With my other no KYC post getting so much engagement I’m ready to raise the stakes!!
BlockFi sucks and I’m ready to cash out all my assets and buy no-KYC bitcoin. The assets in BlockFi are a mix of stable coins and BTC at a value range of $2k to $8k
Post a step by step guide on how I can liquidate my BlockFi assets and obtain no-KYC sats in two weeks.
If your strategy works I will pay you 1M sats and donate 1M sats to your favorite BTC FOSS project.
I will try each Strategy in the order of the replies.
If no viable solution appears within 60 days of this post the bounty is closed and my case is proven that no-KYC sats are too difficult to acquire in a reasonable time frame for thousands of dollars in fiat.
Hopefully this will produce a guide that all BlockFi customers can use as we fight for our privacy and financial freedom.
Sell the KYC Bitcoin back to the same exchange. You can't delete the purchase records but you can create sale records, so that the state may assume that you don't own Bitcoin anymore.
Then buy Bitcoin via cash, gift cards or money orders. Don't use a bank account, since the bank requires ID to open the account, which means that anything involving banking/credit cards/Revolut/Zelle is KYC-lite not KYC-free.
Many Bitcoin ATMs (especially CoinFlip) have $800/day limits without KYC. For larger amounts, visit different ATMs on the same day or the same ATM for a few days. Use a burner phone number (this isn't KYC, since KYC specifically means government ID requirements) such as TextVerified.com. More info: https://coinatmradar.com
Cash by mail is another option. Find a trader in Bisq.network, HodlHodl.com, Agoradesk.com or LocalCryptos.com. Money orders also work and are KYC-free (for buyers) up to $3k. More info here: https://x21.tools/no-kyc
Gift cards are better for small amounts, e.g. trade a $50 Amazon gift card for $40 Bitcoin. But in case you need it, Redeeem.com is a KYC-free gift card exchange.
You could also find a local cash in person trader. Bisq and other P2P exchanges have cash in person (or face-to-face) listings. You can also ask local Bitcoin, tech or libertarian meetups if anyone is selling Bitcoin. A good guide to setup local groups: https://github.com/taxmeifyoucan/p2p-trading/
For larger amounts, you could look for a KYC-free OTC trader. Maybe there are also some gold/silver traders.
More options here: https://github.com/cointastical/P2P-Trading-Exchanges/ Check which ones accept cash, gold or gift card payments. Avoid banking and credit cards (KYC-lite).
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Now this actually seems plausible. Not sure if I can get all of my BlockFi assets off this way but I’m going to try this method starting tomorrow. In two weeks if I am successful I will tip this post 1 million sats. And ask you for a project to donate to.
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Let me know if you need any help. If you don't see any cash in person, cash by mail or money order sellers in your area in Bisq/HodlHodl/etc., you can post your own buying ad, and if necessary you can choose to set an x% discount to get an offer faster.
Bitcoin ATMs would be the most convenient option, but with higher fees. Check for KYC-free Bitcoin ATMs here: https://coinatmradar.com/ and Bitcoin ATM guides here: https://x21.tools/no-kyc
If there are multiple Bitcoin ATMs where you live, you can visit multiple ATMs in one day, otherwise you can visit the ATM every day until you have enough Bitcoin. If you are near Maine, there are many KYC-free ATMs: https://btcmaine.com Otherwise CoinFlip is popular and in many states.
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Started this today. Liquidated everything in BlockFi. Soon as the fiat hits the account I’m going to follow these guides. I think this is something the average person can do.
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In need of help. I liquidated BlockFi to cash. I am following this guide here
And I hit a snag paying for text verified. I got a pre paid debit card with cash from a drugstore around me and text verified is rejecting the payment. Do you know of another way I can by pass this issue with cash? I think once I get over this hurdle I’m in the clear.
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Did you activate the card (if it needs activation)?
SMSPVA.com may work. I heard Mint Mobile sim cards in the US are KYC-free (pay with cash). There are some free "second number" apps, maybe a number from one of these would work (e.g. https://www.burnerapp.com/secondnumber or https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/best-apps-for-a-second-phone-number/). Or you could buy an esim (esims require a Google Pixel or iPhone).
Otherwise https://ln-sms.com/ costs 2000 sats and https://sms4sats.com/ costs 3000 sats. You could earn this via Lightning Faucets (https://lightningnetwork.plus/posts/112) or microtasks via Microlancer.io.
