Bitcoin Forum

The crypto industry is becoming more centralized by the day, as major industry players comply with strict government regulations. People who want to get access to crypto will find it almost impossible to do so without providing their personally-identifiable information. This would make crypto no different than traditional banks. There are some platforms where you can sell Bitcoin for cash anonymously, but you'd face the risk of getting scammed easily.

What would be the safest way to sell your BTC without KYC? Please feel free the share your methods here for the benefit of all. Thanks. :)

You can't be 100% safe.

If you're dealing with cash, and face-to-face then things could go bad easily if you're not careful.

As for the other online banking platforms, then there's that risk of chargebacks which an escrow can't help you with.

So, regardless of the platform, what you need to do is:

- Check the user's profile and that he has good (and most importantly recent) feedback reviews because these accounts can change hands.
- Avoid dealing with large sums with one individual. Trade with multiple ones instead, so even if you get scammed, you won't lose everything.

Fortunately, I have dozens of physical crypto exchanges where I can still make crypto transactions without KYC, and considering that protective masks are still an option and that you can also put a cap on your head and maybe fake glasses, I think that is quite enough.

I think that for those who want to maintain their anonymity to a large extent and not compromise their security, there is no better option than a decentralized crypto exchange. There will always be options to avoid KYC, and for those who are interested in more, I suggest reading this thread -> Guides for using Bisq (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5416294.0)

You don't say where you are and how much you want to trade, that matters a lot.

Picking on myself, for small and medium trades, living in the USA / NY area there are a few casinos a quick drive (under an hour) and Atlantic City and a couple in nearby states that are under a couple of hours (depending on traffic). For trades going either way if possible I try to meet there for a F2F. Good cell service so for the trade and lots of machines to pick some random bills from the stack to put in to verify they are good.

For larger trades, where I am buying if I REALLY want to avoid KYC there are plenty of people on the services listed here that have a good reputation: https://kycnot.me/
Could any of them go evil and start taking your money yes.

For larger trades where I am selling, it depends. Over the years I have built up a list of phone numbers of local people I trust, and there are some people here I trust too.

-Dave

Why are you so keen to do it anonymously? Is it because of tax avoidance or you live in a country where bitcoin is banned etc?

I understand the two reasons I listed but anything else it’s better to conduct your transactions on a reputable exchange.

Where is the data for this? I see this claim repeated frequently on these forums, often by people who have clearly never actually traded bitcoin peer to peer, but I have never seen any evidence to support this claim. I have never used a centralized exchange and have always traded bitcoin exclusively peer to peer, and have never once been scammed, because I take basic security precautions. However, I have lost count of the hundreds of thousands of people who have lost money from centralized exchanges scamming them, locking their account, seizing their coins, going bankrupt, etc.

People trade goods and services in a peer to peer manner (i.e. paying anything in cash) billions of times every single day around the world.

Use a reputable peer to peer platform which implements an escrow. Bisq is the best choice. Others include AgoraDesk and RoboSats.
If the platform has a ranking system, choose highly rated trading partners.
Choose a payment system which does not support easy chargebacks (i.e. not PayPal or similar). If you want real privacy, then opt for cash.
If opting for cash, then meet your trading partner in a public place during the day, where there will be plenty of other people around. To eliminate the risk of counterfeit cash, meet at a bank or ATM and either immediately withdraw the cash prior to trading, or immediately deposit it after a trade.

Only if you choose not to learn how to go privately decentralized from third party such as exchanges through which government can be use to apprehend you, p2p itself is made such away that you engage it with decentralized exchange to make any transaction you've always wanted, newbies are the ones that don't know how being decentralized is been done using bitcoin exchanges whenever they wanted to perform a transaction


Dont you crypto here since we are specific on bitcoin and all needed tlis to run a full node or use the bitcoincore client for maximum privacy.


As I've said, this kind of mistakes is common to the newbies unless they had kearnt to remain decentralized with their bitcoi, while other cryptos where centralized already.

