Hey guys, I understand that Bitcoin is decentralized and doesn’t require ID or permission to use. That part is clear to me and I’m not questioning that. But what I’m still trying to figure out is how to actually get Bitcoin and stay anonymous if at some point you most likely will use fiat to get it.
Let’s say you try to go through a p2p method online, that still involves paying someone and that payment usually has to come from your fiat money. So how do you do that without creating a link to your real identity? That’s the part I find confusing. It’s not about Bitcoin itself, it’s about the process of converting the fiat to Bitcoin in a way that doesn’t leave a trace.
I’m also curious how people used to do it in the earlier days, like in 2014 or 2015. I guess it was easier back then but I don’t know what the usual methods were. Were they just doing regular bank transfers or was there something else people used to stay private?
If someone with real knowledge/experience can explain how this is done in practice I will be grateful for and than you.
I’ll be straight with you — today it’s almost impossible to find a service that will accept fiat and bank transfers without KYC. Nearly all legit services want to keep their licenses, so they verify users. Ironically, this KYC actually helps protect your funds from scams and fraud.
If you really care about staying private, your best bet is to use Monero (XMR). It’s designed for true anonymity.
Here’s how people handle this in practice:
1. First, get a custodial wallet that supports XMR — for example, Cryptomus.
2. Buy Monero for fiat through a legal exchange (yes, you’ll probably do KYC here).
3. Then use a decentralized, non-custodial exchange like Bisq to swap XMR to BTC.
How Bisq works:
- You create an order ‘Sell XMR → Buy BTC’ or take an existing one.
- Both traders lock a security deposit in BTC (using a multisig).
- You send XMR directly to the other trader’s Monero wallet — fully off-chain and private.
- Once confirmed, the BTC is released from the multisig.
You end up with a fresh BTC address, no direct link to your fiat, no digital trail — Bisq runs over Tor by default.