"How to buy Bitcoin"

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Kosher Dill said:
In what country?

Here in the USA I've never seen a crypto ATM that didn't want to scan your driver's license, take your photo, collect a urine sample, and on and on. Though I admittedly didn't seek these things out when they were new and unregulated.
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United States. This is the service I'm looking at. According to these guys, transactions under a certain amount only require name and validated phone number.

Not saying you're wrong, I'm new to this whole thing and it could be a ruse, but that seems to be what's being advertised.
 
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Lord of the Large Pants said:
United States. This is the service I'm looking at. According to these guys, transactions under a certain amount only require name and validated phone number.
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What I've found in my limited experience is that online resources understate the strictness of ATMs. I've checked out a few that I found off of https://coinatmradar.com/ and the promises of low or no self-doxing are generally illusionary. I think it might be listing what the machine's minimum settings are, not what it's actually configured at.
So, I wouldn't travel too far out of my way to find an ATM, unless you're prepared to be disappointed.

EDIT: I should add that I haven't checked any Coinflip ATMs specifically so I can't say if they're represented accurately.
 
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Kosher Dill said:
What I've found in my limited experience is that online resources understate the strictness of ATMs. I've checked out a few that I found off of https://coinatmradar.com/ and the promises of low or no self-doxing are generally illusionary. I think it might be listing what the machine's minimum settings are, not what it's actually configured at.
So, I wouldn't travel too far out of my way to find an ATM, unless you're prepared to be disappointed.

EDIT: I should add that I haven't checked any Coinflip ATMs specifically so I can't say if they're represented accurately.
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I accept that as a possibility, but the fact that they specific a certain dollar amount threshold where you actually start needing ID makes me think it's worth a look. And there's one not that far from me.

But just for the sake of argument, let's say the only ask for a name and phone number. Is it illegal/a bad idea to use a fake name?
 
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Lord of the Large Pants said:
Is it illegal/a bad idea to use a fake name?
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Nobody on the internet seems to be willing or able to definitively cite a statute that makes it illegal. My guess is that it's probably technically illegal but no one is going to care that much if you're not using crypto to buy illegal things or dodge taxes.
That said, it seems the phosphorescent Afro-Americans are very interested in bitcoin ATMs generally speaking.
The bigger issue in practice seems to be account freezes rather than criminal prosecutions. If you have an account on an exchange and they decide that "funny money" is coming in, they'll just lock it up.
 
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Thanks, I'm gonna give it a try. (And by "it" I mean a Bitcoin ATM, not using a fake name, which might be illegal and I would never do such a thing.) Not trying to buy uranium or anything, just a VPN and some money for fearless leader's love quest.
 
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On the off chance that anyone cares, quick report on the local Bitcoin ATM. I went with a friend who knows a fair amount about Bitcoin trading (though he'd never used an ATM for it) and we checked it out. It asked for name and phone number, for which I of course provided legitimate information, because no one would ever use a fake name and online receive only SMS service for such a thing. That part worked, but the scanner seemed to just be flat broken. I couldn't get it to scan a QR code. I couldn't even get it to recognize that I was showing it a QR code. Friend and I both agreed that the scanner was just plain broken.

So... failure for now. May try again at some point. But it does look like it's POSSIBLE to buy Bitcoin anonymously in small amounts.*

*Provided you take numerous other privacy measures on your phone that you should not attempt unless you know exactly what the fuck you're doing.
 
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I was able to find a btc atm in my area which didnt ask for phone number or any id this past year so they do still exist. It even had better rates than the id atms so it might be worth trying to see if your area has some (though the rate was still trash at about 1.4x the current btc price vs 1.6x at the id atms)

As Kosher Dill mentioned, Bisq is an option for anonymous Bitcoin buying. Rates are definitely going to be better than an atm with the only drawback being you need some btc to start. But if your friend trusts you enough, you can ask him to lend you some btc to make a first transaction and than give it back to him when made. There might be a better route but im still a noob myself so idk
 
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Lord of the Large Pants said:
That part worked, but the scanner seemed to just be flat broken. I couldn't get it to scan a QR code. I couldn't even get it to recognize that I was showing it a QR code.
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I bought some for the first time earlier this year and had the same issue. Using this app, I picked the 'request to legacy address' option in the menu and it worked. When the transaction cleared, sent it to a wallet on my laptop and the whole thing was done in under an hour and ready to spend.
 
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Really dumb brain question, but if I buy crypto from one of those little kiosks that ask for info and take your picture, does that mean someone could track whatever I purchase through my crypto wallet?
 
ScatmansWorld said:
Really dumb brain question, but if I buy crypto from one of those little kiosks that ask for info and take your picture, does that mean someone could track whatever I purchase through my crypto wallet?
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Just wear a mask and tinted shades "for coronavirus" to not have this issue. On top of the other methods presented in this thread.
Someone else might be able to advise on BTC tumbling services to re-anonymize your crypto if you have some that's too KYC'd.
 
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I was fooling around a bit with ETH on the Metamask app, and I saw they have integration with Transak now, which claims to let you buy crypto with a credit card without going through KYC. Has anyone tried it out or heard anything about it? Is it legit?

I'm not particularly concerned about the glow-in-the-darks knowing I own crypto, but I do want to avoid giving full photo dox and driver's license scans to random fly-by-night exchanges, so this sounds interesting to me.
 
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Oglooger said:
My mother called me out of nowhere to ask me about Bitcoin and if I should help her build a PC dedicated to bitcoin mining. should I go for it?
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I think the days of mining btc with a single PC are long passed. Even a few years ago, people were building custom rigs with 8 GPUs for mining. Unless her electricity is free, I dont think its profitable anymore. She should just sink that $1000 into buying btc and just sit on it (or drop in a hundred a week or something).
 
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