A Bitcoin mixer is a service that Bitcoin holders can use to make their BTC transaction history more difficult to trace. There are many Bitcoin mixing services available on the market, but not all of them are worth your time.
To help you narrow down your search, we have selected the 5 best Bitcoin mixers available right now.
Before we take a closer look at the best Bitcoin mixers, let’s first learn about why Bitcoin is not actually very private and why Bitcoin mixers even exist.
List of the best BTC mixers in 2024:
- Wasabi Wallet — Privacy-focused Bitcoin wallet with CoinJoin support
- Samourai Wallet — Bitcoin wallet with built-in CoinJoin mixer
- Tumbler.io — A Bitcoin mixer with flexible pricing and privacy levels
- Whir — A user-friendly Bitcoin mixer
- Mixero — A Bitcoin mixer that achieves stronger privacy with the help of Monero
- UniJoin — A straightforward Bitcoin mixer with randomized fees
Bitcoin offers very poor privacy
Some people who aren’t closely familiar with how Bitcoin works have a misconception that Bitcoin is a completely “anonymous” form of currency.
At a superficial level, this is somewhat accurate — in order to use Bitcoin, you don’t need to provide any personally identifying information, and the Bitcoin protocol doesn’t concern itself with the idea of personal identity. Each Bitcoin address is a combination of letters and numbers that appears random to humans and can’t be interpreted meaningfully.
The Bitcoin blockchain, which is a distributed ledger documenting the entire history of Bitcoin transactions, is fully transparent. Simply by going to a Bitcoin block explorer website, you can scrutinize every transaction conducted on the network since Bitcoin’s inception in 2009.
It’s wrong to assume your Bitcoin transactions are private simply because the blockchain protocol doesn’t mandate linking your real-world identity to your blockchain address.
When you converted fiat currencies like USD or EUR into Bitcoin on an exchange, you likely had to provide personal details. Once you transfer your coins from the exchange, a connection now exists between your real-world identity and your Bitcoin address.
Why do Bitcoin mixers exist and how they work?
As we’ve already discussed above, Bitcoin actually doesn’t offer very much privacy despite the fact that the Bitcoin blockchain itself does not require users to provide any personal information. Bitcoin mixers are tools and services designed to help Bitcoin users achieve a higher level of privacy.
A surface-level explanation of how Bitcoin mixers work is that they pool together BTC from many different users, perform a large number of transactions using randomized amounts and transaction timings and then send back the same amount of BTC to addresses provided by users.
After this process, users receive BTC that’s very difficult to trace to their previous address as the original owner.
Another thing that’s important to understand is that there are custodial and non-custodial mixers. In custodial mixers, the user deposits their BTC to a third party and has to trust that they will handle the coins honestly. Meanwhile, non-custodial Bitcoin mixers use decentralized protocols to mix coins, eliminating the need for users to trust a third party.
The most popular way to mix BTC in a decentralized manner is the CoinJoin technique, although some custodial mixers also employ CoinJoin in their mixing process.
The best Bitcoin mixers to use in 2024
Now that we know the basics of how Bitcoin mixers work and why people use them, let’s check out the list of the best Bitcoin mixers in 2024.
1. Wasabi Wallet — Privacy-focused Bitcoin wallet with CoinJoin support
Wasabi Wallet is a Bitcoin wallet equipped with integrated CoinJoin support. In CoinJoin, BTC coins from different users are “joined” into a single transaction and eventually sent back to addresses controlled by the users who provided the coins to CoinJoin.
Mixing Bitcoin using Wasabi Wallet’s CoinJoin feature incurs a 0.3% coordinator fee. The user also has to pay the fees charged by the Bitcoin network for transaction processing.
Notably, the Wasabi Wallet exempts users from the coordinator fee when anonymizing less than 0.01 BTC through CoinJoin. So, if you’re looking to mix smaller amounts of BTC, Wasabi Wallet is probably the best option available on the market.
As a default, all data traffic to and from the Wasabi Wallet utilizes the Tor network, providing additional privacy. Nevertheless, users have the option to deactivate this feature. Wasabi Wallet is an example of a non-custodial wallet, which means that users are in charge of managing their private keys.
Key features:
- Open source design
- Trustless and non-custodial
- User friendly
- 0.3% fee (for values above 0.01 BTC)
2. Samourai Wallet — Bitcoin wallet with built-in CoinJoin mixer
Samourai Wallet is a privacy-focused Bitcoin wallet that integrates the CoinJoin mixing technique through a feature called Whirlpool. The Whirlpool service charges a flat fee for mixing Bitcoin. This makes it quite appealing for those who are looking to mix larger amounts of Bitcoin.
Compared to most other integrations of CoinJoin, Whirlpool is usually faster since it performs a large amount of fast and relatively small CoinJoin cycles to enhance the speed of the mixing process.