You could also sell the prepaid debit card for Bitcoin: https://www.cardcoins.co/ or https://redeeem.com/ or check if any KYC-free exchange here accepts prepaid debit cards: https://github.com/cointastical/P2P-Trading-Exchanges/
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Yes card is active
Smspva.com doesn’t have BTC ATMs listed for services
I think mint mobile might be the best way will try and find one.
Apps don’t work. Tried to use burner and they asked for my real number before giving me the fake one. All the others are through iOS which im almost certain you must pay via apple and not a prepaid debit card.
Redeeem is confusing and lots of work to just sell on prepaid card
Cardcoins you need at least $50 pre paid debit card. This could work but my prepaid debit isn’t high enough
Lots of exchanges to filter through.
Lightning network is out. I want to do this as if I have zero Bitcoin and oblivious to the lightning network
Can you buy esim with cash or prepaid debit?
Plan of attack (if fails move on to next)
  1. Look for mobile mint sim
  2. Get $50 prepaid debit card use cardcoins
  3. Figureout redeem sell my cards for BTC
  4. Search on p2p for btc
This is getting really difficult to do. This is why I think no-KYC purchasing is allowed to the able and willing. A normal person would have given up by now
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Mobile Mint seem to have worked! Bought a trial sim for $2 at Best Buy. Downloaded the mint mobile and used a dummy name and email address and the sim activated. Just curious about how much KYC leakage you have with downloading the mint Mobile app from google play but so far this is something a normal person can do. Now off to the atm and see if we can get this to go!
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Or for the privacy extremist we have sms4sats.com and silent.link
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  1. Download Monero wallet.
  2. Liquidate all your holdings into BTC.
  3. Use any coin-swap service to swap to XMR.
  4. Swap back to BTC and send to a new wallet.
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Sorry BTC only. Not doing any swaps. This is disqualified
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I would not disqualify this. Swap to XMR and back (via multiple transactions over some time) is similar in result to doing coinjoins. It's a valid approach. For the direction XMR-BTC you may be even able to already use atomic swaps, but that's not yet well tested process..
I recommended this elsewhere: if you want to learn about privacy and anonymity tools, learn from the people who's life literally depends on it, e.g. dark market vendors.
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Not doing XMR swaps. I don’t expect a normal person to even know what XMR is! Let alone leverage another blockchain that almost no one accepts for goods and services besides those hardcore XMR believers.
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1)Liquidate all assets to USD 2)Transfer balance to bank account 3)Withdraw to cash 4)Bring cash to any decent Bitcoin meetup and ask ppl if they have any sats for sale 5)Sell those dirty cuckbucks to some random bitcoiners for your new no-KYC sats
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Reasonable. Sticking point here is finding a decent bitcoin meet up. Any suggestions on how to look for one?!
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I've found a few through meetup.com. If there are none close to you, maybe start one
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Did a quick search nothing available. Thanks but moving on! More proving my case no-KYC is so hard to do. Meeting in person and p2p platforms still have a high barrier to entry.
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General tech meetups, libertarian meetups or hackerspaces may help.
BTW it is impossible to pass KYC (even if you wanted to), if you don't have government ID, so for many people KYC-free is the easiest (and only possible) option. There are many options for small - medium purchases (and you can make multiple txs over some days/weeks). P2P exchanges depend on the users for liquidity, so even by posting a buying ad in e.g. HodlHodl, you are helping to make access to KYC-free Bitcoin easier.
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where you live sounds horrible
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That shouldn’t matter if BTC is going to be a global standard. Just further proving my case
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Send what BTC? From block fi? This is disqualified. Need fiat to BTC. NO-KYC
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Why go through FIAT necessarily? What's the advantage for you?
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Cash has the best privacy at point of sale. If you take $1k out from the bank no one knows if I set it on fire or paid a babysitter with it.
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Why do you want to go to fiat first? do you want to purposefully have a sell event? If you do, then by all means, sell and then re-buy from a P2P lending platform like hodlhodl or localcryptos.
If you don't care about creating a sell event, then what is described here (going to a Bitcoin sidechain with confidential transactions + coinjoin) is an acceptable path IMO.
If you don't want to go through the hassle of jumping to a sidechain, you can go straight to coinjoin actually.
What about something like this:
  • Sell all cryptocurrencies in BlockFi (this is so now on paper you are not holding cryptocurrencies, you will have to pay capital gains tax - better now than in 5 years...)
