Acquiring Bitcoin in crypto unfriendly countries.

[uchegod-21]

If you want to avoid government investigations, simply buy from a friend if you have one and keep your bitcoin transactions secret. If you don't have close friends you can buy from, this forum offers you another opportunity to buy from fellow forum members, but with escrow service to avoid the risk of dealing with a scammer. The government thinks they can control everything, this is where bitcoiners use the power of anonymity to outsmart the government.

[Findingnemo]

When someone starts receiving more money in their bank account then it is gonna some raise some flags to the tax regulatory body irrespective of the country that is why p2p should not limit to certain extend and for higher limints then the user need to have other source of cashflow that should matches the amount we trade so we can report it as part of the same source too. And it can be done in many ways which I am not denying but there will always be risk associaed with it when we try to evade taxes,  more scrutiny also possible from the banking side and demand source of funds when they think something is off.

[Hazink]

II totally agree with you that stricter government supervision usually pushes users to P2P transactions, because they think it provides better privacy and independence. Haven said that, forums like Bitcoin talk can be a meeting venue for such trades and equally a possible hunting place for those investigating, as it seems public activities is easily monitored. Well meaning P2P transactions often go to private, reputation based network or coded medium instead of staying in the open. Of course, there can be lots of activities, yet users may likely remain careful where and how they do it.

Even if P2P transactions are to be carried out here in the form, not everything is going to be published on the open view; some discussion will go on in private, while the less sensitive ones go on in public for reference purposes. No one will want to paste their bank details for public view because they want to make a P2P deal in a bitcoin forum.

[Donneski]

The main problem with Bitcoin P2P in the current climate is the acquisition of Bitcoin to make the payment. If this is done through an exchange, then it leaves a trail to the ultimate holder. The same thing applies to gold and silver. I gather Donald Trump is trying to hoover up as much gold as possible to prepare for the issuance of zero ticket gold backed securities. That's great for America, but not so good for Americans if he starts to introduce legislation to tax and gather cheap gold. The net result is that larger private buyers are buying directly from artisan miners. This removes some of the transactions from government surveillance. I suspect that we may see a rise in artisan mining of Bitcoin ( often called solo mining ). These miners could split their rewards, and sell them at a slightly higher price into the private sector. Bitcoin Talk would be a great forum for such introductions. Note, this probably wouldn't work for mining pools, as their payments may be subject to government surveillance. I believe that an increase in artisan mining would be good for Bitcoin.

I kinda agree with you on this. I think the whole issue with P2P right now is really about where the Bitcoin comes from in the first place and that's because once it touches an exchange, there’s already a trail and that defeats the purpose for people who value privacy.

Your point about artisan mining also makes sense, however, I don't think it is an easy route for the average person. Maybe what could help is smaller mining setups run locally or even trusted OTC groups/communities where Bitcoin transactions can be made without going through KYC exchanges. In addition to that, I also think using privacy tools like CoinJoin could go a long way in breaking links between where you got your Bitcoin and how you spend it.

So yeah, artisan mining could help reduce the trail but I think it’ll need to be combined with grassroots privacy practices in other to make  the intended difference.

[Jet Cash]

Maybe we should have a Bitcoin Talk mining pool.

[betswift]

Maybe we should have a Bitcoin Talk mining pool.

Maybe.

The question is the interest and demand for it, and for that to be big, the policies and details for the pool should be attractive.

[satscraper]

P2P transaction could increase but you won't be able to spend those coins anywhere.

I don't think that's the case. It takes only around 35 minutes to cross La Manche via Eurotunnel. Once you're across, those coins can be spent pretty much anywhere in EU. As for p2p trading, I'm the regular user of both bisq and bisq2, and I often see UK based traders actively buying and selling BTC there. So, these kinds of transactions are definitely hot among Brits.

[shield132]

I'm in the UK, and our current government is intent on sucking money out of any savings or assets that we own. They are starting to impose Draconian measures to control any financial transactions or holdings. I believe that this could lead to an increase in the use of P2P transactions that are kept away from exchanges and government control. Do you believe that this will lead to an increase in transactions between members of fora such as Bitcoin Talk, or will such transactions be a rich grazing ground for government investigations?

Countries like mine exist for a reason. If someone in the UK has income in cryptocurrencies, especially high income and the government wants to impose draconian measures on their finances, then such people can travel to my country and settle here. That's what hundreds of Chinese did when China banned Bitcoin mining. They bought the whole building in one city here, imported their miners from China and live here today.
There are loopholes and countries use the weaknesses of each other for their own benefit, so I wouldn't worry about anything but it's bad that sometimes you are forced to leave your country and immigrate.

