Cryptocurrency

[pokey]

Apparently there are btc Atm's that will accept cash as well.

There are a lot of them and a lot of websites that try to tell you where they are.  I read some of them require photo ID now.

[Bubba Gamps]

Coinbase requires you to take a photograph of you and your drivers license when registering. Yikes!

[jimtje]

Coinbase actively attempts to de-anonymize transactions and is one hell of a liability. Paxful and Localbitcoins make a lot more sense for smaller (under $1-2k, I'd say). Bisq is a good option as well, but a bit sparse in payment methods. Depending on what sort of markup you're ok with, you can even conduct transactions entirely with gift cards, or even vouchers from Playstation/XBox stores. I would really try to avoid Coinbase. Hell, they banned my account for gambling, even though I did the gambling in the state known for gambling.

[Sudsy]

Coinbase requires you to take a photograph of you and your drivers license when registering.  Yikes!

Yikes his right, no way would I do that.

sudsy

[MoJim]

There now seems to be multiple anonymous coins out there besides monero. Zcash, PVIX, Komodo, Zcoin, Nav coin, Zen cash aka Horizon, Verge and Dash. The question would be, will any vendors accept these coins? If you know which vendors do, please DON'T state them here on the open forum. Maybe if btc was used to purchase one of these coins and then converted to ETH for example to make a purchase, there might be more anonymity. I guess it would be a anonymity gap. Dunno.

On another note, I'm now going to start investing/trading crypto. It will only be a very small portion of my portfolio and I will dip my toes in the water with very small transactions until I feel I competent enough to expand. Laying the groundwork with cold wallets, registering with multiple exchanges, news sites etc. Of course this is all above board where anonymity is not the purpose. Taxes will need to be paid as well. I did just read that Puerto Rico is a tax haven for crypto. Millionaires/billionaires have been doing it for their fortunes, but I think that would be for the advanced trader who's willing to deal with any legal and tax implications.

If there are any crypto investors here, I would love to hear from you via post or PM.

[killingstress]

Best is don't use coinbase , xapo , etc. Simple use your own wallet, the one you download to your pc that don't require verification . There you are really anonymous .
Then, you can buy the BTC in many, many ways . From atm bitcoins with cash ( if you have one near you , there is a map on google ) or go to places like localbitcoins and buy there p2p .

[killingstress]

I wish I would of learned about using bitcoin as an option for payment along time ago, super easy to do. They have an atm at one of the gas stations near my house where you can buy bitcoin by just depositing whatever cash amount then it transfers to my online wallet, Blockchain (bitcoin app) and directly from there you can just send payment and the receiver gets it instantly.

Yes, but most of the online waller, if not all, even exchange places like localbitcoin, now require this  .

[seeker47]

Best is don't use coinbase , xapo , etc. Simple use your own wallet, the one you download to your pc that don't require verification . There you are really anonymous .
Then, you can buy the BTC in many, many ways . From atm bitcoins with cash ( if you have one near you , there is a map on google ) or go to places like localbitcoins and buy there p2p .

Bitcoin ATM’s force you to do identity verification as well though. And buying p2p off localbitoins sounds sketchy as hell and a great way to get robbed. Is there no other way?

[BennyLava]

I decided that now that I have time on my hands, it was a good time to learn how to use bitcoin. After doing minimal research. I began with coin-mama, who made me give them a huge amount of documentation, including a selfie with a piece of paper and my driver's license. It turns out you need 3 hands to juggle a cellphone, an ID and a piece of paper. I am not young, and not an avid cellphone user, so this turned out to be quite an exercise.

I managed it eventually, by sending them enough information that they could completely impersonate me if they chose (or, perhaps more likely, if one of their employees goes rogue and starts selling information). For my trouble, after supplying all that info doxxing myself completely to them, they simply said "No". No explanation, just "No". I felt like I'd been scammed for my info. No point in asking them to return the documentation.

Next up, tried cex-io. Same rigmarole, send us all your info by juggling 3 items to produce a selfie, send it to them, at which point they said "your driving license isn't enough, we also want your passport". I wrote to them saying I don't have a passport. They never replied.  And then I read the reviews about their outrageous fees, and decided they'd actually done me a favor...

Third and final attempt at all this was to download the Mycelium client, since I wanted something I could take with me to the BTM. Mycelium's verification process was as stupid and demeaning as everyone else's: You have to make a video, holding up your credit card with two fingers blocking the middle eight digits, while you recite their pledge, which is so long and verbose that I had to pull the text up on a second computer so I could record myself saying it on my cellphone. With that and a driver's license, they verified me, but I can see why many people wouldn't bother. I also used their 'chat' helpline, and they were responsive and able to answer my questions the couple of times I got stuck.

My original intent was to buy the bitcoin at a local BTM, since I didn't want to have to meet someone in person and handle cash in the middle of a pandemic. But Mycelium allowed me to use a credit/debit card to buy bitcoin without having to even leave the house. This costs extra, of course, but seemed like a good policy right now. It's definitely not anonymous, but then, neither was WU or MG. I continue to hope that I am such a small-time consumer that I am completely and utterly beneath notice to anyone.

Be well,

Benny

[Charon]

Oh u r far braver than i. I cannot learn a new system of doing things at this moment in time.

A 15-year-old hacker and his crew of “evil computer geniuses” stole nearly $24 million in cryptocurrency from an adviser to blockchain companies, according to a lawsuit filed in New York.

Michael Terpin claims his phone was hacked and his money stolen in 2018 by a ring led by Westchester County, New York, teen Ellis Pinksy as part of a “sophisticated cybercrime spree.” Terpin, the founder and chief executive officer of blockchain advisory firm Transform Group, is suing Pinsky, now 18, for $71 million under a federal racketeering law that allows for triple damages.

hxxps://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-07/teen-hacker-and-evil-geniuses-accused-of-24-million-theft