Cryptocurrency mixers can be useful for many different purposes, including avoiding hacked accounts. However, they also have drawbacks for users seeking privacy. Moreover, they may be used by criminals.
Fortunately, there are decentralized mixers that don’t store your data or log your transactions and can’t be shut down by authorities. These mixers include CoinJoin and TumbleBit.
Helix by Grams
The Helix product line from Grams is a bitcoin mixer and market payment service. The company also offers a darknet search engine and other products. Helix has a user base of over 250,000 people. The service is free and offers a variety of options for users, including a “Light” version. The “Light” version of Helix does not require a Grams account and provides fewer options for mixing. The man behind the company, Larry Dean Harmon, has pled guilty to money laundering conspiracy charges in connection with Helix and other Darknet markets. He has agreed to forfeit more than 4,400 bitcoin, worth approximately $200 million today.
Binance
Binance is a company that offers a wide variety of blockchain products and services. These include trading and finance, education, data and research, social good, investment and incubation, and decentralization solutions. Its portfolio includes over 300 crypto coins and tokens that can be traded on its exchange. Users can access these through their mobile apps and browsers. In addition, the platform provides an API that allows users to create custom order types.
In terms of fees, Binance has some of the lowest in the industry. Its transaction fees are free of charge and it also has low withdrawal charges for both fiat and cryptocurrencies. The company also offers a range of different payment methods, including PayPal and credit cards. The company’s support page has an extensive FAQ section that can answer most questions.
The company’s flagship product is Binance Exchange, a crypto-to-crypto and crypto-to-fiat trading platform. Its underlying technology is blockchain, and it is designed to be scalable, secure, and fast. Binance Exchange is available worldwide and features multiple currency pairs. Its trading fees are some of the lowest in the industry, and they are updated on a regular basis.
Binance is also working to expand its stablecoin offerings. It recently partnered with Japan’s Stablecoin Foundation to accelerate Web3 adoption in the country. The firm also supports the efforts of the New York Department of Financial Services to promote stablecoin adoption in the state.
CoinJoin
CoinJoin is a company that offers products to help Bitcoin users protect their privacy. Its flagship product, CoinJoin, provides a simple way to mix cryptocurrency payments without relying on a third party. In addition, it is free to use and does not charge any extra fees aside from the standard transaction fee. The company also supports non-profit organizations in safeguarding their transactions. This is especially important in countries with authoritarian regimes.
Using a mixer to anonymize your Bitcoin transactions makes it much more difficult for outsiders to track your activities. However, it is not foolproof. A savvy attacker could still link your CoinJoin-related transactions to your real-world identity. It is therefore important to know the risks and limitations of this service before you use it.
Some concerns about CoinJoins include fears that they may be used to launder money, which is illegal. In some cases, this has led to cryptocurrency businesses flagging user accounts. This is a risk that all users should be aware of when using this tool.
The best way to get started with CoinJoin is to use a wallet that supports it. Many mobile wallets and desktop clients now offer CoinJoin, including Wasabi Wallet and Samourai Wallet. Some of these services even have a dedicated tab for it. The Samourai Whirlpool coinjoin is a particularly good option because it can mix large amounts of bitcoin quickly and easily.
TumbleBit
TumbleBit is a privacy-friendly cryptocurrency mixer that works as a second layer payment hub. It uses RSA assumption and ECDSA standard security practices to provide anonymity within transactions. It also claims to scale efficiently. It is a decentralized trustless solution that does not require any changes to the Bitcoin protocol. It is being developed by the Stratis team and will be included in the Breeze wallet.
The fungibility of bitcoins is an important issue, and the current traceability of Bitcoin transactions puts it at risk. Clean (untainted) bitcoins are more valuable than dirty ones. But the fact that the transaction history of a bitcoin is easily linked to its owner is a big problem for users who want to remain anonymous. Fortunately, there is a new solution that could make Bitcoin more fungible, according to researchers at North Carolina State University.
The new TumbleBit algorithm improves an older method called CoinSwap, which breaks the link between Bitcoin addresses. The TumbleBit improvement allows many Alices to send bitcoins to Bob through an intermediary without the intermediary knowing who each Alice is. However, this still doesn’t solve all of the privacy and fungibility issues that Bitcoin faces.
One major downside of TumbleBit is that it requires fixed denominations, which can lead to timing attacks. Another is that the tumbler must front the money for the mixing, which can put it at risk of theft and censorship. Nonetheless, the TumbleBit developers are confident that they have found ways to mitigate these problems.