Bitcoin (or Cryptocurrency in general) is anonymous! Or, is it? When Bitcoin first came out, that sure was the idea. Of having a decentralized, anonymous way of exchanging funds and making payments. Well, let’s proceed with this Smartmix.io review and you’ll see why that’s not the case.
Bitcoin “was” anonymous. Back in the days when you could simply sign up on a platform, enter random names/E-mails, and purchase some. Today, most exchanges (there still are exceptions) require KYC and AML verifications before allowing purchase.
In other words, you’ll have to provide documents proving your identity and sometimes even address before you can purchase Bitcoins. Once you do that, no matter where you send funds they can always be traced back to the source, i.e. your documents.
Have you heard of OAKSTAR? It’s a covert operation by the U.S (obviously, duh!). They’re using a VPN named “Monkey Rocket” to extract raw data from fibre-cables! (What?)
Using OAKSTAR, the U.S govt. can get not only browser histories and MAC addresses, but even Passwords! It is primarily targeted towards Bitcoin users but I doubt they’ll stop there.
How can SmartMix Help?
SmartMix is a Bitcoin Mixer. A very simple concept of “exchanging funds” is employed to increase anonymity of the Cryptocurrency. You send funds to SmartMix, the company then sends you their own set of funds, unrelated to your transaction in return.
What happens is, govt. agencies may be able to track your payment to the company. But what happens to the funds after that can’t be traced. Most importantly, most of the action is “manual”, as in less technology. It means there are no encryptions to be hacked, or vulnerabilities to be exploited.
The funds you sent to the company stay with them for a very long time. In the meantime, you spend your new, clean funds sent by the mixer wherever you wish.
Furthermore, Smartmix offers additional features available which make the two sets of transactions seem even further apart.
SmartMix Features
SmartMix isn’t limited to Bitcoin. It also offers Bitcoin Cash mixes with the same level of anonymity as it offers for Bitcoin. The mentionable features throughout this Smartmix.io review have been enlisted below for a quick glance:
- Tor Link: http://smartmixnjmuoixj.onion
- Clearnet URL: https://smartmix.io/
- Fee: 0.5% + 0.0001BTC/additional address.
- Minimum Deposit: 0.001 BTC/0.01BCH
- Output Addresses: 5
- Minimum Confirmations: 2
- Coins: BTC + BTCH.
- Stores Logs: No.
- Requires Registrations: No.
- Time Delays & Fund Distribution: Available.
SmartMix User-Interface
Exactly how much of a tech-geek do you need to be in order to mix your coins using SmartMix? Well, a copy-paste geek. If you know how to copy and paste addresses, you already are armed with enough knowledge to mix your coins!
You do not even need to register on the platform! Simply enter the URL and start mixing.
This is what a standard mixing form looks like at SmartMix-
I doubt any explanation is required? You simply enter your Bitcoin address (s) at #1. Then, #2 is where you specify how much of the funds you want the corresponding address to get. Finally select the time-delay and click on “Start Mixing”.
The deposit page is what follows next. Equally easy to understand and navigate around. Simply find the deposit address, or the QR code. Sends your fund to the displayed address within 24 hours of order-creation.
You’re done! Everything else which is supposed to happen will happen automatically without requiring any interference from you. The coins will be sent out at the interval chosen by you.
How many Output Addresses does SmartMix Support?
We talked about a number of redundancies the platform offers to further anonymize the coins ,didn’t we? One of them is additional output addresses. 5 of which are supported by the company.
In other words, you do not have to receive all the clean funds in one account. They can be split in as many as 5 parts before being sent to you. Obviously that’s optional and you still can choose to receive it all in one address.
But having multiple addresses would mean as many more address to be tracked and linked to your clean coins. Clearly something which de-links your unclean coins from the clean output.
How much is the SmartMix Fee?
Every mixer out there charges some fee for facilitating the mix. SmartMix offers one of the more affordable prices, you only pay 0.5% of the transaction + 0.00005BCH or 0.0001BTC for every extra address.
Comparatively, these prices are not ultra-cheap, but totally in sync with some of the other big names in the industry.
