Although Bitcoin has a reputation as a haven for criminals who wish to transact online in an anonymous manner, it doesn’t appear the currently available wallet options are very helpful for this potential use case of the digital cash system. In their second edition of the Bitcoin Wallet Privacy Rating Report , released Sunday, the Open Bitcoin Privacy Project (OBPP) has painted a rather dismal picture of privacy in Bitcoin wallets.
The OBPP report says that many privacy-focused initiatives for Bitcoin “stalled out” in 2015. In the introduction to the report, OBPP contributor Kristov Atlas writes, “Improvements are desperately needed to keep Bitcoin independent and safe.”
Ledger Takes the Top Spot
Although Ledger can rejoice in the fact that it has created the most private Bitcoin wallet on the market, the fact that it scored only 50 out of 100 possible points should give every Bitcoin user pause. Ledger has released a variety of hardware devices , which have been integrated into multiple third-party wallets, but the OBPP’s report focused on the Ledger Nano and the company’s own wallet solution.
In the report, it is noted that Ledger’s Chrome extension-based Bitcoin wallet does not contain advanced privacy features. In fact, it doesn’t even store a local copy of the blockchain. Ledger’s positive marks appear to have come from its ability to assist users in avoiding address reuse and managing multiple accounts within the same wallet.
Coinbase Places Last Again
Coinbase is the service that placed last in the OBPP’s original review of Bitcoin wallets in the spring of last year, and the a16z -backed company has taken the bottom spot again in 2016. Of course, it should be noted that Coinbase offers a variety of services that make it difficult for them to provide high-levels of privacy to its users. […]
