It is evident a lot of people are keeping a close eye on the Bitcoin blockchain. Governments, tax collection agencies, and virtually everyone else have access to all Bitcoin transactions taking place in real-time. Samourai Wallet, a company, focusing on privacy and anonymity in the Bitcoin world, introduced a new feature that improves fungibility.
Ricochet Makes Bitcoin Snooping More Difficult
It is always good to see Bitcoin companies focus on what matters most to their users. Samourai Wallet, a company well known for their privacy-centric features, has come up with a new tool to improve Bitcoin fungibility. In fact, they pride themselves on frustrating anyone who is spying on the Bitcoin blockchain to link transactions with user identities.
This unique premium feature is available as of today and will help people avoid unnecessary governmental scrutiny. According to Samourai Wallet, thousands of Bitcoin transactions are flagged as suspicious of a daily basis. It is a bit unclear where they get this data from, though. Unfortunately, these flagged transactions can cause problems for Bitcoin users and any company active in the world of cryptocurrency.
One of the examples is how Bitcoin exchanges freeze funds and suspend users. Allegedly, this is usually due to transactions being labeled as suspicious for no apparent reason. Coinbase recently got a lot of negative feedback for banning a ton of users without just cause, yet they are working on having individual accounts restored as we speak.
To determine if a transaction is suspicious, investigators look for the origin of the funds going back five levels. Regardless of how you decide to spend the funds, you may still get flagged for suspicious activity if its origin is tainted. Ricochet, the new tool developed by Samourai Wallet, adds four additional “levels” to each transaction, forcing blockchain spies to put in a lot more work. This increases costs and overheads, making it far less appealing to get involved in investigating transactions.
This new tool is quite intriguing, as it will help improve Bitcoin privacy for all users. Even though Samourai Wallet is still in alpha testing right now, the team keeps adding a ton of new features over time. Ricochet is just the latest addition to this growing list, and will be of great interest to a lot of Bitcoin users.
Header image courtesy of Shutterstock
Our Social Networks: Facebook Instagram Pinterest Reddit Telegram Twitter Youtube
