Ethereum currently processes about one million transactions per day.
Due to the open nature of the Ethereum blockchain, every address associated with a transaction on the network is publicly recorded.
This can present issues for users who want to prevent information about their property or business from appearing in the public domain.
Accordingly, to protect the privacy and confidentiality of transactions on the Ethereum blockchain, the "Tornado.cash" tool can be used.
Below we will get to know this tool more and learn how to use it to maintain privacy in Ethereum transactions.
What is the “Tornado.cash” tool:
Tornado.cash is a tool that allows users to maintain their privacy when conducting transactions on Ethereum by enabling smart contract deposits and withdrawals from a separate and new address.
Since the deposit can be withdrawn from a completely new address, it is very difficult to track the sender.
Tornado.cash works by mixing sender and recipient addresses with multiple other transactions in one contract.
Here's how to do it.
How to use Tornado.cash:
1. Purse link:
To send a transaction, you must first open the “Tornado.cash” application and link to a digital wallet.
The interface of the “Tornado.cash” application currently supports “Metamask”, “Portis” and “Fortmatic”.
2. Choose to deposit your digital currency:
Select the "Deposit" tab, and choose the digital currency and the amount you want to send.
Supported cryptocurrencies are:
ETH, DAI, cDAI, USDC and USDT.
"Tornado.cash" mixes transactions with others in the deposit contract to make it difficult to track the sender and recipient of each deposit.
The key to the confusion offered by this tool is that it enforces deposits in certain categories only, meaning, for example, users can send either 0.1, 1, 10, or 100 Ethereum.
The aim is to make it difficult to determine the amount of the currency being deposited, since everyone is depositing in equal denominations.
3. Initiate a transaction:
Once you have written down your random key and saved it, check the box next to the phrase “I have backed up the note” and hit Submit, as in the image shown above.
This will initiate the transaction, enabling the digital currency and note hash to be sent to the Tornado.cash smart contract.
You will also need to confirm transaction fees and gas in your wallet.
4. Backup:
When you deposit, you also generate a random key.
This should be saved because you will not be able to withdraw money from the smart contract without it.
Your browser will automatically prompt you to save a text copy of the key.
This will also appear on the screen as in the image shown below.
Make sure you have saved a copy before hitting the continue button.
5. Wait:
“Tornado.cash” recommends that users wait a while before making a check out.
This is because it becomes much more difficult to pursue transactions to make a deposit once several other similar transactions have been made at the same time.
If you deposit and then choose to withdraw immediately, converging timestamps may make it possible to track your digital fingerprints.
The image below shows a series of transactions for a 0.1 ETH denomination deposit contract.
6. Withdrawal:
Reconnect your wallet if you need to and select the "Withdraw" tab.
You can then enter the note you saved when depositing, as well as your withdrawal address.
As with a contract deposit, you will also need to confirm transaction and gas fees in MetaMask or any other wallet.
You may wish to use a completely new address without previous transactions.
This way, it is difficult for anyone to know the address you sent from when the deposit is mixed with many other similar transactions
While it is still difficult to achieve complete anonymity on the blockchain, “Tornado.cash” may be the current best option for those who wish to maintain privacy when processing Ethereum transactions.
For your information, the team responsible for “Tornado.cash” recently proposed launching a digital currency for the project.