How to choose the best cryptocurrency mixer?
Since digital money is spinning up worldwide, digital money holders have become more aware about the anonymity of their transactions. Everyone used to believe that a crypto user can remain unidentified while forwarding their coins and it came to light that it is not true. Because of public administration controls, the transactions are detectable which means that a sender’s e-mail and even identity can be revealed. But don’t be worried, there is an answer to such governmental measures and it is a crypto scrambler.
To make it clear, a cryptocurrency mixing service is a software program that splits a transaction, so there is an easy way to mix several parts of it with other coins. In the end a user gets back the same number of coins, but mixed up in a non-identical set. As a result, there is no way to track the transaction back to a user, so one can stay calm that identity is not revealed.
As maybe some of you are aware, every cryptocurrency transaction, and Bitcoin is no different, is imprinted in the blockchain and it leaves traces. These traces are important for the state to trace back outlawed transactions, such as purchasing guns, drugs or money laundering. While a sender is not connected with any illegal activity and still wants to avoid being traced, it is possible to use accessible cryptocurrency tumblers and secure sender’s personal identity. Many crypto owners do not want to let everybody know the amount they earn or how they spend their money.
There is an opinion among some internet users that using a mixing service is an illegal action itself. It is not completely correct. As mentioned before, there is a possibility of crypto mixing to become illegal, if it is used to disguise user’s illegal actions, otherwise, there is no point to be concerned. There are many services that are here for cryptocurrency owners to mix their coins.
However, a digital currency owner should be careful while choosing a bitcoin tumbler. Which platform can be trusted? How can one be sure that a mixer will not take all the sent digital money? This article is here to answer these questions and assist every bitcoin holder to make the right decision.
Samourai mixer / Cryptocurrency tumbler
Let’s first figure out which features need to be looked at to be certain that a sender trusts their digital money to a reliable service:
- 1) there is typically a fee which is usually insignificant (around 1-3%).
- 2) no logs are kept. It means that no information about your online transactions is collected. This option is extremely essential.
- 3) several output addresses can be added which help to diversify risks and forward cleaned coins to different destinations. These addresses are used as a final destination for the sent coins.
- 4) types of cryptocash involved. There are scramblers that enable to mix some other cryptocurrencies except Bitcoin.
- 5) such platforms usually require confirmation, and the least confirmations it requires, the better.
- 6) If a tumbler provides you with a Letter of Guarantee, it means that you can use it as a confirmation of your participation in the transaction and it keeps safe your digital money in case of swindling. Most of the time it looks like a text file digitally signed using PGP technology. The defined features are crucial to choose which cryptocurrency mixer to use. There are some more aspects that also need to be noticed and all of them are included into the below table of the top crypto tumblers.
The crypto scramblers presented above are among the best existing mixers that were chosen by clients and are highly recommended. Let’s take a closer look at the listed mixers and describe all options on which attention should be focused.
Surely all tumblers from the table support no-logs and no-registration rule, these are essential features that should not be overlooked. Most of the mixers are used to mix only Bitcoins as the most regular cryptocurrency. Although there is a couple of crypto mixing platforms that mix other coins, such as Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin. Additional currencies give a sender more opportunities, some mixing services also allow to blend coins between the currencies which makes transactions far less trackable.
There is one option that is not represented in the above table and it is time-delay. This option helps a user and a transaction itself to stay incognito, as there is a gap between the deposited coins and the outgoing transaction. In most cases, users can set the time of delay by themselves and it can be a couple of days or even hours and minutes. For better understanding of crypto tumblers, it is essential to consider each of them separately.
Blender has a straightforward interface, it is convenient to use and straightforward. Time-delay option can be set up to 24 hours. With regard to the fee, there is an extra fee of 0.0005 % per outgoing address. As one of the few, this mixer provides a user with a special mixing code which assures that new crypto coins are not mixed with prior deposits. Additional URL (Blender) is also here to make certain that users can get to the scrambler, even if the main link is not available.
As well as others, CryptoMixer has both a clear-web (CryptoMixer). This mixer is remarkable for accommodating extremely large-volume transactions. After public verification of their reserve of 2000 BTC there is no doubt that users can trust this mixing platform and their coins will not be taken. The number of required confirmations depends on the number of deposited coins, e.g. for depositing less that 25 BTC there is only 1 confirmation required, in case of depositing more than 1000 BTC a user needs to collect 5 confirmations.
To use this crypto mixer, a CryptoMixer code needs to be invented. A user should note it, so it is easy to use it next time. After entering a CryptoMixer code, users need to provide the output address or several of them and then set a time-delay feature. A delay time is determined automatically and a user can modify it if needed. A service fee can be also chosen from the table depending on the deposited amount. Each transaction requires extra fee of 0.0005 BTC. Also, a calculator on the main page helps every user to understand the number of coins sent and got back after mixing.
