Open in app

Sign in

Write

Sign in

Buy, earn and spend KYC-free Bitcoin and Monero without ID or a bank account — 2024 Update

Anarkio Crypto
8 min readFeb 27, 2022

--

The original vision of cryptocurrencies was “cash for the internet” — a pseudonymous, self-custodial bearer instrument, which didn’t require permission from a bank or a government, and just like cash and gold, didn’t require a name or government ID.

This vision is still alive today. It is not necessary to use centralized exchanges like Coinbase, Binance or Kraken. There are multiple ways to buy Bitcoin and Monero without government ID or a bank account, such as via cash in person, cash by mail, gift cards, gold/silver, KYC-free Bitcoin ATMs and selling products or services for crypto.

Cash in person, cash by mail, gift cards

Peer-to-peer exchanges allow you to buy and sell Bitcoin and Monero via cash in person, cash by mail, gift cards (such as Amazon or Steam) and gold/silver. “KYC-free” means that no government ID is required to use the platform, which is helpful for unbanked people, activists, stateless people and anyone who wants to protect their privacy.

KYC-free exchanges are easy to use. Simply open the website or app, search for your preferred payment method and location, and message a seller. If there are no selling ads where you live, you can post a buying ad and wait for a response. Many platforms offer escrow and a rating/reviews feature to protect against scams.

Trusted KYC-free P2P exchanges in 2024:

For cash in person, meet in a public place like a cafe, mall or park and bring cash and a mobile wallet (such as Cake Wallet for Bitcoin, Monero, Ethereum or Litecoin).

For cash by mail, here is a guide: https://web.archive.org/web/20240112134042/https://localmonero.co/cash-by-mail-tips Depending on country, buyers should be able to send the letter or package anonymously, if it is still possible to buy stamps with cash or with crypto via a reseller. For sellers, depending on country, some PO boxes, reshipping services, virtual offices, parcel lockers, package pickup stores or general delivery/poste restante may not require government ID.

If you are in the US, money orders are KYC-free for buyers (sadly not for sellers): https://archive.org/details/how-to-buy-non-kyc-bitcoin-with-a-us-postal-money-order

In some countries, you can deposit cash into people’s bank accounts without ID, buy prepaid debit cards without ID, or send and receive Western Union transfers with only a password. If this is the case where you live, you can also try these payment methods.

Bitcoin ATMs

Bitcoin ATMs are a convenient option if there is a KYC-free ATM near you. A list of Bitcoin ATMs can be found here: https://coinatmradar.com

In some countries, Bitcoin ATMs allow you to buy and sell Bitcoin for cash without ID, up to around $1000 per transaction. Some Bitcoin ATMs require SMS verification, but you can use a virtual number from https://textverified.com or https://juicysms.com.

Check in advance if the Bitcoin ATM requires ID by viewing its page on CoinATMRadar, checking the operator’s website or contacting the operator.

How to use a Bitcoin ATM: https://archive.org/details/how-to-use-text-verified-to-buy-non-kyc-bitcoin-at-a-bitcoin-atm

Guide for Monero: https://archive.org/details/how-to-buy-non-kyc-monero

Bitcoin vouchers

Some companies sell Bitcoin vouchers for cash in brick-and-mortar stores. For example, Azteco (https://azte.co) sells Bitcoin vouchers for cash in multiple countries. More can be found here: https://github.com/cointastical/P2P-Trading-Exchanges/

Proxy merchants

Proxy merchants make it possible to shop from any online store using cryptocurrencies. While proxy merchants don’t trade crypto directly for cash, you can still buy something that you need, buy electronics to resell locally for cash, or even find someone to pay a bill on your behalf.

Some proxy merchants are two-way marketplaces where users can request a product or fulfill a request. An example is Monezon where people who have an Amazon account can order products for people without Amazon accounts in exchange for crypto. Many of these marketplaces include escrow to protect against scams.

Other proxy merchants are only one-way, i.e. customer can request a product, pay with crypto, and the merchant will buy it using their bank account and ship it to the customer.

Two-way proxy merchant marketplaces include:

One-way proxy merchants include:

Gift card sellers include:

Note: When buying an anonymous prepaid debit card, please double check if the card issuer requires government ID and if the card will work in your location. Some card issuers do “shotgun KYC” while some prepaid cards from other issuers only work in the US, can’t be added to Google Pay or Paypal, or don’t support 3DS.

Mining

For proof-of-work cryptocurrencies, new coins are generated via mining. If you have favorable electricity costs and either a specialized ASIC miner for Bitcoin or a good CPU for Monero, you can earn crypto by running mining software. Please note that while mining is vital for the network and is a core aspect of cryptocurrency, this may be a slower way to accumulate crypto and may not be profitable if you have high electricity costs.