At a time like this we're privacy is becoming less, with most cryptocurrency exchange ges becoming centralized with AML compliance and KYC verification has become one of the major draws back for those who are privacy conscious and the place for Anonymousity have been lost, even though we have quite a few of other Anonymously decentralized exchange but their operation are still limited and for one to have a 100%/ conversion one will still end up with centralized service in form of banks and what have you.
In having a face to face BTC deal is a no go area as there have been cases of physical attacks and criminals so that option is not popular among Bitcoin users.is

To remain anonymous you should use bisq  is a reputable p2p platfrom which implement Escrow, though you are not guaranteed of 100% security but it is safe. You can also try AgoraDesk I have a friend using it,I always trade on bisq when I don't have an option.

I do trade my bitcoin with a car dealer down the road using p2p decentralized system and if he is not available, i go to the supermarket in the next community not to far from ours with a bicycle. I will better off not used a centralized system because of so many inconvenience and lack of trust. It is good to trade with reputable traders

Recently one of the no KYC platform called localcryptos closed their service which is a sign that people are not really concerned about KYC anymore but still there is a way which is Bisq where no KYC needed and have to be careful with the mode of payment because chargebacks or funds from the stolen Bank accounts are the most two common scams happen with no KYC trades. Maybe in future the better way will be doing face to face transactions or using the bitcointalk like platform along with the help of escrow the trade can be done.

Without KYC does not mean anonymous and in fact there is no way to be completely anonymous (imo). When you are dealing with a person or service who is known to work in the crypto field then you have no guarantee of anonymity anymore. I believe that all fiat services require users to provide some of their real identities. Even with some methods without KYC, you may only be able to hide your identity and activities from some parties.

Thanks for the tip. It's best to trade with more than one person to help diversify the risks of loss as much as possible. I've tried AgoraDesk, but I was about the get scammed by someone who had positive feedback. The person wanted me to wire him the money to a bank account, even though the listing stated "Bitcoin to PayPal". It could've been that his account on AgoraDesk was hacked or something else (that was quite a few months ago, btw).

I've read a lot about Bisq, so I'm going to give that platform a shot to see what happens. It's my best bet to sell BTC for cash without leaving any trace. With ever-increasing regulations on the crypto industry, it's better to be safe than sorry by avoiding centralized exchanges altogether. Can you imagine if someday the government uses info about your trades performed in a CEX against your own will? Staying anonymous (under the radar), would prevent many headaches in the long run. ;)

This is already happening, and quite widespread as well. I opened a thread about it here: Recent events should make everyone withdraw all their coins to their own wallets (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5387401.0). There are multiple examples around the world of governments using data gathered from centralized exchanges to spy on their citizens, as well as using those same centralized exchanges to censor those citizens and prevent them from spending their coins.

Just because you (plural you, not you specifically) haven't been censored yet, doesn't mean that any and all data centralized exchanges have relating to you is not already in the hands of your government and other governments around the world.

Based on what data?

Go and have a look at how many truly decentralized exchanges have been hacked, seized/stolen money from their users, or gone bankrupt and made their users lose everything. Now go and look at the same data for centralized exchanges. Hell, the entire market has just taken a dip because yet another large centralized exchange has collapsed and all its users have lost everything.

Trading peer to peer is the safest way to trade.

Try telling that to everyone who has just everything on FTX. Or Voyager. Or Celsius. Or any of the other exchanges which have collapsed or exit scammed.

You mean to the platform which is not trusted then claim that they are non KYC compliance? well maybe the risk there is big that's why its not advisable to deal with that since we might get scam or get hack. For me at the moment Binance is the safer platform since they have built good reputation for many years and they keep evolving base on new trend tech exist.

On issue about being anonymous well for now I don't care about that since for me I go with the safest one and anonymity is not totally a big deal to me at the moment since we need to deal with it.

