Monero shills and the safety of using bitcoin

edit: I LIKE MONERO . Should I say it again? should I put it in bold? I'm NOT saying not to use monero. I'm NOT saying we should use bitcoin forever. stop putting words in my mouth and being lazy and responding to my thread without reading it. This is primarily a response to threads like this one: https://www.reddit.com/r/DarkNetMarkets/comments/6qjn2a/opsec_dont_use_bitcoin/?st=j5sksmne&sh=425b7987 .

In the last week I have seen too many posts of people fear mongering and talking about how unsafe it is to use bitcoin and how "a certain" market will accept monero. Lots of these posts are made by very new accounts, or by accounts that are a couple years old but have only very few posts. Obvious shills.

I no longer have any doubt that there are paid shills in our subreddit actively trying to discourage the use of bitcoin, while pumping monero and surreptitiously advertising for these certain unnamed markets that accept monero.

For the record, bitcoin is 100% safe to use, as long as you buy it anonymously. For your reading pleasure, a few methods (There are many, MANY other methods as well) that can be used are:

1) Mailing cash anonymously, using the same OPSEC that vendors do to mail drugs.

2) Many bitcoin ATMs don't require ID until you buy a certain amount. And then you can just use a fake ID after that. It's just a machine it can't tell if it's real or not.

3) In-person meetups with someone who you contact with a burner phone. wear a hat and sunglasses. who gives a shit if you look suspicious, they know exactly what's up. their job is selling bitcoin. they don't care what you use them for, just don't tell them that you're buying drugs with it or they will turn you away (if they're smart)

4) Cash deposit into a seller's bank account, at a bank you don't use regularly. Maybe in a different city for good measure. Supply a fake ID if they ask you for one. Wear a baseball cap and keep the brim low.

Monero is great, but Bitcoin is by no means unsafe as long as you buy your coins correctly. And in most cases, you still have to buy bitcoin first in order to get the Monero anyway.

Stay safe out there, and stop the shilling. The fact that the blockchain is public doesn't mean shit as long as the trail stops at the person who sold you the coins.

Edit: Many times people assume that just because you are saying one thing is good, it means you are implying something else is bad. that's not the case. I agree monero is great. (or will be, once there is a GUI that comes standard on TAILS) but using bitcoin is not unsafe like these shills purport.


Comments


[28 Points] presglide:

Ignore OP. Monero is the only way forward and I'm not only saying this because I have thousands invested in it. #tothemoon


[19 Points] BloxingAnsen:

I haven't used Monero once, but I'm looking forward to do so. As you said, Bitcoin is perfectly capable of being anonymous if some precautions are taken, but let's face it, the same way a lot of people use the Auto-Encrypt functions on markets out of laziness, a whole lot of people won't bother buying Bitcoin anonymously the ways you just described

I personally buy off an exchange, because it's much easier and less "risky" to do so. Sure, some shitty exchange might lock your money and whatnot, but I don't want to bother getting a fake ID (nor do I even know where to get a decent one), Bitcoin ATM fees are absolutely horrendous most of the time, and while mailing cash is nice, you need to find someone trusted to buy your Bitcoin from, grabbing the cash and running is easy. As for the bank cash thing, it sure isn't going to look fishy if a random guy makes a money deposit while making sure he's hidden from the camera (Well maybe not the first time but I doubt you'll be buying Bitcoin only once)

So let's imagine people buy from exchanges and tumble their money. What'll you do when the tumbler gets hacked? What if tomorrow, an FBI banner went up on Gram's helix service, saying "lol we had control of it for a month, have a good time". Sure you could tumble the money yourself but that's nowhere near as effective unless you're ready to lose a lot in fees, or unless you mix a lot of people in your transactions

I'm sure there are paid Monero shills around, but some people are looking for solutions, with an s, not just "buy Bitcoin anonymously, done, ultimate solution 2k17". In my mind, all things considered, and in the short term, Monero's the best/easiest solution


[10 Points] NoFreedomWoAnonymity:

Just because you are discontent with shills does not mean that Monero is not a superior currency. You are listing four steps which all have different hurdles, limits and possible issues. Why over complicate things if all you have to do is Buy Bitcoin and Exchange into Monero to be absolutely safe within your context? Bitcoin is a fully transparent Blockchain currency, Monero is a private and fungible Blockchain currency. Just by going off those definitions, should there really be any debate as to which one is a better choice?


[10 Points] cantsmokeme:

I love XMR. I'm also a crypto nerd and don't use dnm.


[8 Points] justinherass99:

c'mon man, buying btc anonymously is a fucking pain in the ass for the average consumer. i shouldn't even have to leave my goddamn house. imagine doing that every time you needed to buy something on amazon. fuck.


[5 Points] TILYouLoveDrugs:

I think people started talking shit about bitcoin because of the blockchain analysis which basically fucked AB.

In essence, bitcoin has a perfect architecture that allows users to preserve their anonymity. The problem is that most users don't even have the basic understanding of how this can be achieved. Bitcoin by itself, is transparent and can be traced through the blockchain but as long as you buy it anonymously, like OP said, and also cash it anonymously, you should be on the safe side.

Now, a bit of diversity doesn't hurt and if monero offers a platform that maintains or even improves the anonymity of bitcoin, then we should welcome its use.


[5 Points] KingHonky:

I wear a ski mask into the bank and use a fake ID when I buy bitcoin for added security. I also only drive stolen cars to the bank to avoid outside security cameras. It also goes without saying, I've already burnt off my fingertips with acid to avoid leaving fingerprints behind.


