How do I buy Bitcoin anonymously?

The rapid spread of the Internet andexponential growth in the number of attackers  encourage the user to  maintaining privacy, anonymity and security of communications. Problems of data leakage, passwords, phishing and extortion have, unfortunately, become commonplace, so the issue of Internet security is now more relevant than ever. In the first six months of 2020, attackers earned $24 million in bitcoins from naive users, while over the past 4 years this figure reached only $38 million.

What can I say, on the night of July 16, 2020hackers attacked Twitter and gained access topersonal accounts of famous political figures and opinion leaders who began to be used for personal purposes. Of course, it sometimes comes to banal letters to the post office of such a nature as in the photo.

We talked about how to protect yourself from scammers in the article “Crisis” best time for scammers" and today  Let's discuss issues of anonymity on the Internet.

Undoubtedly, to maintain anonymity  VOn the Internet you need to leave a minimum of information about yourself, especially financial. After all, at any time an unscrupulous employee of a payment institution can sell your data and everything – remember the name. The saddest thing is that you will no longer be able to take the information back, even if the culprits are found.

In such conditions, the use of cryptocurrencies may be a good solution.

It's possible to buy Bitcoin nowadays, but it's not truesimple, as it may seem at first glance: you need to go through various registrations, verifications, KYC, AML, place orders and then look for a place where it can be safely stored. We, of course, have already described all these processes in our previous articles “Where and how to buy Bitcoin”, “Bitcoin wallet”.

Trust information about yourself to a third party– not an option either. Despite the existence  many well-known and time-tested centralized services, even they have data leaks from time to time.

So how can you buy Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies anonymously? – There are several methods for this and we will consider them in turn.

OTS / P2P deal

Yes, exactly, OTS  or the P2P transaction does not leavedigital traces. This method allows you to find Bitcoin sellers in your region, and you personally conduct the transaction when you meet. Ideal case – familiar miners, they always have a coin in stock and they need funds (cash) to pay operating costs. In this case, you will receive “clean” bitcoins. However, there are risks in this method – scammers do not sleep and you need to be extremely careful, always choose a trusted seller. Wait for at least 1-3 network confirmations in a cryptocurrency transaction and only then transfer money, conduct transactions in a safe place and always be “on guard”.

In general, this is not very convenient, and in the digital economy   looks a little strange.

Anonymous online service

Are there such things?!– Indeed, if you enter the query “buy crypto anonymously” into Google, it will return a lot of articles and life hacks on this topic, but will not provide a specific service. It turns out that it is difficult for an ordinary user to find a service for buying Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies, where they do not need to provide personal data or undergo verification. However, there is one Bitcoin wallet in which the developers have made every effort to ensure that everyone can buy or sell cryptocurrency and remain anonymous. Let's show with an example how easy this can be done in the Trustee Wallet:

• First you need to install the application on your phone. Trustee is available for both Android and iOS;

• Next step – must be savedseed phrase in a safe place. We described in detail what a seed phrase is and how to store it correctly in our article – Seed-phrase or Mnemonic Phrase: Features and Methods of Storage;
• Next clickBUY, select the purchase currency – hryvnia or ruble and the cryptocurrency you want to buy, for example, bitcoin. Then enter the purchase amount, you can choose either in fiat or cryptocurrency;
• The last step, after which the magic begins. It is necessary to add the card from which the payment will be made, indicating its number and expiration date. Click to buy;
• In front of you is a screen with a description of the transaction, where are indicatedthe amount of received cryptocurrency, rate, bank commission, coin network commission, service commission and the amount of fiat required. Click buy and go to processing, where you enter the CVV code. Confirmation of the purchase takes place via an SMS code from the bank, since the service works only with 3D-Secure cards!

You don't need to do anything else, just waitreceipt of cryptocurrency to your wallet. Once an incoming transaction has at least one network confirmation – funds can be used. It is worth noting that the wallet itself has a “non-custodial” structure, that is, no one except you has access to the funds, even the service was created.

Selling is even easier – indicate the amount and sell to the card that you added earlier or a new one, the number of cards to add is not limited.

So where is the anonymity? –  you ask

Anonymity lies in the fact that in bothIn cases where you do not leave any personal information about yourself. Of course, in the case of OTC buying or selling cryptocurrencies, the chances of deanonymization are greater than in an online service, because there is direct contact with the other party. As for Trustee Wallet, there is no need to enter personal data, such as mail, identity card, various selfies, photos or something else, just the card number is enough. By the way, the bank card number does not allow identifying the identity of the cardholder of either party to the transaction.

It is worth noting the additional features that the application provides, in particular:

• HD wallet – allows you to increase the anonymity of Bitcoin transactions, since a new Bitcoin address will be used for each receipt or sending;
• Segwit addresses for Bitcoin – the benefits of use are described in the article “From Legacy to SegWit”;
• RBF (replace-by-fee) – allows you to speed up Bitcoin transactions by increasing the network commission;
• Using unconfirmed transactions – allows you to send a queue of Bitcoin transactions without confirmation of previous ones, as well as use Bitcoin that has not yet arrived at the address.

Which way to anonymously buy or sell cryptocurrencies to choose – The decision is up to you, but as you can see, there are options.

If you still have questions or suggestions, you can always voice them in the Trustee Telegram chat, where experienced specialists will provide all the answers!