There's a wrong idea pushed into noobs that are two types of bitcoin: "KYC BTC" and "non-KYC BTC".
Guys, please stop saying that stupid thing. There's no such thing as 2 types of bitcoin. If that will exist (on the same network), then Bitcoin cease to exist. is done, kaput.
YES, KYC is evil, but have nothing to do with your BTC you bought. It have to do with your identity used in those exchanges, identity that could be leaked, sold, shared, tracked, used, who know what more... that is a REAL danger.
REMEMBER THIS
If you take self custody and if you never sell back your BTC for fiat, on same exchange or other exchanges, NOBODY gives a shit, there's nobody that can came to you and say "hey you bought X amount of BTC from X exchange".... Your answer will always be: "fuck off.. I lost them".
I wrote several guides about how easily you can lose track of any trace of them. By simply swaping onchain <-->LN you can do a lot of movements and absolutely nobody can come back to you.
I always said: through a LN channel you can pass through infinite number of sats! But seems that very few understand this aspect and only try to make complex and expensive mental gymnastics...
Yeah I definitely don't mean to imply that there are two types of bitcoin - I figured it was a given that I'm asking specifically: Do you buy bitcoin from a seller that requires you to verify your identity by providing personal information, or not?
Ethical? When I read that it almost sounds like the person that has this bitcoin is either ethical or not ethical. This seems off and probably not what you mean but that's what it sounds like.
Saying "Ethical Bitcoin" is reframing the narrative to our view, that is rejecting the enemies framing of KYC and KYC-Free. KYC is the enemy's language.
I agree with you that KYC is the propaganda. I don't think ethical is clear and accurate.
DOXed bitcoin or Surveilled bitcoin would be more clear to me.
In the positive you could say "clean" bitcoin vs No KYC. Normies have no clue what KYC is. I had never even heard of the term until I got into bitcoin and even then I only heard about it from privacy advocates.
Let's say I am sending you now 1000 sats to whatever LN address you want.
Please find the UTXO I received from a KYC exchange 7 years ago and I use it to refill my SN account.
Are those sats "non-ethical"? How can you differentiate them from others?
YOU CAN'T. There's no way to find back that UTXO. Nobody can do that.
If you will be able to differentiate them, then Bitcoin will be dead. Right now dead.
I am talking about communicating with nocoiners and precoiners who are using "kyc" framing, not the mechanics of chain surveillance, but you make a great point.
Please meme how you want. I will continue to be a karen on twitter and reject "kyc and kycfree" framing in the trenches.
Can I ask what you do for a living? Are you freelance? Do you live in a country where bitcoin is more widely accepted? Most people don't have the luxury of getting paid in anything other than the currency of their employer's choice.
OI am retired now. I stopped working in 2019 because I wanted to dedicate all my time to Bitcoin and help people to get onboard.
But for many years I am paid directly in BTC.
Did you read all my Bitcoin guides? I suggest to do it. Your life will be much easier.
https://darth-coin.github.io/
It doesn't matter where are you living. It depends a lot of your knowledge about Bitcoin and how many people around you will get onboard. Patience and knowledge.
If you are employed... find something that you can be a freelance.
If you cannot change your job now, use Bitwage and be paid in Bitcoin
https://darthcoin.substack.com/p/be-paid-in-bitcoin-using-bitwage
Nowadays we have so many way to earn Bitcoin, noobs have no excuse not to do it.
The original image is not uploaded to the internet, but either kept in your cloud or on a physical device. You've already admitted to that in a previous comment, iirc from a previous conversation we've had. Which means that if your cloud is infiltrated by feds or your device is stolen, retrieving the wallet from the image will be a lot easier.
Using something like StegCracker is pretty easy, and there are other methods if that doesn't work. Take it from someone who works in the field.
Firstly, I voted for the second option as there was no fourth option stating: I have never bought Bitcoins, only earned them.
Secondly, I have a question for @DarthCoin: When I was unfamiliar with how blockchain works, I used exchanges such as Kraken and Binance to experiment with my sats and transfer them between these exchanges to earn small interest. After realizing the risks, I transferred my sats from these exchanges to a lightning wallet.
Is it possible for any traces to remain on my sats after this transfer? If so, could you provide a simple guide on how to eliminate these traces?
No meaningful traces of you go from lightning back to a separate btc wallet. There’s not a legitimate way to prove who the owner of the second btc wallet is.
I think very few, due to the knowledge you must obtain beforehand to buy without KYC and on the other hand the level of passivity that people have when it comes to privacy.
I started buying from a Colombian, now buying at Swan Bitcoin because it is 0.99% of fees.
I started selling my bitcoins to a friend on request at 0%, p2p fashion, privately. I do it at a loss basically. I am totally opposed to charge 5%, 8% or 10% for selling bitcoins so I prefer to lose money than do it. I am buying back what I sell with KYC so actually lose 2% but it is small amounts. I am hoping my circle of p2p bitcoin friends will grow, now it is just 1.