How viable is crypto as a private medium exchange in the modern world?

I see the value of using cryptocurrencies as a form of digital cash (from both a personal privacy point of view and a broader political/economic point of view) but am also put off by a) all the scamming and speculation and moreover b) the friction and privacy tradeoffs involved in getting any of it.

One of the obvious problems is that not many sellers accept it as payment. I can accept that. But AFAICT, in order to pay those that do, I must either do the legwork of conducting a peer-to-peer exchange of fiat currency for crypto (PITA) or use an exchange, which will have records of my personal identity. I’m aware that I could launder exchange-bought crypto to obfuscate my ownership of it but that is also a PITA. I suppose I could also mine coins but that has the most friction of all options and is a poor use of electricity production in my view.

Is there a solution that I’m not aware of, where I can buy (or indeed sell) crypto easily and privately?

  • ReversalHatchery@beehaw.orgEnglish
    1·
    10 hours ago

    What you do is you just allocate an amount per month that you use to buy Monero with.

    and where do you buy it? through a KYC exchange?

    • shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip
      2·
      10 hours ago

      One of the very few KYC exchanges that has Monero is Kraken and I really don’t expect that to last all that long so you either have to buy something like a stablecoin on an exchange and then do an instant swap from that to Monero or you can just buy Monero directly with Fiat on https://retoswap.com/. That’s a software that you download to your computer that lets you exchange in a decentralized manner between Fiat and Monero.

      • ReversalHatchery@beehaw.orgEnglish
        1·
        7 hours ago

        I thought kraken stopped selling Monero last year, but even with a stablecoin it’s still KYC.

        reto is good to have but with that you can only buy in large quantities.

        • shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip
          1·
          7 hours ago

          There just aren’t many small peer-to-peer traders yet, but that will occur over time, and Kraken in the EU did have to stop selling Monero, but at least Kraken in the United States still does, although as I said I don’t expect that to last long. Don’t get me wrong, there are some small peer-to-peer traders on reto. Just not many.

          • ReversalHatchery@beehaw.orgEnglish
            1·
            2 hours ago

            but at least Kraken in the United States still does,

            oh, forgot that it’s a regional thing

            There just aren’t many small peer-to-peer traders yet, but that will occur over time

            hopefully, but I was thinking earlier about it and with how the security deposit system works, it may be more risky to do it in small quantities (but then, the monero buyer doesn’t get the monero until they paid, so I’m not sure what I was thinking about). and of course, I imagine that in smaller quantities it would have a higher pricing too

            • shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip
              1·
              2 hours ago

              Yep, with the security deposit system, the Monero buyer does not get the Monero until they have paid. And the security deposits mean people are less likely to try to run away from a trade and not pay. Zero deposit offers do exist, but the seller is the only ones who can create those. And so they can choose to not do those if they wish.

              Getting a smaller quantity or using a higher risk payment method does generally mean a higher premium.

      • EngineerGaming@feddit.nl
        1·
        9 hours ago

        there is also Bisq - Haveno’s older brother, but Bitcoin-only. Not tried either, but given how much longer Bisq has been around, my guess is that it has a bigger chance of having a suitable offer.

        • shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip
          2·
          9 hours ago

          The biggest problem with doing it that way is you have to go from fiat into Bitcoin, and then you have to go from Bitcoin into Monero, which incurs Bitcoin’s network fees, which currently are not high, but can spike to ridiculous levels very quickly. Also, just as of yesterday RetoSwap has just done a higher monthly volume than bisq for the first time. I expect them to duke it out with each other over the next couple of months before RetoSwap comes out ahead all the time.

          • EngineerGaming@feddit.nl
            1·
            2 hours ago

            That’s awesome. I just know that someone in my country complained about the absence of offers in our currency and region, even though they’re available and allowed. There was apparently just more variety on Bisq. Hope there are more diverse offers soon!

            • shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip
              1·
              2 hours ago

              Tell your friend to post offers of their own. Somebody needs to start, and they could make a little money, acting as a start for the market.