Based on the experience of many users on the Internet, PrivCoin is one of the leading Bitcoin mixing services that has ever existed. This tumbler supports not only Bitcoins, but also other above-mentioned crypto coins. Exactly this mixing service allows a user to swap the coins, in other words to deposit one type of coins and get them back in another currency. This process even increases user’s confidentiality. Time-delay feature helps to make a transaction less traceable, as it can be set up to 24 hours. There is a transaction fee of 0.0005 for each extra address.
One absolutely unique crypto mixer is ChipMixer because it is based on the completely another principle comparing to other mixers. A user does not merely deposit coins to clean, but makes a wallet and funds it with chips from 0.01 BTC to 8.192 BTC which a user can divide according to their wishes. After chips are added to the wallet, a wallet owner can deposit coins to process. As the chips are sent to the mixing platform beforehand, next transactions are untraceable and it is not possible to connect them with the wallet owner. There is no usual fee for transactions on this mixer: it applies “Pay what you like” feature. It means that the fee is applied in a random way making transactions even more anonymous and the service itself more affordable. Retention period is 7 days and each sender has an opportunity to manually cleanse all logs before the end of this period. Another mixing service Mixtum offers you a so-called free trial period meaning that there are no service or transaction fee charged. The process of getting clean coins is also quite unusual, as the tumbler requires a request to be sent over Tor or Clearnet and renewed coins are obtained from stock exchanges.
There are 3 steps of this mixing process that include:
- 1. pre-mixing coins and then mixing them with others;
- 2. forwarding coins to stock exchanges where they are blended with coins of other traders;
- 3. clean coins are returned back to the original sender.
It is worth noting that random sums are sent in two and more transactions to make them less traceable.
Another reliable scrambler is BitMix which supports two cryptocurrencies with Ethereum to be added soon. The mixing process is quite standard and identical with the processes on other tumblers. There is a possibility to choose a time-delay option up to 72 hours and a sender has an opportunity to divide the transaction, so the coins are sent to multiple addresses. Thus, sender’s money are more secured and untraceable.
Two cryptocurrencies are also supported on SmartMix.io platform. This tumbler is listed because it works quickly and it is trusty. The transaction fee is really low, only the amount of 0.0001 BTC needs to be added for every extra address. Dividing deposited coins between 5 addresses is also highly helpful for keeping user’s anonymity. Every user is able to select an additional option of delaying the payment meaning that the transaction is becoming even less traceable.
Let’s represent another one of the leading bitcoin mixing services which is extremely easy to operate. Bitcoin Laundry (Bitcoin Laundry) has a user-friendly interface and it should be noted that the service fee is the lowest possible, it is 0.0% with 0.0002 BTC per extra address. Retention period is 7 days when it is easy for a user to manually delete all the logs which are saved for this period because of any possible transaction-related issues. There is a time-delay feature, however, it is not possible to be controlled by a user but the mixing service only.
Being one of the oldest mixing services, BitBlender (BitBlender) continues to be a easy-to-use and functional mixing platform. It is possible to have two accounts, with and without registration. The difference is that the one without registration is less controllable by a user.
The mixing process can be performed and the transaction fee is charged randomly from 1% to 3% which makes the transaction more anonymous. Also, if a user deposits more than 10 BTC in a week, the crypto mixer reduces the fee by half. With a time-delay feature the transaction can be delayed up to 24 hours. A Bitcoin owner should worry security problems as there is a 2-factor authentication when a sender becomes a holder of a PGP key with password. However, this mixer does not have a Letter of Guarantee which makes it difficult to address this coin scrambler in case of scams.
And last but not least, there is a crypto coin tumbler with many cryptocurrencies to mix named SmartMixer (SmartMixer). At the moment, there are three currencies and Ethereum is going to be represented soon. This tumbler offers a very friendly user-interface, as well as the possibility to have control over all phases of the mixing process. A user can set up a delay not just by hours, but by the minute which is very helpful. The tumbler gives the opportunity to use a calculator to understand the amount of funds a user finally gets. The service fee is from 1 % to 5 % with fees for extra addresses (0.00045529 BTC, 0.01072904 LTC, and 0.00273174 BCH). Having funds from many resources helps the mixing platform to keep user’s personal information undetected. This last tumbler does not offer its users a Letter of Guarantee.
All cryptocurrency mixers presented in the article are reported to be trusty having all transactions unidentified. It is important to choose a crypto mixer wisely, as a sender has no opportunity to turn to any governmental structure in case of scams. By all means, processing your deposits online can be unsafe, however, using scramblers that are introduced in the article will help every user to minimize risks and be sure of success of the transaction.
Whirlpool - Samourai Wallet mixer