Quote from: Bunghole on June 29, 2011, 10:20:41 PM

For those who understand Bitcoin better than me: does it increase the anonymity of my coins if I swap wallets with someone?

For example, let's say I have a wallet.dat "containing" 50 BTC and so does a trusted member of this forum. If we exchange wallet files, does that improve the anonymity of my coins?

Of course, once we receive each other's wallets, it would be wise to send the coins into a fresh wallet, preferably one created on an air-gapped PC or in a LiveCD.

It does impinge on traceability. I actually do this with grocery stores to fuck with their data mining -- I don't have one of those discount cards for any of the local places I shop at. I do, however, have several friends' phone numbers memorized, and I use those to identify "myself" for the discounts. My friends are aware of this, and find it hilarious. Especially the non-smokers who now get ads for tobacco in their mailboxes.