Bitcoin is pseudonymous. I have always been a little irratated that the developers have not tried to dispel the myth that it is anonymous. I am not sure if they ever said it was anonymous but they do not do enough (in my opinion) to stress that it is not anonymous.
The fact that the transactions are public is a separate issue vs. whether they are anonymous.
The reason people think Bitcoin is anonymous is because they think that identities cannot be linked to the addresses involved in the public transactions.
The feature that people confuse with anonymity is that everyone can create a wallet and join the network. No need to sign up or provide personal information. Hence the myth.
When careful enough, bitcoin can be used anonymously. But the developers do not claim that it's anonymous by default, certainly not in the current mainline client. For example, the wiki page about anonymity:
Anonymity is not guaranteed. There are various initiatives under way to improve this. But people should stop thinking that anonymity is the single redeeming feature of bitcoin, anyway.
Comments
Bitcoin is pseudonymous. I have always been a little irratated that the developers have not tried to dispel the myth that it is anonymous. I am not sure if they ever said it was anonymous but they do not do enough (in my opinion) to stress that it is not anonymous.
All transactions are public.
It is one of the central ideas behind bitcoin and leaves no doubt about the anonymity of the transactions.
It is a well publicised idea and it is even mentioned on the main page of the bitcoin wiki (http://bitcoin.it).
The fact that the transactions are public is a separate issue vs. whether they are anonymous.
The reason people think Bitcoin is anonymous is because they think that identities cannot be linked to the addresses involved in the public transactions.
The feature that people confuse with anonymity is that everyone can create a wallet and join the network. No need to sign up or provide personal information. Hence the myth.
When careful enough, bitcoin can be used anonymously. But the developers do not claim that it's anonymous by default, certainly not in the current mainline client. For example, the wiki page about anonymity:
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Anonymity
Anonymity is not guaranteed. There are various initiatives under way to improve this. But people should stop thinking that anonymity is the single redeeming feature of bitcoin, anyway.