Practical Guide: How to Maintain Privacy in the Crypto World?

Author: Vladimir S. | Officer's Notes

Compiled by: Deep Tide TechFlow

Initially, the birth of cryptocurrency was driven by the pursuit of privacy and freedom, but now everything is tracked, linked, and sold. The blockchain is a permanently public ledger, exchanges require identity information (KYC), and analytics companies earn millions by associating your wallet with your real identity.

The good news is that as long as you take conscious measures, you can still maintain a significant level of privacy. You don't need to become an extreme privacy advocate like a "tin foil hat" wearer; just develop some basic habits. Here are some truly effective privacy protection tips for 2025:

1. Stop Reusing Wallet Addresses

Every time you use the same address to receive funds, you are effectively making your transaction history public to the world. Therefore, generate a new address each time you use it, or at least create different addresses for different relationships (for example, one for salary income, one for trading, one for DeFi, and one for entertainment). Nowadays, most quality wallets support the automatic generation of new addresses—make sure you have this feature enabled.

2. Separate Your Identities Like Exes, Using Different Wallets for Different Parts of Life:

A "public" wallet for connecting to Twitter/Discord (this wallet is expected to be exposed eventually);
A "cold wallet" for important assets, which should never be connected to the internet or decentralized applications (dApps);
One or two "daily" hot wallets for trading or DeFi, only funded when necessary;

Remember, never transfer funds directly on-chain. If you must move funds, use a non-KYC (no identity verification) exchange or Monero (XMR) as a bridge.

3. Avoid Using KYC Exchanges When Privacy is Needed

If you have completed KYC (identity verification) on exchanges like Binance, Coinbase, or Kraken, then that wallet will forever be linked to your real name. Only use these exchanges as a channel for fiat deposits/withdrawals when there are no other options, and immediately transfer assets to a private wallet after completing the transaction, ensuring not to transfer assets back to the same address.

Better options for 2025 include:

Bisq, Haveno (specifically for Monero), LocalMonero (use while you still can);
NoOnes, Hodl Hodl, Peach Bitcoin (for Bitcoin);
SimpleSwap, ChangeNOW, FixedFloat (exchange tools without KYC).

4. Use Monero for True Privacy Transactions

Bitcoin is not private, and neither is Ethereum. But Monero (XMR) can achieve privacy (through ring signatures, stealth addresses, and RingCT technology). If you need to sever the on-chain link between sender and receiver, you can convert assets to XMR, complete the transaction, and then convert them back. Yes, fees can sometimes be high, and liquidity is not perfect, but it remains the most effective method compared to other options.

5. Bitcoin Privacy: Use CoinJoin Correctly

When using Bitcoin, ensure you are using CoinJoin technology correctly. For example, use Wasabi Wallet in conjunction with CoinJoin or JoinMarket. Due to related arrests in 2024, the Whirlpool feature of Samourai Wallet has been halted, making Wasabi almost the primary tool for Bitcoin privacy protection. It is recommended to mix coins after consolidating UTXOs or purchasing Bitcoin. Don't just do a small mixing operation once—multiple rounds are recommended to ensure privacy.

6. Ethereum Privacy: Use Privacy L2 or Mixing Tools (Proceed with Caution)

Tornado Cash is still under U.S. sanctions, and using it in that region carries risks. Here are some better options currently:

Railgun: Supports privacy balances on Ethereum, Arbitrum, Polygon, and BSC;
Aztec: A complete privacy solution on Ethereum L2;
Nightfall: A privacy chain on Polygon, still operational.

If you have extremely high privacy requirements, it is recommended to use a new wallet + VPN for each transaction and destroy the wallet after a round of transactions.

7. Always Use a Quality VPN or Tor

Your IP address can leak all information. Never connect your wallet without a VPN. It is recommended to use a paid VPN service where you control the keys, such as Mullvad, IVPN, and Proton. Avoid free VPNs and those well-known services that log data (like Express, Nord, Surfshark, which have been found to have false advertising). If you have extremely high privacy requirements, you can choose Tor with bridges or i2p, but be aware that these methods are very slow during transactions.

8. Browser Usage Habits are More Important Than You Think

Create a separate browser profile for cryptocurrency operations (or simply use a separate browser);
Use Brave or Firefox, and install the uBlock Origin and ClearURLs plugins;
Disable WebRTC functionality;
Never log into Google, Discord, or Twitter in the same browser profile;
Use temporary containers (recommended: Firefox's Multi-Account Containers plugin, which is a game changer).

9. Use Hardware Wallets + Isolated Operations Whenever Possible

It is recommended to use hardware wallets like Ledger, Trezor, Keystone, or GridPlus Lattice. Sign transactions offline, and never enter your seed phrase on any website. If a website asks you for your private key or seed phrase, it is undoubtedly a scam.

10. Don't Show Off on Social Media

Seriously, don't show off. Posting screenshots of your portfolio, ENS names, or NFT brag posts, each one is a data point for on-chain analytics companies. For example, when you tweet from a real-name account, "Just went all in with 50 ETH to buy $PEPE," you have already exposed yourself.

Additional Notes—Emerging Privacy Technologies in 2025:

Stealth Addresses are Coming to Ethereum Mainnet (ERC-5564 and ERC-6538): Start using wallets that support these standards, as they will significantly enhance privacy.
PayJoin (P2EP) for Bitcoin Payments: Even without using CoinJoin, it can make on-chain monitoring more difficult.

You don't need to follow all the advice to achieve privacy protection. Just focusing on #1 (Stop Reusing Wallet Addresses), #2 (Separate Identities), #3 (Avoid KYC Exchanges), and #7 (Use VPN or Tor) can accomplish 90% of your privacy protection goals.

Remember, "Perfection is the enemy of good." Start with the basics, and as you become more skilled, gradually add more layers of privacy protection.

免责声明：本文章仅代表作者个人观点，不代表本平台的立场和观点。本文章仅供信息分享，不构成对任何人的任何投资建议。用户与作者之间的任何争议，与本平台无关。如网页中刊载的文章或图片涉及侵权，请提供相关的权利证明和身份证明发送邮件到support@aicoin.com，本平台相关工作人员将会进行核查。