We have p2p and decentralized exchanges which are known to be trusted but there are still risks on them especially in p2p sites. There is a thread here (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5419698.0) which gives tips on how to avoid being scammed on p2p exchanges. That should be a big help for those who love to trade anonymously.

Even if there is a big risk on them, many people choose them over the centralized one because they value their privacy more and I think those people can afford to lose their money. Don't be too confident and say that binance is trusted because we don't know what is happening in the background. What if they are leaking our data secretly? If not then what if they got hacked and our data is going to be stolen?

Most of my crypto trading or exchange for fiat is done on an exchange. I've got little chance or opportunity to trade p2p with someone but I feel safe with an exchange. There exchanges that works with minimal KYC but your restricted as per how much you can buy or sell as oppose to those that have gone through a thorough KYC.
The good news about these exchanges is that, they serve as escrows and for you not to get scammed, you've got to be at alert on a pending transaction. Any error that might occur, you would he a major contributor by not being conscious. Even at that, you just might have a second chance to recovery than a direct p2p where you don't have an escrow.

If there were some protective mechanisms that would prevent hacking or the conscious sharing of such data, then I could still accept that KYC makes sense because it works to prevent money laundering and the financing of ever-present terrorism - but that data very often ends up in the wrong hands, which could be and life-threatening for anyone who made such a verification.

Anyone who can bypass KYC should do so, because it is not just about taxes and fees, but about the protection of personal data, and this should be a very sensitive issue for anyone who cares about their security and privacy.

I think might be very hard to do because let say you wanna use a trusted exchanger like binance and we know too well that for you and i to trade on Binance we must first undergo kyc which means revealing our identity before associating our bank details. Even when talking of dealing p2p services from your local thread, yes i think this is the best way to trade because you could sell off your crypto to him or she directly and they pays to your local account but at then your name on the bank account have been reveal so it's possible you could be tracked through the name.
Most times what i does is if i want to remain anonymously, i will go seek of a business account or a company account to make my transaction, i will sell crypto coin then send business account details for payment which your identity is not reveal anymore but only the business name, at end of the transaction the account officer will send the fiat back to your account and this process takes longer time. But know too well that p2p is more riskier to deal with. It is always advisable to trade with those with checkmark on their profile in p2p

I think one can always ask fellow forum members to trade the bitcoins anonymously. We are always looking away from the actual source and the place where Satoshi also portrayed his thoughts and had fun. The home guys! Yeah I get it it’s hard to find trusted members here plus there is point of escrow and stuff. However, good deals can be easily made and there are thousands of members with good amount of bitcoins in their possession and are willing to trade for money. Money can always be sent via third party services and bitcoins with complete secrecy. I am now doing the trades with one friend overseas and they send me fiat via Wire transfer. Seems nothing hard for me.

MtGox had a good reputation. Voyager had a good reputation. Celsius had a good reputation. Quadriga has a good reputation. Cryptopia had a good reputation. FTX had a good reputation. All now collapsed. Reputation means nothing. Any coins you have on Binance are at risk.

What? Evolving? Lol. It took them years to implement SegWit. Zero sign of any Lightning support any time soon. Continue to charge 100x more than necessary in withdrawal fees. Binance are stuck in the past. The only thing they actively develop is ways to scam their users out of more money by tricking them in to using their own centralized coins.

That's the beauty of a true DEX such as Bisq - you don't need to trust the exchange, at all. All the code can be verified and they never take control of your coins or your data.

They don't need to do it secretly. They share your data openly but people don't care. And yup, they've also been hacked and had user data stolen in the past as well.

This is a very old school suggestion. It's inconvenient and additional cost since both party needs to setup escrow service and wait for all the parties involved become online. Escrow fee here is also high and has a minimum rate that is not advisable for small transaction.

DEX is the best on this situation like Bisq but currently the price there is different on the exchange price since people that serting up order there add premium but this kind of platfor is the best way to trade Bitcoin anonymously.

