Topic: Too dumb to undrstand (Read 671 times)

A couple of things I would add to your post.

I wouldn't call exchanges "wallets", but rather "accounts", since as you rightly point out, you have no control and no ownership over your coins or your keys.

I trade more-or-less exclusively directly from my hardware wallet by using decentralized and peer-to-peer exchanges. It takes a little bit of time to become familiar with, but I definitely wouldn't say you "can't really" do it.

Full nodes are more important than that. In fact, running your own node and validating transactions yourself is the only way to trustlessly use bitcoin. Every other lightweight wallet, SPV wallet, software wallet, mobile wallet, etc., is trusting someone else's full node to relay the correct information.

Why is this not necessary? You should absolutely be using the built in encryption mechanisms on your software wallets. It protects you from both physical access to your computer as well as malware.

That's a brilliant idea from your part, if the op can have someone trusted to buy from would be his best option, or he can look at the few dex we have around and decide, unfortunately buying btc from cex is a pain now, everyone must go through kyc in other to access them otherwise you can't do anything about it.

Yeah, keep in mind there are multiple kinds of wallets you can create. There are Exchange wallets, hard wallets and soft wallets.

Exchange wallets as you saw ask all kinds of questions about who you are, this is because in order to operate in any given country they need to comply with said country's legal framework.
Upsides: you get to trade against your FIAT of choice
Downsides: no access to private keys, the coins you hold here are not "truly" yours, and they can always just run with your money.

Hardware wallets are things like Trezor which are devices that hold the private keys of your wallets for you, they're easy to conceal and keep safe (like, in a safe) and all information within is encrypted with your password so it's hard to break into them without your passwords.
Upsides: increased security, you can always recover your wallet if you enter y our private key on any other wallet provider.
Downsides: you can't really trade against fiat unless you know someone who is selling, that you trust, that you can send your coins to.

Software wallets can be broken in two: full nodes and client wallets, full nodes are unpractical at best, recommended for people who run mining operations or large amounts of any given currency because they need to be connected to the internet and up to date before you're able to send your money away from them.
Upsides: increased security, shares the above one upsides, but has more potential ways to secure your funds.
Downsides: requires a more expensive set up, also same as above.

Now client wallets are things like Electrum or Jaxxx or others wallet providers that connect to a given node to get the blockchain information, these can be encrypted like the previous two but is not necessary.
Upsides: increased security compared to exchanges as you can export your private keys or mnemonic phrases to back up in case you lose your device.
Downsides: same as trezor hardware wallets, can't really sell to FIAT unless you know and trust someone who accept payments in crypto directly.

This is very generalized information, I personally make use of the 1st and 4th wallet above (exchange and client wallet), whenever my exchange wallet gets too fat (anywhere north of $1.5k) I transfer over to my client wallet, unless I'm actively trading I never keep more than that amount on any exchange at a time.

Hope this all helps!

I use/have used BISQ, LocalCryptos, and Hodl Hodl.

There is an enormous difference between a single individual you are trading with seeing your name and an exchange with an unknown number of employees, unknown security set up, and who shares data with an unknown number of third parties, receiving copies of your passport or ID, selfies, name, address, social security number, and so on.

Still, if even revealing a name is more than you like, then you can buy anonymously with cash in person, cash through the mail, cash paid in to someone else's bank account, anonymous money orders, etc.

can you state few of those exchanges that do not require identity verification before buying crypto with fiat?
Most if not all regulated exchanges will ask you to verify your identity when you make a fiat deposit/withdraw.
Even decentralized exchanges like bisq aren't completely anonyous when it comes to fiat trades. You will have to provide some personal information such as your name and bank account.

Really hard to think about those things especially if they are new on the platform but what I can suggest to those new is they should do a proper research before engaging their selves on unknown platform. And I'm also impressed with those newbies who came here ask about the certain platform since for doing that they could learn and they became good observer on next time around.

We should try to be vigilant always especially with our private information.

Absolutely, but I'd suggest that Coinbase selling data to third parties doesn't exactly fill me with confidence either. Just like the two-bit exchanges, we have no idea what these third parties did with the data they obtained or how well the secured it.

The vast majority of "decentralized" exchanges which were hacked were not actually decentralized at all, but simply used the term as a flashy advertising slogan. The whole point of a decentralized exchange is that you keep control of your own coins and there is no central server or wallet which can be hacked.

I'm curious why people keep repeating this. My guess would be you have never actually used a proper decentralized exchange and understand how it works. You don't deposit your coins to the exchange, and so the risk of loss from your account being compromised or the exchange being hacked is significantly lower than with a centralized exchange.

You could choose another site to use seems like you are registering to a site with a KYC required to use their service there are so many other providers that you could use without having a KYC.
And it is great that newbies are asking out to know more it is better than being so high and mighty even if you don't know a thing.
It is great to see that there are some who are still eager to know something about what they are about to do and not just blindly signing up.