  • Create new bank account, e.g. Chase, and move the fiat to this account (this account will be used for p2p transfers, so there's some risk it may get closed by the bank, hence a new account)
  • Buy Trezor or similar hardware wallet and set it up (if you get Trezor, then definitely set it up with passphrase)
Now we have 2 different ways depending on whether (A) you have friends that are willing to sell you non-KYC coins (e.g. a friend miner) or (B) you don't have friends.

A) Have BTC friends

  • Withdraw the money from your new account as a cash (e.g. from ATM or for larger amounts you may need to go to that bank)
  • Buy BTC from your friend for the cash.
  • Store the BTC in hardware wallet (or similar). At this point you may consider doing rounds of coinjoins (or clean through Monero), but that depends on whether you are planning to spend the bitcoin anytime soon, or whether you are waiting for easier bitcoin cleaning tech to be developed.
  • Alternative here is if you or your friends can create p2p exchange following something like #7424, then you can trade even online.

B) Don't have BTC friends

  • Install Bisq. It looks hard at first (and the UX sucks), but if you watch the tutorial videos, then it becomes really easy.
    • First you need to fund Bisq with no-KYC BTC. So either use if you have some, or take your other existing BTC through couple of rounds of Samourai Whirlpool. Only send specific cleaned-up UTXO to Bisq
      • you should fund each order on Bisq separately to make sure you are not connecting those orders together.
    • Create new offer on Bisq for the amount you want and fund it with your mixed UTXO. Choose a method that works for you. Cash in mail works, or you can use Zelle from your new bank account (but think about the risks).
    • Repeat creating and filling offers based on your bank limits...
  • Withdraw from Bisq each UTXO separately to your cold storage.
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  • Go to localbitcoins.com and sign up. For extra safety, use Tor or some location that isn't tied to your identity and/or a burner email (maybe guerrillamail.com?)
  • Filter for "Western Union" (assuming you're in the US?) and look for sellers that have decent ratings
  • Buy/Sell at increments of whatever you feel most comfortable with, with the understanding any single transaction might be forfeit. In your case, maybe $500-$1000 increments are appropriate
  • Do this a few times, with one or multiple sellers/buyers, till the whole transfer is complete
This method is laborious and you can expect a 30% markup (on the buying end), at least. Other payment options might apply but care has to be taken to avoid sellers that require invasive KYC documents.
By far, it's easier to convert Bitcoin through a "patron" that you know locally, either through a meetup, friend, or what have you, but this option, while laborious and exorbitantly priced, does not require someone local to you to have Bitcoin.
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LocalBitcoins requires government ID KYC since around 2019 (same as Paxful). Western Union generally requires ID (for sender and recipient), even if you choose the "password" option.
HodlHodl.com, LocalCryptos.com, Agoradesk.com and Bisq.network are KYC-free. You can use cash by mail (KYC-free for any amount) or money orders (for buyers, KYC-free up to $3k). More info here: https://x21.tools/no-kyc
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Too dense. Need something simple my friends can do with easy instructions
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I suppose you want to earn some kind of yield or are you fine just storing your crypto securely?
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No yield. Just want NO-KYC sats from fiat to BTC no swaps with so called privacy coins
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I guess based on other replies - it's not clear what do you mean by "no-KYC"? What does that mean to you and what is the end result you would like to see?
KYC are guidelines that are enforced as part of AML user exclusion policies. "no-KYC" bitcoin is not a well defined thing, but many people will see it as coins that are not associated with your identity in anyone's system, but only your own (e.g. your computer, or your paper).
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No-KYC means you can buy or sell Bitcoin without government ID.
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Sure, but it's not clear whether OP wants to have a record with government that he/she owns BTC or not (i.e. does OP first need to have a sell event).
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It’s simple actually. Buy with privacy at point of sale. No trace of transaction as of today nothing is more private than cash.
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To ask more directly: Are you ok with having record with government that you own some BTC (since you bought it and not reported any sell event), or do you want the "government" to think that you do not own any BTC?
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  1. Sell everything, convert to BTC
  2. Download any onchain wallet, withdraw onchain BTC.
  3. Swap to Lightning via boltz.exchange probably in batches.
  4. Swap back to onchain, utxos will be different.
  • You can use breez for final receive because they offer internal submarine swaps for LN/onchain. Enjoy kyc-free BTC that you can use both onchain and Lightning.