Crypto is anonymous, people say. Sort of.
Every transfer ever made is on a public record. Anyone in the world can look up an address and see what it holds and every payment in and out, for all time. What the record does not show is whose address it is.
Your exchange knows. You showed it your passport, so it can tie every transfer you make through it to your name. Everyone else sees numbers moving between addresses, and nothing more.
So an address is exactly as anonymous as you keep it. Hand someone your address and they can watch it, now and forever. An address you never handed out cannot be tied to you, unless you tie it yourself. Private from the public, as long as you keep it that way. Your exchange always knows.
What that costs, and why one address is never enough, is a page of its own:
FROM HOW IT WORKSRead the long version