This is your best decision or a p2p. Try as much as you can to avoid any crypto site asking for your bank digits. There are lots of scam sites out there. You do that, you expose yourself and you blame yourself for that vulnerability. I don't know why Binance would ask for citizenship verification from a Level 1 customer. Could it be because it's its American site? I am a non-American citizen and I use Binance (as far back as 2017) and till date I am still on Level 1 (limited to 2btc daily withdrawal though) and I haven't done any citizenship verification apart from my email. I have always had smooth transactions on the site.

This is why I tried to tell my sister to just buy byc from me lol that way she won't be sending her information to anyone. Even cashing out BTC actually will still make you not anonymous.
You will have to submit data to any 3rd party you will use for recieving fiat.

The only anon transaction is when you send BTC to another BTC address if that's what you look for.

There are still a lot of exchange that doesn't require KYC, but with a certain restrictions on your transactions like deposit and withdrawal limit. If you want to increase your limit, then that would be the perfect time to comply with the KYC.
Centralized exchange may contradicts the idea of Bitcoin privacy, but I guess that's better than using an unsecured decentralized exchange and risk your funds of possibly lossing everything.

Different opinions and suggestions is expected here because the OP didn't specified the exchange he was using. If only the OP will provide the specific website, then I'm sure he'll be able to get good output.

many link their exchange account to their bank account to make it easier to buy/sell. press the button and the money is there in your account (or taken from it).

coinbase is one such place that does this, so does gemini. both are legit exchanges.

Decentralized exchange is what you need in order for you to buy bitcoin without uploading or giving your identity but there is also a negative of using it because not all of decentralized exchange are legit and many of them have hacked before. I prefer to use centralized exchange like Binance and Bittrex even though there is a KYC that is really required but I make sure first that the centralized exchange that I will use is legit and it has a high security to guarantee that my identity and my funds are in safe hands.

That's an option mate but sad to know that most exchanges are asking KYC when registering to them and that gives you no reason to deny if you have to use their services.

May P2P services could help but the risk is high which people aren't much confidence in using this. Using escrow also is one of other option but never expect that you save fees compared to using exchanger. But never it warrants you at 100% anonymously because all transactions are recorded to blockchain and all have been traceable.

Therefore do not sign-up sites that request the KYC procedure, because there are still many platforms that can buy
Bitcoin without having to provide personal data. You just need to be a little diligent in finding platforms that don't
require the KYC procedure. But be careful too, not necessarily the beginning when signed-up does not have to submit
our personal data. But when withdrawing with a certain limit we must submit our personal data. Therefore, do not forget
to read the terms of agreement and read reviews about the platforms.

Hello mate, actually you use the centralized exchange. well, in the centralized exchange, you commonly will be asked for your details proven by the ID data, card, and also all of the information needed. It is called as KYC and AML. This has been common in the big exchange, they will ask this kind of information. Actually commonly the exchange wil ensure that the data are safe and private enough so nobody can see your detailed information. but when you are doing any kind of transactions especially trading, other people will not know who you are. They are also no care about whom they are trading. they only sell and buy on the market so nobody cares about the identity.

Actually, there is a way or exchange that needs no KYC or AML. they are commonly called as decentralized exchange. COmmonly you have to sign up with certain email and confirm very simple data and also 2FA. In this case, you can use any kinds of email and also personal data. howver, many decentralized exchanges are not trusted enough. So, you must eb more careful when choosing them.

Hey, I never gave my information to anyone. Some wallets/exchanges may require some private information (KYC). However, you can create a wallet or buy bitcoin from other places that don't require KYC. Also, I'd like to advice that you make prior research so you don't fall into the wrong hands. Welcome to the blockchain technology!!
 

OP found a site where he could by BTC and regers to it as BTC site, like it was somehow a part of Bitcoin, but it's not.

Every single Internet user can make a site that implements some features of Bitcoin. Maybe it's a qr code, maybe a link to blockchain or a whole exchange.

What that Internet user demands of you is on him, not on Bitcoin. I could make a site where I sell Bitcoin with no KYC. There are such sites. Bitcoin is as anonymous as you make it.

I don't mean privacy from The Man, that's a given. I'm talking more about it being lifted by hacking types.

Some no mark fake volume exchange could be doing anything with what you send them. At least Coinbase are only using it to allow governments to imprison your mind and soul.

If you can find a viable and affordable no KYC option then great. Many people would be turned off, give up or be scammed.

You don't trust coinbase with your info and also coinbase can't trust you that you will be bringing clean crypto to their platform that is why they require KYC. Not only them but also other centralized exchange. They need all this before they allow you to access some other features such as buying with cards. This has nothing to do with bitcoin but rather where you want to store your crypto. By the way no registered bitcoin business will allow you to buy with card without verifying your identity