What is an Ethereum mixer for?
What is an Ethereum mixer and what is it for?
Internet visitors who perform various operations with cryptocurrency usually strive to create maximum anonymity. However, this does not always work out, since modern blockchain technologies allow you to immediately trace the user. Transactions with cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum are common knowledge. For one operation alone, you can see the entire history of operations performed by a specific person for a certain period of time.
In order to achieve maximum anonymity while performing various transactions with cryptocurrency, a special program can be used — a mixer. It was invented several years ago and is a great solution for those who want to keep their transactions private. The main features of a mixer, or a mixer for cryptocurrency: The mechanism of action is based on the fact that deposits from several pseudo-anonymous users are mixed with each other; encryption occurs after the operation arrives at the address designated by the recipient; In the process of encryption, data about the client and his operations are hidden by the method of performing cryptographic mathematical operations; After the end of mixing, it becomes impossible to identify the user and the amount of the operation.
The mixer uses zero knowledge proofs in the mixing process. This allows users to mislead and confuse the deposited assets. When using a smart contract, a certain level of transparency is maintained. Third parties are allowed to verify the correct functioning of these contracts, while the privacy of users is fully protected.
Unique hash When a customer deposits their funds for shuffle, a secret word and a secret hash are generated for them. Then they are sent to the smart contract and added to the list of deposits. If the client wants to withdraw monetary assets, he must provide proof (on the same principle as the key); this proof is tantamount to a secret word that allows you to isolate a specific hash from the general number.
In order to enhance your security and privacy, you can use the following anonymous browsers: Tor; I2P; Crowds.
Anonymous software is completely decentralized. It is not associated with third parties who will take responsibility for user funds or have administrator rights to disrupt the mixing process.
Ethereum Mixer Benefits
The Ethereum Mixer program provides complete user anonymity in case of sending transactions. In this case, the connection between the address of the one who sends the cryptocurrency and the one who receives it is destroyed. Withdrawals cannot be matched to the sender. communication is carried out using complex smart contracts. To send deposits to a new address, hashes or proofs are used, which are given to the user at the time of the deposit.
Vitalik Buterin on the anonymity of mixing
The first initiator of the development of mixing ethereum was the famous Russian cryptocurrency specialist Vitalik Buterin. The essence of his idea was that many users are interested in encrypting their activity in the blockchain during the transfer of Ethereum. the idea was initially focused on one-time anonymous transactions, without assuming anonymity at the network level as a whole.
Buterin believes that there are currently two ways for users to perform transactions. If the operation is configured by default, clients receive and send cryptocurrency from the same address, so all their actions are recorded in a single blockchain chain. In addition, it is possible to carry out transactions using several deposits at the same time. However, it is difficult to hide activity on the blockchain with this method.
According to Buterin, today users can perform transactions in one of two ways. By default, users send and receive Ethereum from one address, which means that all actions are displayed on the open blockchain. Also, users can carry out operations through several profiles, but this is not the most suitable solution for hiding operations in the blockchain.
Buterin states that when users make transactions to send Ethereum, all connections are traced in the blockchain. To achieve anonymity, he proposed the generation of two smart contracts — a relay and a mixer. With their help, the client will be able to select private operations using a secret set. This method, according to Buterin, is recognized as the most effective and optimal for the majority of Internet users who regularly make transactions with Ethereum.