Bitcoin Forum

It seems that even if you buy bitcoin on the supposedly most secure exhanges, like bisq or localcryptos.com your identity can and probably will be seen by the authorities or someone else, but especially the authorities. For instance on localcryptos.com they ask for your email upfront. Virtually any email I would bet can be have the user of the email found out by the authorities, I mean we are talking abut the NSA here folks.

I want to buy a hard wallet, which requires bitcoin to buy, since my bank is anti cryptocurrency and blocked the credit card purchase. If I buy the hardwallet with bitcoin, I assume the authorities will know I bought it with bitcoin. My question then is, can I buy another privacy coin using this hardwallet where my security and anonimity is virtually guarenteed, using another private key and with an exchange like, bisq, I know I said they probably are not totally outside the all seeing eyes of the authorities, but does anyone have any other suggestions? The final answer to this whole question of anonymity, especially as it concerns privacy concerns seems, that no matter what they will know or guess that you bought some of this privacy coin, but as a last resort if they came after you, you could say, oh sorry, I lost my private keys and lost the coins. What are your opinions on this?

I'll answer you about anonymity, because based on your writings, you seem pretty confused. If you purchase a hardware wallet, you're ruining your anonymity. There will be people who will know you've bought a hardware wallet and that you'll own cryptocurrencies sooner or later.

So keeping yourself anonymous using a hardware wallet? Doesn't seem to work. Using a software wallet like Wasabi (https://wasabiwallet.io/) and transacting through Tor (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tor_(anonymity_network))? It'll surely be better. Actually, it can be the best way to ensure you'll remain anonymous. There aren't many things left to do to increase your anonymity on Bitcoin besides Tor and CoinJoin (https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/CoinJoin) transactions.

Not sure what you're asking, but if you're searching for a private cryptocurrency this is your best option:  Monero - secure, private, untraceable (https://www.getmonero.org/Monero[/url)

No matter what you do, there will still be leaks and if a 3-letter agency is on your way, then chances are a suggestion coming from someone on this forum is not very helpful. We aren't security experts.

For ordering HWs, either get yourself a PO box and deliver it there using false personal information or get yourself one from an official reseller (check the resellers on Trezor or Ledger's website).

But if you are looking for max privacy, then I believe HWs are not your best solution. If I were you, I would build myself an airgapped computer for crypto storage and transactions and only broadcast them on Whonix or Tails, perhaps connected to a Raspberry Pi Onion router themselves.

And then, if you are looking for anonymity, then Bitcoin is perhaps NOT your answer either. Head over to Monero instead, where privacy is the top priority constantly. The lack of privacy features on the BTC network makes it a bad choice if you are seeking an off-grid alternative to the fiat economy.

Build yourself an airgapped PC and start from there. Any transaction you broadcast shall be broadcasted ONLY through Tor, hence why I suggest running Whonix or Tails for this purpose. Any order that is completed over the internet is a privacy risk itself.

This is why people use burner emails, or at least multiple email addresses for certain purposes. Of course you wouldn't use your personal email if you really want anonymity.

Buying a privacy coin doesn't really make your purchase anonymous lol. Take note that mostly the privacy problem here is concerning the fiat transaction(because you have to pay for the crypto you're buying, of course), not the crypto transaction.

Just buy bitcoin on peer-to-peer exchanges using information and emails that can't be tracked back to you; pretty much the only person that should be able to identify you to a certain extent is the person selling the bitcoin, and no one else.

A pc that you basically don't connect anywhere and not use for anything other than for storing coins seems like the best bet in buying Bitcoin anonymously. It's much more privacy based compared to buying HW wallets, since as you say, they can trace you if you ever bought one. As for emails, dude you can create a ton of emails, not really something they can trace to you if you actually tried to.

Yea I think that works. As long as you don't give them the device that holds your coins, they can't really find out and afaik if they don't have a warrant, they can't ask to even inspect your stuff. Hardly doubt they'd actually give a warrant for only a "guess" so the only time you'd get a warrant is that you effed up on something and they have hard proof that you bought Bitcoin.

I strongly disagree. While disposable emails are certainly a way to get rid of having your real personal info sold everywhere around, a 3-letter agency would easily find out which emails are yours and which aren't. Emails are not anonymous at all, and I am more than sure that NSA or CIA do have access to most, if not all email server backends.

You want to buy bitcoin and be anonymous ? That's the very least of your problems !!
So you go to Tor and take great precausions to keep your name secret .
Well ,being that most people buy BTC with the hope it goes up in value , and that is where your real trouble lays .
How are you going turn your gain back into dollars ,and be anonymous ?? 
You can't , and then comes taxes ,yep, your fucked no matter what you do.
Buy BTC with after tax dollars ,and have no fear of being "caught for something illegal" then sell and report your gain, just like the rest of us honest patriotic people do.
Only a low life would be scheeming how to cheat the government .

It really depends on how the person executes it. To a certain extent, you can make it really hard for them to track the burner emails back to you. A combination of Tails, Tor, a privacy respecting email service(or a burner email service like guerillamail) and doing your shenanigans on a public wifi could put you in a good position in the anonymity spectrum.

^ Yes, I can tell. From the process where you liquidate it to cash, you had to provide either your bank account/payment and other wallets which has your name on it. So they can still trace you. The BTC being anonymous is not a thing of today anymore. KYC is exchanged markets are there as well. But I don’t think we should take this as negatively, it still helps us secure our assets anyway. Especially when it comes to frauds, you can always depend on yourself.
Nevertheless, unless you will choose a person to person transaction but it seems also risky from robbery.

