Both Localbitcoin and Paxful presented a ton of anonymous yet safe options to buy bitcoin
Neither LBC nor Paxful were in any way anonymous - they were both entirely centralized and required all the usual ridiculous KYC. If you used either you did not have a shred of privacy.
It seems for western-based traders only bitcoin atms and exchanges that are fall under KYC rules will be available to buy and sell bitcoin.
Not true. There are dozens of actually peer to peer/decentralized/anonymous exchanges:
https://kycnot.me/Does this kill off in person trades in the US.
Well, considering I've been trading in person for years and have never once used Paxful, the answer to that is a resounding no.