> but all Bitcoin transactions are public. Is it really that difficult to tie people to these transactions?
I think it is. From my limited understanding of cryptocurrency wallets and transaction, I believe the distributed ledger is public, so anyone (incl. Govt.) can see which wallet address has how much coins / funds in it. But you can't see which physical human or institution owns that wallet / address.
That's how it's widely known that just about 1,650 wallets hold a majority of the world's bitcoins. These are wallets with > 1000 bitcoins. They are called 'Whales'. But it's almost impossible to tie a Whale account to, say, Richard Branson or Ross Ulbricht.
If you take Paypal payments as example, this is similar to everyone knowing your email address for paypal, but only paypal knowing that the email address is tied to you.
I think it is. From my limited understanding of cryptocurrency wallets and transaction, I believe the distributed ledger is public, so anyone (incl. Govt.) can see which wallet address has how much coins / funds in it. But you can't see which physical human or institution owns that wallet / address.
That's how it's widely known that just about 1,650 wallets hold a majority of the world's bitcoins. These are wallets with > 1000 bitcoins. They are called 'Whales'. But it's almost impossible to tie a Whale account to, say, Richard Branson or Ross Ulbricht.
If you take Paypal payments as example, this is similar to everyone knowing your email address for paypal, but only paypal knowing that the email address is tied to you.