Btw I think that this will lead to an increase of P2P transactions. There are lots of illegal things going on behind the scenes, so I'm sure many people will try to avoid paying heavy taxes.

[hedgeh0g]

I'm in the UK, and our current government is intent on sucking money out of any savings or assets that we own. They are starting to impose Draconian measures to control any financial transactions or holdings. I believe that this could lead to an increase in the use of P2P transactions that are kept away from exchanges and government control. Do you believe that this will lead to an increase in transactions between members of fora such as Bitcoin Talk, or will such transactions be a rich grazing ground for government investigations?

I live in a country where the government has long ago determined that cryptocurrency is a threat.
And so they have become unpopular and very secretive in introducing many blocking sanctions against cryptocurrencies, for example, you can’t access the Bitcointalk forum without a VPN for a long time, and I also want to say that there are a couple of internal exchanges that are very controlled by the state and you can’t withdraw money to fiat in any way, except p2p - a method that has long become somehow dangerous, because there is a high chance of getting money on the card that is involved in bad stories.

[betswift]

I'm in the UK, and our current government is intent on sucking money out of any savings or assets that we own. They are starting to impose Draconian measures to control any financial transactions or holdings. I believe that this could lead to an increase in the use of P2P transactions that are kept away from exchanges and government control. Do you believe that this will lead to an increase in transactions between members of fora such as Bitcoin Talk, or will such transactions be a rich grazing ground for government investigations?

I live in a country where the government has long ago determined that cryptocurrency is a threat.
And so they have become unpopular and very secretive in introducing many blocking sanctions against cryptocurrencies, for example, you can’t access the Bitcointalk forum without a VPN for a long time, and I also want to say that there are a couple of internal exchanges that are very controlled by the state and you can’t withdraw money to fiat in any way, except p2p - a method that has long become somehow dangerous, because there is a high chance of getting money on the card that is involved in bad stories.

Imo, p2p, as anything else, has it own risks too - big sums, shady coins, shady money - and many others, but it's still better than to get on the blacklist of your local authorities if that's a possibility.

The best option is a local vendor making crypto/fiat swaps, but there aren't many credible people like that that don't bite with the fees for it.

[mirakal]

I'm in the UK, and our current government is intent on sucking money out of any savings or assets that we own. They are starting to impose Draconian measures to control any financial transactions or holdings. I believe that this could lead to an increase in the use of P2P transactions that are kept away from exchanges and government control. Do you believe that this will lead to an increase in transactions between members of fora such as Bitcoin Talk, or will such transactions be a rich grazing ground for government investigations?

Their actions pushed people to break the rules and find a way to escape from such unfair decisions. Yes, it happens that P2P could be a tool for their freedom, and the use of Bitcoin will be adapted. This will give a reason why we should adopt online transactions rather than completely relying on cash-to-cash transactions. We're not seeking transparency anymore, as the government tried to hide something and milk the people. Instead, we seek an escape from government control.

Corrupt leaders will force people to violate and commit illegal activities. And it's a good thing that Bitcoin exists.

[Botnake]

The people aren’t government owned. If the country is not friendly about bitcoin, then what do they expect? That people will stop from there and stop accumulating bitcoin? That is the biggest mistake of any unfriendly country’s government. People have their own plans and goals, and any government cannot stop the people from doing their own life’s goals.

My view here, yes it’s possible that P2P transactions will grow rather than trusting those centralized exchanges who are just pets of the government. And the government can’t stop it, no matter how serious of investigations they will be doing after.

[Questat]

That’s highly possible because even if we are living in a friendly country itself, people still prefer to make p2p transactions because they find it more convenient and safer on their part. Now how much more if the country itself is totally against crypto, and clearly against the people’s assets and properties because they want to acquire them as their own, people will surely flock into p2p where there is faster and easier transaction with bitcoin.

Luckily, my country isn’t that selfish, although corruption is still inevitable. But in terms of crypto, they allow the people to buy and hold them for their own interests.

[passwordnow]

The people aren’t government owned. If the country is not friendly about bitcoin, then what do they expect? That people will stop from there and stop accumulating bitcoin? That is the biggest mistake of any unfriendly country’s government. People have their own plans and goals, and any government cannot stop the people from doing their own life’s goals.

My view here, yes it’s possible that P2P transactions will grow rather than trusting those centralized exchanges who are just pets of the government. And the government can’t stop it, no matter how serious of investigations they will be doing after.

They can limit and tell people to stop but they have no full control of them. That is the fact of how these people from strict countries who are also investors and holding Bitcoin. Like from what everyone did before, the treatment has been different to the people who owns and are supporters of Bitcoin. Many did a lot of ways just to transact with the other people because they're so optimistic about it. Tried to go the dark markets and other sort of underground markets and they've succeeded on it.