Study Shows Bitcoin Transactions Are Not as Anonymous as Claimed
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In 2013, researcher Sarah Meiklejohn conducted a study showing Bitcoin transactions could be traced, contradicting claims about its anonymity. She used clustering techniques to link Bitcoin addresses to identities.
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Meiklejohn bought hundreds of random items with Bitcoin from different vendors to manually tag addresses. Combined with her tracing methods, she identified over 1 million addresses.
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She tracked stolen Bitcoins across multiple transactions, showing the paths led to exchanges where subpoenas could reveal the thieves.
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Her study revealed patterns enabling tracking of Bitcoin flows between organizations and people, demonstrating usefulness for investigations.
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The paper was titled "A Fistful of Bitcoins Characterizing Payments Among Men with No Names," referring to tracing anonymous Bitcoin users.