Self-Transfer Heuristic
Privacy● Common
An assumption that if a transaction has exactly two outputs where one type matches the input type (e.g., all P2WPKH), the matching output is likely change. Used by chain analysis; broken by deliberate output type matching.
Technical Notes
Attack: send to same script type as your inputs (change matches payment). Payjoin naturally breaks this. Modern wallets randomize change type or match recipient type. Round-amount heuristic is related.
Metadata
Visibility: Public
Created:1/3/2026by System