BITCOIN TRANSACTION PRIVACY

How much of Bitcoin can anyone read?

Bitcoin is public by design. Of the transactions that spend from more than one address at once, this is how many are plain to follow and how many are deliberately hidden.

Transactions that spend from more than one address

233.7 million of 1.45 billion transactions

Of the 233,659,428 Bitcoin transactions that spend from more than one address at once, to block 968,994 on 29 Sep 2026: plainly readable 86.9%, shared control 8.4%, deliberately mixed 0.9%, could not tell 3.8%. They are 16.1% of all 1,448,619,900 Bitcoin transactions. The rest are not in this reading.

Use the left and right arrow keys to pick a kind of transaction, and Escape to show every kind again.

The bar splits the 233.7 million transactions that spend from more than one address at once, to block 968,994, into four kinds. They are 16.1% of all Bitcoin transactions. The other 83.9% are not in this reading.

Select a kind to follow

Right now

Of the Bitcoin transactions that spend from more than one address at once, nearly nine in ten are plain to follow.

86.9% of the 233.7 million transactions of this kind look like one wallet paying, and at least 0.9% were deliberately mixed. Bitcoin is often called anonymous. It is not: every payment stays in public for good.

The four kinds

Every transaction that spends from more than one address at once falls into exactly one of four kinds.

  • Plainly readableNothing in its shape suggests more than one wallet paid, so the trail looks plain to follow.86.9%
  • Shared controlAt least one coin it spends was locked to two or more keys, so the payer may be a group rather than one person.8.4%
  • Deliberately mixedPeople pooled a payment on purpose in a recognisable pattern, which breaks the trail between sender and receiver.0.9%
  • Could not tellIt spends from so many different addresses that it cannot be placed with confidence, or it spends a coin whose address could not be read.3.8%

The shares are of the 233.7 million transactions of this kind, not of every Bitcoin transaction. Some deliberate mixing follows no recognisable pattern and is counted in another kind, so the real mixed share may be higher.

Two totals

Bitcoin has carried 1.45 billion transactions, to block 968,994. This reading covers the 233.7 million that spend from more than one address at once, 16.1% of them. The other 83.9%, such as payments from a single address and newly mined coins, are not in it.

  • Spend from more than one address 16.1%
  • Not in this reading 83.9%
1,448,619,900 transactions in all · 233,659,428 in this reading

The shares above are of that smaller group, not of every transaction ever made.

Addresses and groups

The chain links 429.5 million addresses into 89.7 million groups, where it shows one wallet controlling several addresses. Those addresses are 27.7% of the 1.55 billion Bitcoin has ever used. The other 72.3% have never been linked to another address, so they sit in no group.

  • Linked into groups 27.7%
  • Never linked to another address 72.3%
429,483,284 addresses in groups · 1,548,727,575 ever used

A group contains 4.8 addresses on average. That is not how many addresses a person uses: only addresses that were linked can form a group, and a group is a wallet, not a person.

See how many owners the addresses collapse into

For you

Any chart that counts Bitcoin addresses is counting something closer to bank account numbers than to people. The largest group contains 59.0 million addresses: 13.7% of the grouped addresses, and 3.8% of all the addresses Bitcoin has ever used. A rising address count does not, by itself, mean more people own Bitcoin.

This page does not say whose group that is. And it cuts the other way too: most transactions that spend from more than one address stay plain to anyone patient enough to follow them.

See the biggest group, counted both ways

Understanding
Transaction Privacy

Where it stands today

86.9% of Bitcoin transactions that spend from more than one address at once are plainly readable as of .

Is Bitcoin anonymous?

No. Every Bitcoin payment ever made sits in a ledger anyone can download, and it stays there for good. Names are not attached, but the payments are, and a payment you can see is a payment you can follow. That is the trade Bitcoin makes: no bank decides who may transact, and in exchange the record is open to everybody.

Why are some transactions harder to read?

Many payments have one payer sending coins to someone, and the shape of that is easy to follow. Some do not. A few people pool a payment together on purpose so the trail between sender and receiver breaks. Others spend coins locked to several keys, which is normal for a company or a shared account, and then the payer may be a group rather than one person. Some cannot be placed with confidence, and they are counted on their own rather than folded in with the rest.

What does this reading cover?

It covers the 233.7 million transactions that spend from more than one address at once, 16.1% of the 1.45 billion Bitcoin has carried, to block 968,994. Payments from a single address and newly mined coins are not in it, so its shares describe that group, not every transaction. Some mixing follows no recognisable pattern and is counted in another kind, so the share deliberately mixed may really be higher.

Are addresses people?

No. One owner can make a new address for every payment they receive, and large companies make millions of them. That is why any chart counting addresses is closer to counting bank account numbers than customers. Grouping the addresses the chain links together shows part of that difference, but only for the 27.7% of addresses that have ever been linked. The rest sit in no group.

What will this page not claim?

This page names no one. Grouping addresses shows that one wallet controlled several of them. It does not show whose wallet it is, and Maketo does not try to identify individuals. Where the evidence runs out, the honest answer is a number without a name.

Why is there no history or zoom?

This reading is one count up to one block, not a line through time, so there are no dates to pick and nothing to zoom into.

Source: Maketo’s own count of Bitcoin’s transactions and addresses. Reading for .

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