A point which failed to impress me was the lack of manual control! I prefer being able to control the fee I’ll be paying, and quite a few mixers offer it too. Smartmix has this static, pre-defined fee beyond our control .
What are the Time-Delay Options with SmartMix?
Time-Delays, as the name hints are the delays between your input, and the company’s output. Setting a delay helps ensure a time-gap between the unclean coins being sent in, and the clean coins coming out.
SmartMix differs from most other best Bitcoin Tumblers when it comes to Time-delays. While most other mixers offer delays based on “hours and minutes”, SmartMix bases its delays on the “number of confirmations”.
This in a way offers more control to the users, as they get to select the minimum number of confirmations before their coins are sent out. The lowest possible delay is of 2 confirmations.
The extended delays range from 5 to 30 confirmations based on the user’s choice. Or, you can opt for the “Random Delay” option and let the mixer choose a mix randomly. Although sure, the lack of individual-delay for each single address sure hurts.
What are the Fund-Distribution Options with SmartMix?
If you look at the very first screenshot on this SmartMix.io review, the #2 mark denotes fund-distributions. It basically is the amount of money you assign each of your addresses to receive.
This helps boost anonymity as well. For e.g. if your unclean input is USD $100, and you break down the output in USD $10.00, USD $50.00, USD $25.00 and other similar parts, they seem further de-linked from your initial input of USD $100.00.
You as a user or customer completely and fully control which address receives exactly how much of the funds. Note that this isn’t always the case with most other best Bitcoin mixers out there.
What is the Smallest Deposit Accepted?
To make sure their service isn’t abused, and they make atleast some profit, all Crypto Tumblers have minimum limits. In case of SmartMix, it’s set at 0.001 BTC / 0.01 BCH.
At today’s rate, it’s less than USD $8.00. Now that’s something anyone dealing in Crypto should find pocket-friendly. If you send amounts lower than this, you do not get them back and they’re considered donations.
Note that the maximum limit depends on the mixer’s reserves at any given time. At the time of writing this review, the maximum limit was a massive 230BTC!
What Logs/Information is Stored?
Storing logs would largely defeat the entire purpose of Crypto mixing, wouldn’t it? SmartMix.io understands that and hence is completely logless.
Note that some logs sure are kept, as is the case with almost every best Bitcoin Tumbler out there. But then, they’re deleted 7 days after a successful mix.
Although my personal feature is the manual-control it offers users over their logs! On the deposit page, there’s a “delete logs” option. You can access this page anytime using your mixing-ID and delete logs manually much before the 7-day period! Although note this will nullify any future support for that specific mix.
What is SmartClub on SmartMix?
A loyalty program. It basically is a coupon-like system. Users get an unique “Smart code”. This code is to be use everytime the user mixes coins on SmartMix.
Because the code remains the same, it helps build up the user’s “total volume” on the platform. SmartMix then offers pretty generous discounts on the service fee to its loyal and returning customers.
The lowest possible discount is of 5%, for users who have mixed funds between 0.1 BTC and 0.2499 BTC. The highest discount is 90% for those who have mixed 30BTC+.
SmartMix.io Pros and Cons
Let’s sum this SmartMix.io review in a nutshell.
Pros:
- No registration required.
- Low minimum requirements.
- Low-Fee.
- User-controlled fund-distribution.
- Manual control over logs.
Cons:
- Not very accurate control over time-delays.
Final Verdict on SmartMix.io Review
We mentioned it as one of the best Bitcoin mixers multiple times throughout this SmartMix.io review, are we biased? Absolutely not! It’s a platform which doesn’t require registrations, has low minimum requirements and also boasts of an established reputation.
Then, you can mix BTCH in addition to BTC. It deletes logs and even offers manual control, and offers discounts. The time-delays and fund-distribution too make the funds a lot more anonymous.
Sure, there’s ample room for improvement. But even with its minor flaws, SmartMix stands tall as one of the best Bitcoin Tumblers in our opinion. That’s all for this SmartMix.io review folks, but not for you! Pen down your two cents in the comments if you have the time, it’ll be greatly appreciated.