If you don't live in United States you don't need to worry about NSA, and using email addresses does not mean that everyone can read your emails and your emails should not be connected with your identity.
Using some secure encrypted email alternatives like Proton mail helps, and you are not buying anything from localcryptos or bisq exchange directly and you don't need to pass any kyc verification on their platform.


You can buy hardware wallet locally in official reseller stores and pay with cash, or you can buy with debit cards and use PO boxes, alternative name, phone number, and address for delivery.
If you want privacy with other coins than Monero would be your best choice but I don't think hardware wallets accept it as payment option yet.


They will say, ok sir you are going to jail, and then you will have the choice of telling them the truth about your private keys or go to prison.
This is government version of totally legal wrench attack.

Anonymity is already in the past, unfortunately. The government and the situation in the crypto market contributed to this.

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This is why people use burner emails, or at least multiple email addresses for certain purposes. Of course you wouldn't use your personal email if you really want anonymity.
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Do you know a good burner email site? Don't you have to give them your info, and can't it be seen over the internet that you got that email?

It does not mean that since you are buying a privacy coin your transaction is already private. The question is still there. How did you buy your privacy coin? Sure enough you cannot buy your first privacy coin using another privacy coin, right?

If you really want to stay completely anonymous in buying your Bitcoin, I think you can do it. Create a single use email address with a bogus identity, single use contact number, bogus address, etc. And your address should also not be taken from any centralized exchanges. And when you start doing transaction you will be using a mixer.

There are Bitcoin ATMs that sell Bitcoin for cash, though I heard some of them require to present documents. Otherwise, you can buy Bitcoin for cash in person, by finding someone online, but you should be really careful, because the chance of scamming or robbery is very high. Better buy small amounts multiple times. Any digital transaction like credit card or bank wire would leave a trace and authorities might be able to learn that you have obtained crypto, if that's a problem to you, cash is the only option.

Bitcoin isn't really that anonymous that we actually imagine it to be, I mean, as long as fiat exists and as long as we need to exchange crypto to fiat and vice versa, any transaction that occurs will leave its footprints since it's all backed up by the need of fiat and hence, IP addresses, exchanges, KYC, tracing the blockchain, etc, all these methods can be and are used by the secret agencies for the governments. But, the good thing is, no third party can control or regulate how much transaction I am doing and how much fees am paying ;)

Guerrilla Mail is a good choice imo. Link for clearnet: http://grr.la/; Link for Tor: http://grrmailb3fxpjbwm.onion/

Also, there is Mail2Tor (Link for Tor: http://mail2torjgmxgexntbrmhvgluavhj7ouul5yar6ylbvjkxwqf6ixkwyd.onion/) which allows you to register an username and a password.

I would not use mail for any sensitive info though. I mean, don't believe anyone who says your mails stay private. In fact, it might be exactly Guerrilla and Mail2Tor that have been specifically created by the NSA to spy on citizens who are seeking privacy. For disposable addresses though, these two are amazing choices.

Anonymity doesn’t bother me, I have nothing to hide. I don’t publicise my bitcoin addresses or anything but yeah, I have nothing to hide so KYC exchanges etc don’t bother me.

You look for those accredited retailers of those hardware wallets, contact them and pay them in cash or visit their shop. They don't need to know who you are if you want a receipt, you can request them what to put or just the sales information and the date of purchase.

 

Not to mention that the isp's are virtually all without telling anyone, giving all their users traffic data to the spy agencies and nsa, and even it they were not, they have ways of tracking things I am sure, and no vpn or tor is going to stop them either, this is the nsa we are talking about. So just through what you do on the internet, if they really want to know something they can. I am also almost sure that microsoft gives backdoors to the nsa and others.

Man, if all the people are like you in this forum, we could probably achieve world peace, that and if we talk like how we write our emails. The problem with not being anonymous with bitcoin is that the third-party apps that are using it are the ones that are requiring the KYC.

That soon to happen and we can't avoid that.
Because as we more engage online, using emails, social media accounts, the more we are exposing our personal identity to the public.
But the question is how important to keep anonymous? Does there is something we need to hide and don't want other people to know it? I understand about privacy but we are in a new era, no matter how careful we are, keeping ourselves out to know by others, leaks can't be prevented in some other ways, not just only in the crypto world.

If you want to be fully anonymous to buy Bitcoin then it's quite complicated. Because even you buy through the peer-to-peer exchange where doesn't require KYC, but somehow you are providing your identity by sending money either any electronic cash or bank transfer. That means if you intend to buy Bitcoin then you have to provide at least your bitcoin address, but it could skip by using a Bitcoin mixer. The concern still exists how will you pay the seller. If you don't buy then you have to earn somehow either mining or from other sources. But it can't save your address privacy then you can't save your privacy as well.

Localcryptos doesn't have mandatory KYC means you can use a throw away email which created using the proxy network and buy the hardware wallet while surfing via TOR to avoid your IP, by the way why you need to worry about FBI as long as you are not doing anything illegal?

Yeah, after countries started demanding customer information from the exchanges, the anonymity is gone. And as far as I know, you have to tell the government which wallet you have if you are living in USA (Idk if it exists in other countries too). And now they are searching for a way to reach hardware wallets also to prevent people who have bad goals and choose hardware wallets to move safer.

that is what monero is made for, there is no way to follow it, in most countries you pay taxes when you sell crypto so you can still pay them, just keep track of selling monero for fiat

It is also good that you cannot remain anonymous when buying cryptocurrencies. This will limit scams from bad guys. I think if I trade Bitcoin properly, there's nothing to anonymize. Any profession that wants to last long must keep its reputation.