Can you assume that all inputs to a Bitcoin transaction are controlled by the same person?

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When you are looking at a Bicoin transaction in the block chain and it has inputs from multiple addresses is it safe to assume that those addresses are all controlled by the same person/organization/wallet software?

Here is an example of a transaction with 31 different input addresses

https://blockchain.info/tx/a6bffa6208c72412399997b0c504670662e259fd5ba50128d0e2823b739bd18b

If I have definitive proof that one of those addresses is associated with someone can I infer that the other 30 are as well?

Pete

Posted 2014-07-11T14:30:13.290

Reputation: 221

Answers

6

No.

In practice, it is likely, but in several more complex use cases, transactions can be jointly constructed.

For example CoinJoin implies combining both inputs and outputs from multiple people together into a single transaction to make it less obvious which outputs belong to whom.

Pieter Wuille

Posted 2014-07-11T14:30:13.290

Reputation: 54 032

CoinJar description https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=279249.0

– Pete – 2014-07-11T14:48:25.163

Asked: 2014-07-11T14:30:13.290

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Active: 2014-07-11T14:43:44.677