而,比特币并不是真正匿名的。比特币的地址在与真实身份绑定之前,通过阻断某些信息的情况下能实现匿名的效果。

The correspondence between identity information and a bitcoin address is just a matter of finding a way to connect the two, which is called down-chain data. The process of real reaction to the chain. As soon as this step is completed, your transaction information is once again exposed to the public, and it becomes a disadvantage that the data on the chain is visible to everyone.
身份信息与比特币地址的对应,只要抽丝剥茧,找到办法将两者联系起来便是,这就是链下数据往链上真实反应的过程。只要完成这一步,你的交易信息便再次暴露于公众之中,链上数据人人都可看到反而成为了缺点。

So to achieve Bitcoin privacy protection, it needs to be addressed in three parts.
所以要达到比特币的隐私保护效果,需要从三部分进行处理:

  1. Keeping the public key anonymous
    保持公钥匿名
  2. Prevent IP monitoring
    预防IP被监控
  3. Elimination of clear transaction history
    消除清晰的交易记录

Don’t reuse addresses for privacy

不要重复使用地址实现隐私保护

Satoshi Nakamoto offers his solution in the whitepaper: as an extra layer of privacy, use a new address for every transaction.
中本聪在白皮书就提供了他的方案:作为额外的隐私保护,每次交易都使用新的地址。

In the Bitcoin system, you can create multiple addresses, and even use a new address for each transaction, so that even if a party you’ve dealt with knows your real identity and the corresponding address, they have no way of knowing your other transactions.

在比特币系统里面,你可以创建多个地址,甚至在每一笔交易中都使用新的地址,这样即使某个你曾经的交易方知道你的真实身份与相对应的交易地址,但也没办法了解到你其他交易记录。

But for this to work, the premise must be that you can’t group and disperse amounts between your different addresses. These very characteristic behaviors can be easily detected by a careful monitor, who will be able to link a series of your transactions and want to The effect achieved will not exist.
但是若想实现效果,前提一定是要注意不能在你的不同地址间做金额的归集与分散。这些极具特征的行为很容易让细心的监控者发现,从而会将你一连串的交易记录联系起来,想要达到的效果也就不存在了。

Addresses are not reused and a new address must be used for each transaction. The primary condition for achieving privacy is to maintain public key anonymity.

不复用地址,每次交易必须使用新的地址。实现隐私保护的首要条件是保持公钥匿名。

Using Tor Networks to Solve IP Logging Problems

使用Tor网络解决IP被监控记录问题

Bitcoin transactions themselves do not contain any IP addresses, nor does the associated data exist on the blockchain. In fact, Bitcoin is based on a P2P network, and the data is transferred with information attached to it.

比特币交易本身是不包含任何IP地址的,相关的数据也不会存在区块链上。事实上,比特币基于P2P网络,数据在流转的时候会附带相关信息。

The mode of operation is that when a transaction occurs, it is broadcasted from one node, and then received by other nodes as a relay node to other nodes on the network. to make a broadcast. Although the transaction is not explicitly labeled as to which node is the originating or relay node, during transaction propagation, if a node chooses to monitor the To determine the IP address from which the transaction was initially broadcast and to record and store this IP information, there is still an opportunity to expose the IP address to which your transaction was sent. IP addresses often reflect the location of your real address.

运作模式为当交易发生后便从一个节点广播,其他节点收到后作为中继节点继续往网络上其他节点进行广播。虽然说交易没有明确标注哪个节点的始发节点或中继节点,但在交易传播过程中,若节点选择监控来确定交易初次广播的IP并记录存储这些IP信息,还是有机会暴露你的交易发送IP地址的。IP地址往往能反应你的真实地址位置。

Tor uses multiple layers of encryption for transmissions, making the user’s information anonymous, and the transmission paths random and untraceable. Even if a relay node is set up to listen, there is no way of knowing what information is on either end, thus hiding the IP address and preventing it from being traced. Be recorded.

Tor会对传输的信息进行多层的加密,使得用户的信息得以匿名,且传输路径随机,无法追踪。即使设立中继节点进行监听,也无法知道两端的信息是什么,从而能隐藏IP地址,防止IP地址被记录。

Tor is easier to use. Many bitcoin wallets have Tor web services as a configurable option, and some wallets (such as Wasabi Wallet) are more Make it the default option, so it’s easier to use.

