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| Mixes ones funds with others with the intention to confuse the trail back to the original source of the funds.
| | #redirect [[Bitcoin mixer]] |
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| Compared to the traditional financial systems this service might be the equivalent of moving funds through banks located in countries that have strict bank-secrecy laws. Such countries include the Cayman Islands, the Bahamas, and Panama<ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offshore_bank Offshore bank]</ref>.
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| Mixing helps protect privacy however mixing can also be used for money laundering.
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| The term money laundering refers to the practice where this mixing is performed because the funds are illegally obtained. After laundering, the funds appear legitimate<ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money_laundering Money laundering]</ref>.
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| Mixing large amounts of money may itself be illegal, being in violation of [[Wikipedia:Structuring|anti-structuring laws]].
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| There has been in Bitcoin's history the situation where an exchange has blacklisted bitcoin deposits due to them having taint and descending from bitcoins that were stolen<ref>[http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=73385.0 Mt Gox thinks it's the Fed. Freezes acc based on "tainted" coins.]</ref>. Unless the exchange follows the trail, manual or lightly automated mixing methods can make detection of taint more difficult<ref>[http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=79079.0 Blockchain-based betting services function as mixing services?]</ref> even though this approach may not protect privacy like a true mixing service would.
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| ==See Also==
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| * [[Anonymity]]
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| * [[:Category:Mixing Services|Mixing services]]
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| * [http://www.bitcoin.org/smf/index.php?topic=2893.0 RFC: Bitcoin Mixnet]
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| ==References==
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| <references />
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| [[Category:Financial]]
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