Anonymity?

[ulhaq]

I hear people talking about anonymity with various currencies, eg Monero, or DASH, but as most people seem to use exchanges, there really isn't any anonymity, because the exchange presumably knows each person's identity and therefore has a record of all transactions, whether they be for bitcoin, or any other "anonymous" currency. Is this right? It would seem that anonymity is a function of the exchange and not the currency (granted there are differences in currencies that impact anonymity as well).

If the above is true, are there any legitimate (I know this is subjective) exchanges that do not keep identities of their customers? I have heard of local meetups, but that does not seem very convenient and there are trust issues.

[MadGamer]

It really depends , most of the exchanges that only involves cryptocurrencies like Poloniex don't ask you for any kind of verification unless you want to raise your limits which you don't really need to because the daily limits are more then enough. I also agree that local meetups isn't a very convenient way to trade so I always go with trading with individuals on different forums with a currency exchange section for whatever payment method I want. That should make you bypass the need of verifying your documents.

[neochiny]

If you go anywhere near crypto <--> fiat conversion, then you'd be met with verification, KYC, AML.
I don't even know which exchanges doesn't require documents now.

Personally, I'm not too concerned with anonymity. I use only 1 exchange (fully verified), it's the only place that I submitted my full docs to, so I conduct my buying/selling there.
Either choose one exchange or as MadGamer says, use the Currency Exchange section.

As for local meetups, I do not recommend it. I've never tried it and likely never will. Inconvenient and could be dangerous.

[enhu]

Some exchange only ask for email address and that's all you need to make transactions. A throwaway email can be used so long as you remember its password, you will be doing fine and you can go on with your daily lives without publishing your identity to them. If you are to buy BTC through them then you would be submitting your IDs, its the basics else money laundering would be easy for the criminals.

[JL421]

Some exchange only ask for email address and that's all you need to make transactions. A throwaway email can be used so long as you remember its password, you will be doing fine and you can go on with your daily lives without publishing your identity to them. If you are to buy BTC through them then you would be submitting your IDs, its the basics else money laundering would be easy for the criminals.

What about if you just want to sell to them? Do you still need to submit any ID to them in order to do so?
If you want to withdraw would any ID need to be necessary to do that as well?
If not which exchanges allow you to do that.
I am not talking about $1000's of dollars just $100's.

[audaciousbeing]

Its true that the anonymity surrounding the crypto world is gradually turning into a myth with no thanks to all these exchange sites forgetting that the basic principle crypo rests is the anonymity. I have been discouraged from going on with registration  whedn after giving all the names and addresses, they still ask for scanned international passport or national identity card, some will even add that you child it and take a picture with it.

[RodeoX]

The problem is that an exchange that follows the law is not going to be anonymous, and an exchange that is not following the law can't really be trusted.

[JeffBrad12]

The problem is that an exchange that follows the law is not going to be anonymous, and an exchange that is not following the law can't really be trusted.

It looks like the coinbitch.
http://www.coindesk.com/irs-delay-coinbase-bitcoin-dispute/

[cpfreeplz]

There's anonymity if you earn monero or you buy it with cash etc. Once you have monero and make transactions they are anonymous from your first transaction so you wouldn't have to worry about someone "following the money" as easily as with bitcoins.

[Omega Weapon]

I hear people talking about anonymity with various currencies, eg Monero, or DASH, but as most people seem to use exchanges, there really isn't any anonymity, because the exchange presumably knows each person's identity and therefore has a record of all transactions, whether they be for bitcoin, or any other "anonymous" currency. Is this right? It would seem that anonymity is a function of the exchange and not the currency (granted there are differences in currencies that impact anonymity as well).

If the above is true, are there any legitimate (I know this is subjective) exchanges that do not keep identities of their customers? I have heard of local meetups, but that does not seem very convenient and there are trust issues.

Anonymity is eroding in the world and it is not a surprise the same is happening in the world of crypto but like always it depends on how anonymous you want to be, you could buy some bitcoin in an exchange and verify your identity  and then you could tumble your coins at that point no one knows those are your coins but someone looking at your transaction knows you bought some bitcoin.

[hardtime]

You can only be anonymous with your bitcoin, other crypto-currency to a certain extent. Like once you want to go ahead and cash-out into the real world and use the bitcoins or whatever currency you have in your day to day life you kind of kill all the anoymity you had before.

That's how it works due to KYC laws along with fiat. I suppose you could still be anonymous by selling your bitcoin for gift cards or something along those lines but then you'd just be losing a certain percentage of your bitcoins (20%?)

You have to think, is it really worth it to be anonymous?

[digaran]

I don't get it why use altcoins when you can very easily send your bitcoins to a mixer(trusted&reputable) and get totally new coins in sets of addresses of your choice and then search google in your native language to use a domestic exchange instead of foreign one if you have no international identification paper or passport?
Let me ask you something logical: if you are not trying to do illegal activities then you shouldn't be worried about revealing your identity because no exchanges will ever give away your info and trying to contact you unless they receive court orders.
But still there are some tricky ways to manage to stay completely out of the radar but I wont discuss them in public nor in private .

[Pursuer]

I hear people talking about anonymity with various currencies, eg Monero, or DASH, but as most people seem to use exchanges, there really isn't any anonymity, because the exchange presumably knows each person's identity and therefore has a record of all transactions, whether they be for bitcoin, or any other "anonymous" currency. Is this right? It would seem that anonymity is a function of the exchange and not the currency (granted there are differences in currencies that impact anonymity as well).