Tor使用较为方便。很多的比特币钱包都把Tor网络服务作为可设置的选项,部分钱包(如Wasabi钱包)更是将其当作默认的选项,所以使用比较方便。

Use Coinjoin to hide transaction records and increase privacy

运用Coinjoin隐藏交易记录增加私密性

For this reason, we can also use Coinjoin to separate the input from the output of a transaction, thus hiding the transaction records. Bitcoin’s pseudo-anonymity lies in the fact that transaction records record the addresses of both parties and the amount of the transaction, and all records are public. visible to anyone. Coinjoin is a way to make transactions anonymous by separating the inputs and outputs of a transaction so that they do not correspond to each other. effect.

基于此,我们还可以运用Coinjoin把交易输入与输出分割开来,从而做到隐藏交易记录。比特币的伪匿名在于的交易记录记录着交易双方的地址和交易金额,且所有记录都是公开的,任何人可见。而Coinjoin就是通过把交易输入与输出分割开来,使其无法一一对应来实现交易匿名的效果。

The principle is simple, for example, a large number of people initiate transactions at the same time, and then we collect those transactions and send them simultaneously to the relative should be the receiving address. Since there is no connection between the originator of the transaction and the recipient of the transaction, after this aggregation the After that, no one can clearly know the addresses of both parties to the transaction, thus wiping out the connection between the sender and the receiver.

原理很简单,例如同时有大量的人发起交易,然后我们把这些交易收集起来,然后同时发送给相对应的接收地址。因为交易的发起者之间没有任何联系的,交易接受者同样也没任何联系,所以经过这样的聚合发送之后,没有人能清晰地知道交易双方的地址,从而把发送者与接受者的联系给抹掉了。

At this point even if you go to the Bitcoin browser and look, you will only see the following record:

此时即使你到比特币浏览器看,也只能看到如下的记录:

As you can see from the figure, it is impossible to find the output address corresponding to the initiating address. Since some wallets and websites provide this kind of coin-mixing service, when you use it, just pay attention to choose the more famous one with a large number of users.
由图可看到,根本无法找出发起地址对应的输出地址。因为,部分钱包和网站会提供此种混币服务,使用时注意选择较为有名、用户量大的即可。

The transactions on the chain provide enough privacy after the above steps are completed, and even if there is a way to track them down, the cost is very high, so we think this is enough privacy for the average bitcoin user.
链上的交易在完成以上的步骤后即能提供足够的隐私性,即使存在途径去追踪到,所要付出的成本也是非常大的,所以对于普通的比特币用户而言,我们认为这样已经获得足够的隐私性了。

Choose to use Lightning Network in the right scenario

在合适的场景下选择闪电网络

In addition, there is another way of sending privacy that is off-chain based, and that is through the lightning network. Usually in small transactions, we prefer to use lightning networks because of their speed and low cost.
除此之外,还有一种隐私发送方式是基于链下的,就是通过闪电网络。一般在小额交易中,因闪电网络其速度快与费用低的特性,我们会更倾向于使用闪电网络。

Lightning networks actually have privacy-protecting properties as well. First of all, transactions on the lightning network take place in the payment channel, the transaction is recorded under the chain, and its information is not included on the blockchain! , on, and cannot be viewed by everyone. Second, there are also onion routes on the lightning network, similar to the Tor network above, where payments are passed through multiple channels and only publicly available Part of the payment information is extremely difficult to track, so that even node monitoring does not know everything. So in appropriate scenarios, it is highly recommended to use the lightning network solution.
闪电网络其实还具有隐私保护的属性。首先,在闪电网络上的交易是在支付通道发生的,交易记录在链下,其信息不会被包含在区块链上,上,也无法被所有人查看。其次,闪电网络上也有洋葱路由,跟上面的Tor网络类似,支付通过多个通道传递,且只公开部分的支付信息,极难追踪,这样即使节点监控也没法知道全部内容。所以在适当的场景下,十分建议使用闪电网络的方案。

Getting privacy protection right on Bitcoin takes a bit of effort, and there is no one-stop-shop perfect solution, which requires more attention and implementation of measures at every step.
在比特币上做好隐私保护需要花费一点精力,并没有一站式完美解决的服务,需要在每个环节都多加注意并实施相关措施。

People with the code-punk spirit, Onward!
带着密码朋克精神的人们,Onward!

--

--

CYC

Distributed blockchain research institution. Focusing on underlying technology research and practice. Support us: http://giveth.io/project/cyc