Bitcoin Forum

Note: Technically Bitcoin is pseudonymous, but in order to simplify things, I will be referring to any method of storing value that isn't linked to your ID to be "anonymous".

OK, so other than Bitcoin and altcoins, the only other anonymous ways of storing value that I can think of are cash and precious metals. Are there any others? Or is it just these three?

A bank account would be linked to your name and identity, and so would a house or business under your name. It would be impossible to discern the owner of a $100 note, a bar of gold, or a carefully managed bitcoin address and if someone had their assets confiscated for whatever reason, the government would not be able to get their hands on a well-hidden stash of cash, gold, or bitcoins.

Oil and gas  8)

That's the best bet if you can't use cash, gold or BTC, but it'll be somewhat difficult storing it...

Holding virtual property could be a decent form of holding value, but I wouldn't guarantee that. A lot could go wrong. I know some people that make/store cash on games that you can exchange Real money to in-game money and back again through the company, but I don't know how anonymous that is...

Could be a good idea, I don't know.

Simply storing the BTC in a wallet is pretty anonymous.   It starts to be more traceable once you start transacting and sending money around, because there is a path that can be followed if someone is really trying.   If the money is just being stored...it is pretty anonymous IMO

Booze, coffee, long lasting food.  Food also inflates in price massively.. find stuff that last awhile.

This. If you want to be completely anonymous when making a purchase, mix your coins. There are a lot of coinmixers that barely charge anything to mix your coins for you.

Well there arent many, why would you need another method besides the ones cited here?

Cashing in/out large amount of bitcoin is hard as all exchanges now enforce aml and kyc law.

All of these items are not traded widely enough to make any of them any kind of store of value.

It would also be likely to raise some eyebrows if you tried to deal in any significant amount of any of these, basically eliminating your anonymity 

Keep in mind, totally anonymous, as long as you do not say no one knows

Are you referring to bitcoin? That's not true... blockchain.

I think he's referring to other physical assets.

Gold and silver, for example, would be hard to track down, and so few people would know unless you tell them. Cash holdings are the same; if no-one knows your physical (or sometimes even digital) count, they won't know at all. Sure, you have money, but it depends how you live. If you live in a mansion, you get associated with cash. Small house; not so much cash. You can have $6,000,000 and live in a small house, and everyone would think you're only raking in $70,000/year.

For virtual currencies and so, don't tie it with real life and you're fine. Even if the company knows, register through an anonymity service, and buy an anonymous credit card or something from somewhere. People will know you have money, but it will be extremely hard to tell who you are...

That makes a lot of sense. I don't have to report any trade I do with friends in real life to any agency or government. It can easily be done under the table and not have any affect on anyone's life other than mine and my friend's.

...

-- Buy BTC for CA$H.

-- Use mixing services to anonymize your BTC.

-- Buy a used laptop (different IP address!), and only use it (wifi) in places where you do NOT use your present computer(s).  Use a different email and different wallets in your "new used" laptop.

And the above is just Bitcoin.  Be creative and think like a spy!

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Gold, silver and platinum offer other quiet (and more stable) ways to preserve wealth.  Precious metals are a great Store of Value.  Gold has over 5000 years of history of serving as a Store of Value.

The laptop is overboard and not necessary. Private internet access cheap VPN + mixing service is extremeeeely cheap and more than enough for btc anonymity.

There really are very few assets that are truly anonymous. This is especially true for larger amounts of value as trying to move a large amount of assets usually turns eyeballs.

Find things that don't inflate over time.
Some random ideas:

Car wheels.. I think they'll always be used - but I'm not a mechanic.
Flower seeds.. flowers are usually sold together in a group of 4-6 for around $2 or $3, I don't think this price will drop
Guns. I think governments/people will need them in the future

And some of them may ultimately turn out to be honeypots just for the people wanting to remain anonymous. Why do you have something to hide in the first place? ;)

If you are going to mix your coins then you need to be sure that the mixer is somewhat trusted. There are a few out there that are trusted, but are also many scams out there, especially on the hidden wikki.

...

@ Mobius

Would you care to mention any names that you would trust re mixing coins?  I am sort-of collecting references to those services who do it right.  I have had good results (at least 10 times each) with the below two:

-- sharedcoin.com (http://sharedcoin.com)

-- bitmixer.io (http://bitmixer.io)       <=== (not apparent scammer bitmixer.info)

Any others who are good?

all of this stuff are not precious and difficult to store.

You can use Monero.

Even if they are trusted, you can't be sure that they don't do the opposite to what they are supposed to do. How can you be 100% confident whether a mixer is not a honeypot, even if it doesn't run away with your money?

How about gift cards?  One could argue, however, that gift cards are similar to cash but often more restrictive.  So they wouldn't be a particularly good way of storing value, but they could work.

By the way, precious metals are not an anonymous way of storing value, unless you buy some jewelery (and this is questionable too). But jewelery is not a particularly good store of value. When you buy a piece of it, you pay for the work plus metal, but when you sell it, in most cases you are paid only for the scrap metal.

Yup, especially wine has been traditionally used for that. Just go to a rich person's house and look around. They'll have a wine cellar, old paintings, etc, for exactly that reason.

There is a difference between anonymous and private.