If the above is true, are there any legitimate (I know this is subjective) exchanges that do not keep identities of their customers? I have heard of local meetups, but that does not seem very convenient and there are trust issues.

not necessarily.
there are a lot of exchanges that don't require any information on their users. most altcoins exchanges are like this. you deposit bitcoin and buy any altcoin you want and apart from your IP (which can be hidden) and the bitcoin address you deposit from nothing else is going to be revealed.

and also it is the feature of those coins that allow more anonymity. I am not an expert in monero and those others but you can read their paper and ask around in their topic for more details about how they do it. but know that it is the coin itself.

[thebatletbet]

I hear people talking about anonymity with various currencies, eg Monero, or DASH, but as most people seem to use exchanges, there really isn't any anonymity, because the exchange presumably knows each person's identity and therefore has a record of all transactions, whether they be for bitcoin, or any other "anonymous" currency. Is this right? It would seem that anonymity is a function of the exchange and not the currency (granted there are differences in currencies that impact anonymity as well).

If the above is true, are there any legitimate (I know this is subjective) exchanges that do not keep identities of their customers? I have heard of local meetups, but that does not seem very convenient and there are trust issues.

all altcoin trading can anoymous without verified ID
but if you want trading bitcoin use fiat money, and can withdraw to youre bank account is nothing without verified all exchanger need everified ID
but if use online payment procesor you can get it in c-cex support perfectmoney, in btc-e support perfect money and okpay
or if you want USDT, bittrex and poloniex support USDT and without verified ID too

[webtricks]

I hear people talking about anonymity with various currencies, eg Monero, or DASH, but as most people seem to use exchanges, there really isn't any anonymity, because the exchange presumably knows each person's identity and therefore has a record of all transactions, whether they be for bitcoin, or any other "anonymous" currency. Is this right? It would seem that anonymity is a function of the exchange and not the currency (granted there are differences in currencies that impact anonymity as well).

If the above is true, are there any legitimate (I know this is subjective) exchanges that do not keep identities of their customers? I have heard of local meetups, but that does not seem very convenient and there are trust issues.

Are you sure there is any exchange asking for people identity? Because for me, I can easily trade coins without any type of verification.
However, when one need to sold Bitcoin to native currency then one need to provide his/her complete identity like bank account, etc. collectively known as KYC (Know your customer) due to Income Tax requirements but there is hardly any requirement on exchanges. This is true triumph of cryptocurrency

[dhampir-D]

There are people who register on exchanges without providing true personal information, and many users use anonymous emails. There is also the possibility of using vpn, so that the exchange does not have your IP address.
I think the problem would be at the moment of converting the coins to fiat currency, and then making the withdrawal. However, I've heard that there are already services for anonymous Bitcoin debit cards.

[jovs]

Its true that the anonymity surrounding the crypto world is gradually turning into a myth with no thanks to all these exchange sites forgetting that the basic principle crypo rests is the anonymity. I have been discouraged from going on with registration  whedn after giving all the names and addresses, they still ask for scanned international passport or national identity card, some will even add that you child it and take a picture with it.

There are many exchange site like c-cex or Poloniex that doesn't require identification. However, in some huge trading site, they'll ask to acquire your identification and it's true that some of them need your passport id number. Hence, you have an option if you want to be still anonymous. This is same as in forex, and I don't see any problem in revealing your identity as long as it's legal.

[adzino]

There are people who register on exchanges without providing true personal information, and many users use anonymous emails. There is also the possibility of using vpn, so that the exchange does not have your IP address.
I think the problem would be at the moment of converting the coins to fiat currency, and then making the withdrawal. However, I've heard that there are already services for anonymous Bitcoin debit cards.

They ask for official ID and documents issued my the government. Most of the exchanges do. So providing fake information will get you caught and your request to get verified will be rejected. Using other peoples name to verify is against the law.

[European Central Bank]

for what purpose do you want anonymity? i personally couldn't care less about it and almost everyone slips up somewhere along the line. there are too many holes for it not to leak out eventually.

[erikalui]

Its true that the anonymity surrounding the crypto world is gradually turning into a myth with no thanks to all these exchange sites forgetting that the basic principle crypo rests is the anonymity. I have been discouraged from going on with registration  whedn after giving all the names and addresses, they still ask for scanned international passport or national identity card, some will even add that you child it and take a picture with it.

There are many exchange site like c-cex or Poloniex that doesn't require identification. However, in some huge trading site, they'll ask to acquire your identification and it's true that some of them need your passport id number. Hence, you have an option if you want to be still anonymous. This is same as in forex, and I don't see any problem in revealing your identity as long as it's legal.

It's not about revealing your identity to these exchange sites but many times these sites leak our information to either Government officials for tax-related purposes or if they turn out to be bankrupt or caught up in illegal services. There have been many trusted exchanges that have shut down due to these reasons and hence it's tough to decide which one operates legally and which doesn't.

@OP:Not all exchanges ask for identity proof and many have users who just use unverified or anonymous virtual credit/debit cards while buying and selling currency on the exchange websites. At the end, all transactions are anonymous as even if we sell bitcoins at exchanges, it's hard to track from where the bitcoins were received.