# Can a crypto wallet be traced?

Yes. On public chains such as Bitcoin and Ethereum every transaction is stored for good, so anyone can follow where a wallet’s money came from and where it went. A wallet stays pseudonymous only until one address is tied to a name.

Also called crypto tracing or blockchain tracing.

## How tracing works

- Block explorers show every transaction, balance and counterparty of an address to anyone who searches for it.
- Exchanges know who owns their deposit addresses, and analytics firms label exchanges, apps and known wallets.
- Clustering links addresses that are spent together and spots the change a payment sends back, so one identified address can expose many.
- Amounts, timing and the hours a wallet is active narrow it down further, down to a likely time zone.

## What ties a wallet to you

One link is usually enough. That can be a withdrawal from an exchange account in your name, an ENS name, a payment to a shop that has your address, or a post where you shared your wallet.

## Coins that work differently

Monero hides senders, receivers and amounts by default, and Zcash offers shielded addresses. Most other coins, and almost all of DeFi, are fully public.

## In Redacted

The wallet check on redacted.gg shows what a stranger can read from a Bitcoin, Ethereum or THORChain address, and it runs in your browser. Redacted itself takes away the visible link between your wallet and what you do next, because you act from a Spending account with no visible tie to your public wallet.

More: [Check your wallet](https://redacted.gg/wallet-check/)

## Related terms

- [Chain analysis](https://redacted.gg/glossary/chain-analysis.md): Chain analysis traces funds on public blockchains and groups addresses into likely owners, using the public record together with outside data such as exchange records, address labels and leaks.
- [Linked addresses](https://redacted.gg/glossary/linked-addresses.md): Linked addresses are addresses that chain analysis attributes to the same owner, most often because they were spent together in one Bitcoin transaction. Once one of them is tied to a name, all of them are.
- [Address reuse](https://redacted.gg/glossary/address-reuse.md): Address reuse means receiving more than one payment to the same address. Every payment to it is then linked to all the others, and to everyone who sent them.
- [Bitcoin privacy](https://redacted.gg/glossary/bitcoin-privacy.md): Bitcoin is pseudonymous. Addresses carry no names, but every transaction is public and permanent, so once one of your addresses is tied to you, anyone can read its history and the addresses linked to it.

Sources: [Protect your privacy, bitcoin.org](https://bitcoin.org/en/protect-your-privacy), [RingCT, Moneropedia](https://www.getmonero.org/resources/moneropedia/ringCT.html)
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Page: https://redacted.gg/glossary/wallet-tracing/