We trust companies with our information every day. But many companies—even those that hold our most revealing information—are using it not just to provide the services we ask for, but to amp up their profits at the cost of our privacy.That's why EFF has joined a campaign, led by the U.S. Public...
I use it to pay for VPN and stuff, works pretty well IMO. There's potential scaling issues if too many people use it, but you can get around those by using XMR to privately purchase a different cryptocurrency with higher throughput. Tornado Cash was pretty cool too before they made using it a felony.
How do you get your XMR? I looked into it once but it seemed like a hassle
I think you can get it with a credit card through the Cake Wallet app by buying a different crypto first and then swapping for XMR, this is probably the most user friendly way, though I can't personally confirm. You can buy it directly on Kraken, though the account setup is some effort. Here is a curated list of reputable ways to acquire, trade and use crypto without KYC, if not providing personal info is a priority for you.
I don't think it's actually that terrible for privacy to get it initially with KYC, because all they will know is that you purchased $X of crypto, so it's comparable to withdrawing cash from a bank.
Thank you! I'll probably just use KYC because I'm not a high value target and the alternative for me is just buying and spending Bitcoin.
I'd avoid KYC for a different reason - I just can't trust an exchange to keep such sensitive data safe. I thought of using Localmonero first (the usual recommendation), but then found a friend who can sell it to me for cash instead.
No shortage of different ways but most of them require KYC which basically instantly makes it in useless. You can, however, buy from individuals using LocalMonero.