TL;DR: A recent subreddit post detailed how the BTC mixing service Bitcoin Blender apparently either lost or is being used to steal a user’s funds. “Couldn’t get my 0.016xx BTC from Bitcoin Blender cause of ‘withdraw limitations,'” the poster explained. “Sent more BTC to get over the limit and sent them to my electrum wallet. Now they are just gone. Don’t use this service!”

Bitcoin Blender Accused of Stealing User’s Funds

The subredditor wished to mix coins, obscuring transaction history, making it harder to trace wallet addresses and, potentially, lack a way to tie a person to whatever purchases or interactions. “I before this date never used but heard it’s a good mixing service,” the poster noted.

Bitcoin Blender asks for a 0.001 BTC minimum and, according to the poster, well-over that amount was sent but triggered an alert from Bitcoin Blender about a minimum withdrawal of 0.05 BTC being necessary. The poster tried to remove funds again to no avail, but was ultimately convinced a “high server load” meant having to wait. “Then I wrote a support ticket and over the whole day tried again and again to transfer the BTC with the same result … not possible,” the subredditor insisted.

At this point, the poster details how impatience set-in: “I thought I could transfer BTC up to the needed minimum amount, transfer it to my electrum and then never visit the site again and find another reliable mixing service.” The site appeared to confirm reception, and after a few minutes, the subredditor refreshed Bitcoin Blender, revealing, “The BTC amount of my account was now zero. I looked under Withdraw but there was no notification of any transaction. I opened my electrum wallet and there was nothing to see of an incoming transaction. Then I checked blockchain.info for my wallets address. Also nothing.”

The poster acknowledges the amount to be trivial, but the lesson is key: experiment with such sites, if at all, with coins that can be lost without much impact. Complicating matters further is how Bitcoin Blender announced publicly in Summer of this year, after half a decade, they were shutting down and urged users to remove whatever funds immediately. Back then, users were complaining about withdrawal times as well, though complete coin disappearance didn’t seem to be an issue.

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