Bitcoin mixers (or tumblers) are services that obfuscate the link between bitcoin addresses and users’ identities. They are used to enhance privacy for a number of reasons.
A bitcoin mixer that was sanctioned by the US Treasury for helping Lazarus Group hackers launder stolen crypto is back online under a new name. It’s called Sinbad, and it appears to operate similarly to Blender.
Privacy
Privacy is an important concern for anyone dealing with Bitcoin. Without a Bitcoin mixer, your transactions can be linked to you by government agencies and hackers alike. This can lead to identity theft and other serious consequences for your financial security. Bitcoin mixers, also known as tumblers, solve this problem by obscuring the link between your initial and final addresses. This is accomplished by combining your coins with other incoming and outgoing Bitcoins and sending them to the destination address you specify. This provides you with a layer of privacy that can shield you from prying eyes in this increasingly invasive digital age.
Although Western law enforcement has cracked down on mixer services, such as those run by Helix and Bitcoin Fog, these tools are still essential to ensuring your privacy when transacting with Bitcoin. Moreover, maintaining Bitcoin’s fungibility depends on its anonymity. Without it, Bitcoin could lose its revolutionary potential as a decentralized form of money.
Security
Using a bitcoin blender or tumbler, ensures that your cryptocurrency transactions cannot be traced. This is because the coins you send to a mixer will come out the other end as completely new coins, not your original ones. In addition, the mixing process can include a number of additional transactions to make it difficult to link the new coins to your original transaction.
In a series of hacks later linked to the Lazarus advanced persistent threat group, the hackers used crypto-mixing services such as Tornado Cash and Blender to launder stolen funds worth more than $100 million. Both were subsequently sanctioned by the Office of Foreign Assets Control. According to blockchain analysis firm Elliptic, the same operators of those two services have now started a new service called Sinbad that may be being used by Lazarus to continue to launder its stolen assets.
Sinbad operates in a similar manner to Blender, with both being custodial mixers. The service provides a ten-digit mixing code, guarantees letters signed by the mixer’s service address, and a seven-day transaction delay.
Convenience
A bitcoin mixer is an important tool for enhancing the anonymity of cryptocurrency transactions. It helps to prevent tracing by mixing your coins with those of others and making it difficult to establish a direct link between you and the person receiving your payment. Most bitcoin mixers are decentralized, but some are centralized. A decentralized bitcoin mixer is more secure because it is impossible for third parties to control the operation. Most mixers also allow users to choose their withdrawal delay, which helps them further protect their privacy and anonymity. The service typically charges a small fee for its services.