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.
I was trading heavily on localbitcoins for years, in person trades and money transfer services and I never had to fill out any KYC forms. Never sent in ID, or any identifying information outside of a phone number that I used to talk to buyers and sellers. Not sure why you feel there was no privacy? Access to the communications during the open trades? I found it extremely useful to have a web of trust with people I traded big amounts of coin with.
I was previously unaware of kycnot.me I'll look through the site, thank you for the recommendation.