Key features:
- Leverages Whirpool for breaking traces between BTC transactions
- Supports SegWit and Taproot addresses
- Anonymises public addresses
- Stealth mode for extra security on Android
3. Tumbler.io — A Bitcoin mixer with flexible pricing and privacy levels
Tumbler.io is a Bitcoin mixer that uses a variety of mixing algorithms, including CoinJoin, to enhance the privacy of Bitcoin users. The platform uses RSA-2048 encryption and is accessible through the Tor network for additional privacy.
Tumbler.io offers various fee tiers, ranging from 0.40% for the most basic service to 5% for the most advanced, “Premium” mixing service. The higher the fee the user pays, the more thorough the mixing process, resulting in stronger privacy. Another option users have when setting up their order to mix Bitcoin is to set up a delay.
The smallest amount that can be mixed through Tumbler.io is 0.001 BTC. After mixing their coins through Tumbler.io, users receive a “Tumbler code” which helps them ensure that they are not receiving the same coins that they wanted to mix. In addition, the Tumbler code allows users to get discounts when mixing coins through Tumbler.io in the future.
Key features:
- Fees start at 0.4%
- Minimum deposit of 0.001 BTC
- No-LOG and No-KYC policy
- Automatic removal of transaction details 24 hours after order fulfillment
4. Whir — A user-friendly Bitcoin mixer
Whir is a Bitcoin mixing service that uses CoinJoin to give BTC holders additional privacy. Whir provides considerable flexibility, as users can choose between different mixing strength, and can also set a time delay for mixing their coins.
The fees for mixing Bitcoin on Whir start at 1%. However, if the user wants to benefit from a mixing process with stronger privacy, the fees can be higher, up to 3%. When you’re mixing via Whir, you also need to take into account that you’ll need to pay the transaction fees required by the Bitcoin network.
A strong point of the Whir service is its interface and user experience, which are very simple to use and easy to understand.
Key features:
- Leverages CoinJoin for maximum privacy
- No transaction or KYC logs
- Different BTC mixing strengths
- Easy to use
5. Mixero — A Bitcoin mixer that achieves stronger privacy with the help of Monero
Mixero is a Bitcoin mixing service that uses CoinJoin. An additional feature of Mixero is its “advanced” mixing mode, where BTC is routed through the private cryptocurrency Monero (XMR) before being converted back to BTC for added privacy. However, it’s important to note that the advanced mixing mode comes with higher fees.
In the Mixero service, users have the option to pay increased fees for a higher priority, ensuring a quicker mixing process. The default fee set on Mixero is 2.7%. When engaging in coin mixing with Mixero, users can opt to delay the transaction by a maximum of 168 hours (7 days).
Key features:
- Integrates with CoinJoin
- Support for Tor
- Uses Monero bridge for extra security
- BTC and ETH mixing services
6. UniJoin — A straightforward Bitcoin mixer with randomized fees
UniJoin is another Bitcoin mixer employing CoinJoin technology. A unique feature of UniJoin is its approach to randomizing the fees each user pays, increasing the difficulty of tracking coins sent through the service. The fees for mixing BTC with UniJoin range from 1% to 3%, and the actual fee you will have to pay will depend on your luck.
Another benefit of UniJoin is that the website is accessible through the Tor browser, catering to users who demand very high levels of privacy.
As of now, UniJoin exclusively supports Bitcoin mixing, but the team has expressed plans to broaden its support to include Ethereum, Litecoin, and Tether in the future.
Key features:
- Integrates with CoinJoin
- No user logs
- Tor Browser integration
- 1%-3% fee for mixing
Is it safe to use a Bitcoin mixer?
The answer to this question varies based on the specific Bitcoin mixer you’re using. If you use a centralized and custodial Bitcoin mixer, you essentially have to trust in the mixer’s operator not to steal your Bitcoin.
It’s also crucial to recognize that Bitcoin mixers don’t guarantee absolute privacy. The level of privacy achievable through Bitcoin mixing depends on the specific process employed by the service. In addition, blockchain analysis tools are continually advancing, and, in certain cases, they can trace the origin of BTC coins even if they’ve undergone mixing.
Users of Bitcoin mixers also need to be aware that some cryptocurrency-related businesses may flag wallets that have interacted with Bitcoin mixers and may choose not to accept them as customers.
The bottom line
Bitcoin mixers are a very useful tool for people who want to use Bitcoin, but are concerned about its lack of privacy. However, using a Bitcoin mixer is not risk free. If you’re using a custodial Bitcoin mixer, you need to trust the service’s operator to behave honestly. In addition, blockchain forensics software might still be able to trace mixed coins or at least detect that they have been put through a Bitcoin mixer.
