What Is a Bitcoin Mixer – And How Does It Work?

The idea of cryptocurrency creation was to overcome the centralization of the money system and to make it anonymous. However, now one can often hear that it is rather pseudonymous. Why is it so? The reason is the possibility to track all the transactions made on this blockchain. Thus, everyone can find out the addresses of the wallets of both senders and recipients. Well, the real identity stays hidden, isn’t it? It is but there are ways to reveal it. Thus, privacy still remains an important issue and other solutions appear to guarantee it. Here we are going to discuss one of them and find out what is a bitcoin mixer or tumbler, how it works and what awaits its users.

Bitcoin mixer meaning

Imagine a usual Bitcoin transaction. One user sends coins to the other utilizing his wallet. After that, all the data on this event appears in a Bitcoin explorer. This includes the amount sent as well as the wallets’ addresses. Furthermore, the real personalities of users may also be unobscured if needed. So, what’s a bitcoin mixer? This special software was developed to avoid the loss of the above-mentioned information. It accepts BTC from many users, mixes them together and only then sends further. Therefore, the link between users is lost. Now, when someone opens a Bitcoin explorer, he will see that a user has sent some amount to such a mixer. The destiny of these coins remains hidden. As well, it will be seen that the recipient got some amount from a mixer but no more. Therefore, there will be no visible connection between the two parties involved in the transaction. That is what we call complete anonymity. Of course, that is more than interesting and attractive. Therefore, many users ask how to use bitcoin mixer. First and foremost, one should remember that not all such services are free. You need to pay for some. In addition, there are two main types to choose between:

• centralized;
• decentralized.

How does a bitcoin mixer work if it is centralized? It has fees for utilization but works quickly and smoothly. Most such services are widely known and reliable. However, they are also associated with a privacy challenge. The thing is that the records of its actions are not available to the public. However, these services still save them and no one can guarantee that this data will not become open one day. On the other hand, decentralized services provide obscured transactions. They utilize coordinated and peer-to-peer methods. For instance, users can mix some amount together, then an equal redistribution occurs, and there is no chance to track from where. In any case, the main idea of such services is to hide the real personalities of users. No wonder, it often attracts criminals and mixers have become arguable. Still, honest users can benefit from them.

Bitcoin mixer: to use or not to use?

As now you are aware of how to use a bitcoin mixer, you fully understand its crucial advantage. Of course, we are talking about anonymity and a perfect chance to stay well-protected on the market. However, their usage is still associated with a few drawbacks, namely:

• The delay of a transaction that is required for the proper work of the service and the guarantees of your anonymity. Thus, you will not be able to act immediately with them;
• Not all exchanges allow swapping or converting BTC obtained from mixers. That is because of the stained reputation of some services and scandals that appeared due to money laundering and other crimes.

Thus, if you plan to further convert or swap coins on an exchange like Exolix, it’s better to check the exact rules. Furthermore, there are several special disadvantages related to centralized mixers:


• As one company runs it, if something gets wrong with it, your data and transactions will be in danger;
• Sometimes networks shut down without a reason, leading to a loss of your processed funds and we have mentioned that there is always a delay). Moreover, hackers often operate on these survives and there are unreliable companies that steal BTC instead of sending them to the recipient. Unfortunately, there will be no way to find out the truth in this case;
• Your anonymity is still questionable here as there is a record of all transactions made. The only point is the will of the company to share these details or not.

As for the decentralized services, they require a lot of members for their proper functioning. If there are not enough users at the given moment, your transactions may be traced back. In a nutshell, mixers have realized an interesting idea that allows reaching higher levels of anonymity than that possible without them. However, one still needs to find a reliable service, as it is easy to lose more due to dishonesty, hackers and criminals. Thus, think twice before utilizing such a service and do not trust it blindly. Check all the available information about it and pay special attention to the restrictions of exchanges for mixed coins.