Bitcoin mining guides:

Monero mining: https://reddit.com/r/moneromining

Local groups

You can often find cash in person and cash by mail traders in local groups. Look for Bitcoin, tech or libertarian meetups in your city (or country if using cash by mail), visit a Bitcoin or Monero conference or start a local crypto group: https://github.com/taxmeifyoucan/p2p-trading/

Exchange altcoins

If you already have a different cryptocurrency, you can exchange it for Bitcoin or Monero without ID via KYC-free altcoin exchanges.

Trusted KYC-free altcoin exchanges in 2024:

There are also atomic swaps: https://sethforprivacy.com/guides/bitcoin-monero-atomic-swaps/

Jobs

It is possible to work remotely for Bitcoin or Monero, for example as a writer, translator, graphic designer, software developer, beta tester or artist.

You can find crypto freelance work here:

Fundraising

You can also use crypto to raise funds for a personal project, charity or startup, or donate to a good cause. It could be as simple as downloading a wallet such as Cake Wallet and adding your Bitcoin or Monero address to your website or blog, or creating a fully-featured fundraiser with a goal and progress updates on a crypto fundraising platform.

Unlike Gofundme or Kickstarter, crypto fundraising platforms don’t require a bank account, Paypal or government ID, and they don’t take huge fees. Here are some examples:

Buy and sell products/services

There are many places to spend cryptocurrencies, from digital products, to brick-and-mortar stores, gift cards and KYC-free prepaid debit cards.

If you have an online store, you can easily accept Bitcoin or Monero payments by installing a payment gateway plugin.

Avoid payment gateways like Binance, Bitpay and Coinbase which require customers to register an account at their exchange using government ID before they can send the payment. Instead, go with one of many privacy-friendly and financially inclusive payment gateways, which allow customers to pay instantly with any crypto wallet — no account, exchange or ID required.

Some examples of KYC-free payment gateways:

Guide for BTCPayServer: https://archive.org/details/how-to-accept-non-kyc-bitcoin-with-btcpay-jungle-and-electrum

If you have a brick-and-mortar store, BTCPayServer offers a point-of-sale feature (https://blog.btcpayserver.org/how-to-earn-bitcoin-btcpayserver). Alternatively, you can simply use a mobile wallet such Cake Wallet (https://cakewallet.com).

After setting up crypto payments, you can submit your online or brick-and-mortar business to a directory of crypto-friendly businesses:

If you are a content creator, you can include a Bitcoin or Monero donation address in your bio, articles or videos, or sell paid content or subscriptions in XMRBazaar (which also supports instant digital downloads). Streamers can use XMRChat to receive crypto tips and superchats while streaming.

You can also buy and sell products and services in crypto-friendly marketplaces, including:

Additionally, you can add “10% discount for crypto payments” to the description of your Ebay, Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace listings, and send the customer the crypto address and amount via email or messenger.

Further reading: Why KYC-free is important

Cryptocurrencies are intended to be a private and financially inclusive currency outside of the state’s monopoly on money (=fiat) and monopoly on identity (=government ID KYC). For this, cryptocurrencies only require a random cryptographic private key that you can generate with easy-to-use wallet software. Unlike banking, no government ID or corporate permission is required.

The state, banks and corporations shouldn’t be able to decide who can buy or use cryptocurrencies, nor know everyone’s balances and transaction history. Economic censorship, KYC regulations and the war on cash already shut out millions of people who can’t get government ID or a bank account from basic needs like finances, jobs, apartment rentals and healthcare. In comparison, KYC-free cryptocurrencies allow everyone to earn, spend and save money worldwide, which provides a much-needed way to circumvent censorship, access truly free markets (“underground economy”) and live freely.

In addition, KYC endangers people who have ID to doxxing, targeted theft, surveillance, financial censorship, hacked data leaks, intentional data disclosures and seizure of funds. KYC exchanges permanently store purchase records with the purchase amount, withdrawal address, date, full name, photo, home address, ID scan and SSN of every customer, and they disclose this information voluntarily to both state and corporate third parties without the customer’s knowledge or consent. Many KYC exchanges have been hacked and customers’ ID scans were leaked and sold in the darknet (even as low as $10 per person).

Unlike what many people believe, Bitcoin mixers and Monero do not fix KYC. Bitcoin mixers and Monero can provide on-chain privacy and make it difficult to find out where you are sending your money, but they cannot bypass the inaccessible government ID requirements nor remove the exchange’s permanent purchase records. Only KYC-free exchanges can fix the problems caused by KYC, by removing it entirely.

For further reading, please check:

Bitcoin
Monero
Cryptocurrency
Financial Inclusion
Privacy

--

--

Anarkio Crypto

Written by Anarkio Crypto

47 Followers

Living on crypto and creating practical cryptocurrency solutions.

Help

Status

About

Careers

Press

Blog

Privacy

Terms

Text to speech

Teams