How Tor helps ensure anonymity

User data is collected for various purposes. When visiting almost any website, you need to click the button labeled “Allow cookies” – it is available in social networks, marketplaces, cryptocurrency exchanges and news aggregators. In this way, developers legally collect information about the IP address from which users went to the site, geolocation, the amount of time spent on the page, visited sections and typed search queries. If you prohibit the transmission of this data, it can still be collected, but less legally. The history of Internet activity can be used to compile a dossier about a user in great detail. Anonymous browsers such as Tor can help reduce data leakage.

What is TOR

The Onion Router (TOR, Tor) is a special technology for anonymously visiting sites on the Internet. It is used to create confidential services or duplicates of blocked resources, such as social networks. They are assigned a domain name with the ending .onion. TOR-technology is also used in the browser of the same name to access the Internet.

The Onion Router translates as “onion router”. Its main advantage is encrypting every step when surfing the Internet. In other words, TOR erases data about users’ activities. Decryption is impossible.

Due to multi-step encryption, the browser is slower than the usual web explorers. However, Tor is recommended for use when privacy is more important than speed.

Anonymity of crypto-transfers

With the help of blockchain it is possible to transfer money knowing only the wallet address. Cryptoenthusiasts position this as a privacy factor. But in practice, economic freedom and anonymity in transfers of digital assets are conditional. The blockchain records the data of all previous transactions.

Any customer can click on the sender’s address and see their balance and the exchanges they use. One can easily examine the dates, movements, and origins of crypto assets.

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The identity of the user is traceable, even though most blockchain wallets do not require a name, documents or phone number when registering. To leak information, it is enough to transfer assets from this vault to the balance of a centralized service, such as an exchange. After the transfer, the data from the profile will immediately refer to the wallet and the entire history of transactions. Such information is collected covertly and is not placed in the public domain. However, the data is stored on the platform’s servers. At the request of financial or law enforcement authorities, representatives of the exchange will disclose them.

How to protect anonymity with Tor

When working with crypto-payments, it is important to consider both sides of security. The first is to limit the hidden collection of information by services on the network. As previously mentioned, this is best handled by TOR technology. The second side is related to the wallet data exposed in the blockchain. In order to limit the ability to trace the original source of cryptoassets, special services for anonymous transactions are used.

Principle of operation of cryptomixers

Mixer services hide the sender’s wallet. With their help, users can transfer cryptocurrencies to any blockchain address without worrying about the leakage of storage data. Mixer services utilize mixing technology. Senders transfer assets to a special protocol (smart contract). The latter collects digital currency from several users, “mixes” and outputs it to the specified addresses.

Depending on the method of “cleaning” the procedure can occur both instantly and take up to 6 hours. Despite the general principle of operation, anonymizer services can differ significantly.

First, most of the mixers are created for operations with Bitcoin (BTC) crypto coins. Mixing different coins will not work. There are also anonymizers for Ethereum.

One of them – Tornado Cach – became infamous. Hackers who broke into the Ronin protocol and stole more than half a billion dollars let the looted assets pass through it. The perpetrators were not found, but the service was blocked by the authorities.

This led to the emergence of centralized mixers. There is no question of complete anonymity in such a case. To leave the data in secret, you need to disclose them to an intermediary service. But this is considered a compromise solution. Such mixers are chosen by corporate holders who are concerned about their reputation and the impeccable origin of deposits.

There are also differences in blockchain technology for clearing assets. Without going into details, we can limit ourselves to the fact that they all lead to the main goal. Transactions on the blockchain remain anonymous.

To maximize privacy, it is recommended to combine TOR technologies and services for anonymous transactions.

How to make a transfer via cryptomixer

There are a few peculiarities that are important to know before performing confidential transfers. In some modes, mixers transfer assets only from exchange accounts. Transactions between private wallets are also possible. For example, the Mixer.Money service offers 3 options.

Mode	Features	Commission amount
“Mixer”.	Implemented for transfers from private wallets. The fastest way of mixing (up to 2 hours), but the level of anonymity in it is low. In these transactions, information about the sender is not reflected, but there are traces of mixer usage. They are found using cluster analysis.	From 1 to 1.5% + 0.00035 BTC
“Full anonymity”.	The mode is available only for assets from exchange accounts. However, the degree of anonymity is extremely high. Operations are longer than in the “Mixer” mode and take up to 6 hours.	From 4 to 5% + 0.007 BTC
“Exact payment”	Repeats the features of the previous mode, + there is a fixation of the exact amount

The service is also available in the TOR-network. To transfer BTC coins with the highest measures of anonymity, you will need to perform several actions:

1. Install the TOR browser.
2. Go to the Mixer.Money website. The most confidential option is to use the onion-version of the service.
3. Select the desired anonymity mode.
4. Specify the address of the recipient wallet.
5. Click on the “Mix my bitcoin” button.
6. Perform a transfer from your BTC wallet to the provided details.
7. If necessary, you can save the letter of guarantee.

It is allowed to perform an anonymous transaction via Telegram bot. All operations are carried out in automatic mode. The service has a support service. Therefore, you can get help if there are problems.

Mixer.Money service

The developers launched a mixer for bitcoin transactions in 2016. The interface is available in Russian and English. For 7 years, Mixer.Money has gained a reputation as a reliable anonymizer. The authors are attentive to all sides of preserving the privacy of holders’ data.

Several modes of anonymity up to absolute privacy are available. The site is available in an optional V3 version for networks with The Onion Router technology.

The minimum limit of mixer transactions is 0.01 BTC, which is about 26 thousand rubles at the exchange rate as of June 2023. In the “Mixer” private transfer mode, holders can operate with amounts up to 1 BTC, in the “Exact Payment” and “Full Anonymity” options – up to 50 BTC.

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Author: Saifedean Ammous, an expert in cryptocurrency economics.