Since then, I haven't been able to sell my bitcoin into cash without having KYC on a part of it. The tools or platform are requiring KYC on my country for us to be able to use it properly. The platform that is use to sell is centralized and I'm usually using coins.ph for remittance or ATM cashout and Binance for p2p trading, These both requires KYC. And the one that is receiving the payment of the transaction which is cash is my e-wallets, bank account or remittance center. All of these requires KYC. There are other method that can be used like under the table transaction for p2p but I see it as much riskier and more work method. Or you can use other identity to cash out for you which also has it's own risk. I just sticked to my usual way of cashing out my BTC since I haven't had any issues with it and I've submitted KYC on the first place, There's not much harm to use it repeatedly as long as you are managing the amount you are cashing out.

Having self-custody of your crypto is a must these days. Especially when governments are starting to exert pressure over centralized exchanges. That, and also the fact that CEXs can collapse at any moment due to hacks/theft or misuse of customer's funds. With ever-increasing regulations from the government, trading Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency without KYC is a must to help achieve true financial freedom and privacy.

I think Bisq is the best solution for trading Bitcoin in a P2P manner. HodlHodl is good too, but it's a custodial service (as far as I know) unlike Bisq where you have full control of your keys. We need as much decentralized and non-custodial exchanges as possible to help resist governments' efforts to destroy Bitcoin for good. I hope we'd still be able to buy and sell BTC through such alternatives, even if governments decide to ban the cryptocurrency in the future. Just my opinion :)

You can’t sell your Bitcoins without giving your details? I mean only way possible if you sell your Bitcoins in exchange of hard cash, but that’s very rare. Yes what you can do is that you can hide your details in the exchange or platform where you are doing the deal. But you need to give your details to the buyer, in order to get your funds transferred to your bank account. You can easily do non KYC trades at P2P exchanges. Try localcryptos, they are famous for non KYC P2P deals.

That's precisely what I'm looking for. A way to exchange Bitcoin to hard cash without getting scammed. I believe this is something difficult to achieve, since cash is anonymous by design. If there's a middleman involved in the process (escrow) that would help settle a dispute in case things go the wrong way, selling BTC to cash should be a no-brainer. The only downside to this is that the transaction will be known by the third party (escrow). I was considering selling Bitcoin for money orders, but I'm not sure if such method is untraceable/anonymous. Localcryptos looks to be a better alternative to LocalBitcoins, so I will consider it when selling my BTC to Fiat (Bisq is another good option).

If you or anyone else have any more suggestions, please let me know. Thanks. :)

Selling your Bitcoin without KYC can be a little but challenging and we just need to be very careful about how we intend to do that. I know of some crypto exchanges that do not care about KYC at all that you can use and stay anonymously without anyone knowing who you are or how much coin you have to sell. You can also choose to sell it to friends or other people around you or your state. For this you can choose to meet at a open place where you guys to do the transaction without any risk to be taken or KYC. This option is better for me.

If the platform is your only choice, I think you need to change your policy, like payment first or must need a middle man before sending your bitcoin to the buyer to avoid being scammed. The platform must have some kind of ratings so that sellers could be easily identified as a legit sellers by the buyers, though scammers don't really care about sellers if they are legit or not since they only want to get bitcoin for free.

The other option you could have is peer to peer, but only sell to people who you know or your friends personally knows to avoid worst case scenario.

I guess that's the price you have to pay in order to enjoy true anonymity. I don't mind about higher costs compared to using a centralized exchange, as long as I'm able to get BTC without bringing unwanted attention (not that I'm doing anything illegal by the way). In times of increasing government surveillance, we'd need to remain under the radar in order to help protect our freedom. Bitcoin was created as a means to escape the system, so it's best to do everything in the most "Peer-to-Peer" manner possible. Bisq, Hodlhodl, and Localcryptos are all we need to exchange Bitcoin in a truly anonymous way.

I'll be locking this thread as I've already found the answer to my question. Thanks, everyone! :D