It seems like the need for privacy has vanished in this age of social media, which pushes us to disclose practically everything we can. Yet some people still don’t give up their privacy that easily, especially if they don’t have to.
As is generally known, we start to value things just after we lose them, but losing your financial privacy might have some very serious consequences. So what can we do, and is it still possible to maintain our financial privacy?
How to stop losing financial privacy
Many people would bravely argue that losing financial privacy is impossible, especially in the modern world, yet nothing could be farther from the truth. The vast amount of KYC/AML information that big banks, neo-banks, investment firms, and other service providers collect demonstrates the demise of financial privacy.
While cryptocurrency offers some level of financial privacy, it won’t be long until central banks introduce their own digital money in an effort to replace cash. Once that happens, governments and other authorities will be instantaneously aware of everything that happens in your financial life.
Moreover, governments and these authorities will be able to influence your spending habits, especially if they have complete knowledge of what you do with your money. This might result in actions like banning certain purchases, entirely based on a governmental decision.
As a result, we all risk losing our natural right to control how we spend our own money.
Additionally, actions that are now legal—like possessing Bitcoin private keys—can suddenly turn against the law. Executive Order 6102 from 1933, which prohibited the hoarding of gold in the United States, accomplished exactly that. Once authorities discovered that the citizens were in possession of gold, they might forcefully seize it from them while threatening to penalize or imprison them.
If laws like order 6102 are issued against Bitcoin, the same situation might very easily happen again.
How to buy Bitcoin privately?
Even if there aren’t many choices for regular people to have financial privacy—unless they wish to store a large amount of cash that is losing value due to inflation—there are still some options that are quite simple to achieve and apply.
Bitcoin is one of those choices, even if we must say that Bitcoin is not truly anonymous at all. To be correct, Bitcoin is only pseudonymous. But thanks to some certain tools and procedures, everyone can increase the privacy of their Bitcoin transactions.
First of all, it is far more efficient to get Bitcoin privately (certainly not through any KYC exchange) than try to make Bitcoin private or anonymous afterwards. You can buy Bitcoin anonymously from Bitcoin Escrow Services or from peer-to-peer marketplaces. Or you can simply buy a pre-paid credit card for cash, and then use that card to buy your Bitcoins.
While there are features and tools that can help to anonymize Bitcoin, it is essential to be privacy-focused from the beginning. Various methods can be utilized to start using Bitcoin without the possibility of disclosing who you are.
Peer-to-peer Bitcoin exchanges, Bitcoin ATMs (without KYC, of course), Bitcoin purchases made with cash, and Bitcoin mining represent all the standard options to acquire Bitcoin anonymously. However, these are only a few choices that are generally available to anyone who is interested in both holding Bitcoin and being anonymous.
Wasabi or Samourai Wallets are wallets and services strictly focused on privacy. These Bitcoin wallets have interesting features called CoinJoin or coin control, which help to maintain and improve currency holders’ anonymity. Mostly, these apps can be downloaded for free, and no KYC requirements are needed.
Send Bitcoins privately with Whir.to
The Whir service offers another interesting option towards Bitcoin anonymity. This online service won’t require any installation and simply allows you to send Bitcoin privately.
Whir.to is incredibly user-friendly because it functions much like a standard Bitcoin transaction service, and this will only increase the privacy of the sender and the receiver in the eyes of on-chain analytic businesses.
Whir enhances anonymity by using the CoinJoin feature and simply takes only 1% of each transaction as a fee, so it’s a really easy solution with the great benefit of enhancing customer anonymity.
Conclusion
The ability to conduct business freely and anonymously is slowly being taken away by forces wielded by governments and central banks all over the world, despite the fact that it’s a fundamental human right.
To stay on top of everything, prospective Bitcoin users should decide whether they want to take advantage of one of the currency’s most important features: privacy.
Any person, no matter his needs, can benefit from using these features, services, or tools for financial privacy improvement. Censorship-resistant transactions will protect Bitcoin holders against the regulatory violations of their rights to privacy.