[3 Points] divinesnake:

I no longer have any doubt that there are paid shills in our subreddit actively trying to discourage the use of bitcoin, while pumping monero and surreptitiously advertising for these certain unnamed markets that accept monero.

I no longer have any doubt that there are paid shills in our subreddit actively trying to discourage the use of monero and other superior OPSEC options that we have as a community on behalf of LE. Seriously, read this post from another redditor first:

Yep we're shilling so we can pump the price up to $45 and sell so we can buy when it goes back to $40 thus earning ~$3 a coin after tx fees. It's the greatest scam we've ever played on the world. We even have the lead developer start all his talks with "Don't buy Monero" just to throw everyone off.

Despite this, I am still willing to believe that there may be paid monero shills on this sub (paid for by whom, I don't have a clue), but I'll give this theory the benefit of the doubt. I won't go into detail about what i think of the methods you have for using btc anonymously, but I would not feel content with a single one of them--and here's the real point: I dont see why you would rather go through the trouble of all that shit when you could just use monero instead.

And in most cases, you still have to buy bitcoin first in order to get the Monero anyway.

I dont see how that matters in any way....How does that change the security/the process of using monero in any pertinent way?

Look, I really dont care which alternative currency the community uses, but I know that bitcoin shouldn't be it. Here are some reasons why:

Bitcoin is now being used against us, and literally the only reason it is here is because it was number 1. Imagine if bitcoin were built with true security and anonymity to start with. We would not even have to be having conversations about the security of our currency (right now, at least).

All that said, I DO agree with you that low level buyers and sellers do not need to use monero or another more secure currency for their own benefit, however who really needs to use it is the community as a whole. If the feds cannot profit off of busting us, they WILL stop coming after us.


[5 Points] Smoketheforce:

This guys obviously a btc shill! Buy monero its the only way to survive! Do it for the kids! Think about the poor kids!


[3 Points] fa-yeerrr:

Fyi no one is saying bitcoin is bad. But there are better solutions out there to keep you transactions private and anonymous.

Use Monero only if you need to. Other than that, DON'T BUY MONERO.

Here's a presentation for everyone just to see how serious these guys are in fighting censorship and in a way fighting for your freedom as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgXJr1OOi0Y


[3 Points] fagrickles:

yall lazy ass niggers are going to be beating this dead fucking horse until 2020. Times are changing, people are going down. They already are collecting blockchain data, what you think is going to happen when thos fgts get some real analysis going down? why take the risk? Why have to sit and manage a stack of wallets to keep one for each alias and use-case? Why fuck around? Why not be smart and move forward with a more anonymous currency?

Monero DOES have a GUI that you can add to tails. see here: https://garlicgambit.wordpress.com/2017/04/16/monero-gui-on-tails-3/ Does that look difficult to you? Good! Are you too stupid to try? Too lazy? You niggers make me sick sometimes. we just had 2~ markets go down and we had motherfucking VENDORS get trapt because they were lazy as fuck. Yall motherfuckers want to get a job? is that it? too hard to use monero? Fucking people be talking about coinbase > intermediary wallet. im sure there are some BIGTIME guys doing this bullshit. get real or get a job.


[2 Points] mrmcepic69:

I agree, so long as you buy it anonymously you have nothing to worry about, but few DNM users actually buy it completely anonymously. If the standard currency on the DNM's was XMR then it would make LE's job harder in trying to track down coins and prove their claims. I'm confident that if DNM's switch to Monero there will be overall less arrests than there are currently.


[2 Points] midipoet:

Monero is great, but Bitcoin is by no means unsafe as long as you buy your coins correctly. And in most cases, you still have to buy bitcoin first in order to get the Monero anyway.

This is the tl;dr

But remember, once you convert your Bitcoin's to Monero using something like xmr.to your anonymity level goes up by a very substantial factor - to such an extent that it is near impossible to trace which, or whose, Bitcoins purchased the Monero.

Please take note.


[2 Points] PartySquadNL:

Damn shills! Hate ´em


[1 Points] unc0ntr0lleddeliver2:

Tumble here, tumble there, retumble somewhere... it's tedious like all opsec but always worth it.


[1 Points] penguinmixer:

Cash by mail is a great option that not many people on here talk about. Sure, there is a possibility of lost mail or a scam. And yes, you have to wait a few days for your letter to go through. But if executed in a smart way this kind of buying is the pinnacle of anonymity.

Some tips if you go this route...

  1. If you're using LocalBitCoins to find a seller, sign up for an account using Tor, and register it using an e-mail address from a darknet e-mail provider like secmail.

  2. No fingerprints on the mailing materials or the money itself.

  3. Buy a book of regular stamps with cash and use those.

  4. Buy one of those cheap label printers with cash. Don't print using your printer because you never know what it might save. Popping the batteries out of a label printer should clear its memory. Plus they are easier to hide than a big printer.

  5. Drop your letter in a blue box in a rural area, not at the post office itself.

  6. If you are getting 20s from an ATM, anonymously exchange them for 100s before mailing (there are a few options for where you might go to do this, but I'd rather not mention my own method). That way the envelope will be thinner. And ATMs might scan the serial numbers of bills when they dispense them. So don't mail straight from the ATM.

  7. Put some dark paper around the bills so it's not obvious what's inside.

  8. Don't bother with a return address, delivery confirmation, tracking, any of that. Just a simple envelope with dark paper and money inside, a few stamps, and a printed label with the recipient's address. I have never had a problem with a letter mailed in this manner being lost.


[1 Points] Lucid_Enemy:

Just use BCC ^ definitely not going to be converting to bcc


[-1 Points] mynamesalwaystaken:

Ripple