Opsec question about not tumbling coins

So I tried searching around and couldn't find any info on this, figured I'd ask:

For any purchases I always do the standard Wallet --> coin tumble --> Vendor/Marketplace transaction. BUT suppose I make an online BTC wallet that I -ONLY- create and access through Tor, with no info about my name/location, and no personal email address. Probably a dummy wallet that gets abandoned/deleted after a week, and a new one made. Would it be still be secure to skip the coin tumble, and just do a Wallet-to-Vendor transaction?


Comments


[3 Points] Yellow-King-yo:

I personally think tumbling isn't necessary period unless you're purchasing larger quantities.


[2 Points] None:

How are you obtaining your BTC? An anonymous wallet doesn't break the link between the bitcoin and yourself as tumbling should. As Yellow-king-yo said though, it probably isn't necessary to tumble on small orders but tumbling is so easy that there is really no reason you shouldn't do it for sake of OPSEC.


[2 Points] AgoraMarket:

Someone needs to make a comprehensive post about the absurdity of blockchain analysis; it simply can not be used to identify unknown people, which is one reason you'll never see it mentioned in indictments. Everyone should always tumble their coins, but if you don't, realistically nothing is going to happen. Partial repost from another subreddit:


How can LE prove that "LocalBitcoin User X" is equivalent to "DNM Vendor Y", who then cashed out their coins under "CoinBase Account Z"...? Well, they can't, without first compromising the entire dark market (next to impossible), tracing coins through the market's internal tumbler (flat-out impossible) and then hypothetically subpoena'ing both LBC and Coinbase. But they can't do that either, because bitcoin wallet addresses are anonymous (i.e. How would they know that 16QJnWiB7Ct1z4F4x3PazMmM7aZago8t79 is a coinbase wallet, never mind that coinbase funds are quickly mixed into larger internal wallets).

Why bother tumbling coins, then? Only because blockchain analysis could theoretically be used after-the-fact as circumstantial evidence. First identify a suspect behind a vendor/buyer account, then subpoena CoinBase and see if they have an account there, and what wallets are tied to it. All vendors to date have been caught through normal police work, package profiling, and vendor slip-ups. Not blockchain analysis.


Promoting this idea that blockchain analysis is simple causes people to get paranoid and freak out if they don't "tumble properly". Nothing is going to happen.