If I buy coins on an exchange, I can just send them to my greenaddress wallet then use them as payment? Should i be using a VPN for any of this? I downloaded the wallet to my PC, but I can also access my wallet from a web browser. What is safest?
The exchange will most likely monitor the payment up to 4 "hops" away... Coinbase may monitor who you send payments to up to 4 hops
I don't know much about bitcoin but the more I do the more it seems as if everyone is completely insane to use it to pay for gear. The blockchain records every transaction wtf? I have to use ID to buy it? Even at a bitcoin ATM I have to upload my ID and a fucking selfie I mean is this a complete joke? A selfie! Seems riskier than old school WU.
Yes. The only thing bitcoin has going for it is non-repudiation for the sellers. You can't take the coin back. I have been trying to buy some BTC locally in a FTF transaction, and I can't do it. All the local listings want you to go to localbitcoins and buy online even though they say FTF transaction. Wall of coins seems to be the last one, you might get a transaction or two through before they hold your funds and demand ID. All the exchanges now seem to bait you and after they have your money, they demand ID.
Blame the Feds for pressuring exchanges for requiring ID especially for those exchanges that permit the withdrawal of cash from the sale of crypto. Also many listings on localbitcoins do ask for ID as well. Look for listings that say no ID required explicitly.
Thankfully there are some around the corner from me that don't require ID but I'm sure it's coming eventually I've been watching crypto currency become more widely used over the last few years and more mainstream and with that came much more control over it The odds are a few years from now it'll have an even tighter noose around it and won't be too long until most will return once again to CIM
I think when the feds really crack down on btc everyone will move to monero. Then, without the black market propping up BTC, it will crash.
The DEA estimates that criminal activity only supports about 10% of BTC volume. That is probably greatly exaggerated. Kinda like DEA estimates of street value of AAS seizures. I think a more realistic estimate is in the low single digits. There is much more propping up BTC.
Yes like people who play the crypto market much like the stock and bond markets. Those people usually have sizable crypto holdings.
It took a very long time for the community to embrace BTC. Who knows how long before XMR is widely adopted by the community? People still don't realize that BTC transactions are not anonymous but 'insanely traceable'. This is over 5 years after I posted a 'sticky' on the topic in October 2014: Bitcoin As A Government Surveillance And Tracking Tool They don't realize that buying from Coinbase and transferring to another wallet before payment does not offer any meaningful protection. This is over 3 years after i warned of Coinbase monitoring in October 2016: Coinbase may monitor who you send payments to up to 4 hops So when do I think XMR will be widely adopted? Probably years. But hopefully not.
Once the feds start really tracing out these transactions and people start going to jail, I think the move will be quick. Or at the very least, we will see many more FTF transactions. It just surprises me that with all the vendors receiving BTC, I don't see anyone trying to sell. If it were me, I'd be constantly rotating wallets and having some smurfs selling for me. So, are there any reputable russian exchanges out there?
If one simply adds another step... ie: sending coins to a second wallet after the running it thru the first, how can anyone prove they are your coins? Nobody will know the reason for the second transfer... especially using a VPN or Tor. Am I wrong on this? It's like having cash with a serial number, paying the clerk at the deli and then he gives it to a hooker. The second wallet is the deli in this case. Not my fault he paid for sex with my initial bill.
The barriers to entry are so low for people create their own UGL and start selling AAS that almost anyone can do it. Unfortunately, most UGL operators/vendors have no business being criminals. Their (mis)use of BTC/crypto is just one example. I doubt most vendors take many if any precautions when cashing out. They just transfer to AAS-BTC revenue from one wallet to another (if that) before cashing out at Coinbase. Of course, there are some that cash out BTC for large wads of cash in FTF transactions at non-AML/KYC exchanges in Eastern Europe, etc. But they are the minority. The appeal of XMR should be a no-brainer for these guys especially if they don't have access to or are unwilling to travel to non-AML/KYC exchanges. Vendors have every reason to do so. Individual consumers don't really see as much reason - LE rarely pursues end users. But the biggest threat to individual consumers of a public blockchain is not LE. Its from private companies that are "de-anonymizing" the blockchain and selling the data to anyone willing to pay for it e.g. future employers, college admissions, former spouses, etc. The public record of illegal (AAS) transactions is out there forever just waiting...
This is exactly my worry. I bet coinbase and the other exchanges absolutely sell the information to whoever wants to pay. I don't know how well mixers work, but I bet there's still a way to figure out who did what. There may be some protection at the very largest mixers, but any small ones offer no protection. However, I do think the IRS is getting involved, they consider BTC an investment and will want you to prove you didn't make income off of BTC, so in an audit, I don't know how much you can say, well, I converted to monero and spent it... I do imagine there's a process for when the IRS uncovers illegal activities. So, know any online eastern european online exchanges? There's still the issue of how to get the money there too.
