I was going to post this in privacy but as an Anon that's 5000 sats to post yikes.

First it started with Phishing emails, then phone calls, then text messages, then a full-blown hacking attempt of my email address I used with a KYC Bitcoin exchange.

I would get dozens of 'sign in requests' to my Microsoft Outlook Account all night long (I use passwordless 2-factor authentication) plus phishing emails every. single. day.

So I said, enough is enough I'll buy only Non-KYC let's do this.

But... I keep running into issues. Strike is a KYC platform that requires I sign up with Plaid, providing it my username and password to my bank account which I will not do.

Tried Wise, it's fully KYC anyway and after I tried to wire money to it the other day to buy with... the money never arrived. I am a relatively high volume buyer (buy with each paycheck) and wiring money to Wise every 2 weeks... it's not that practical, the money never arrived, and I would have to deal with my bank what all the time?

I could try to get stablecoins (yuck) and trade them on Robosats... but as an American where the fuck am I going to get stabecoins? Oh wait another KYC exchange so that's out.

So that leaves Zelle.

So I started using Zelle and for the occasional one-off purchase it's OK but try to buy with any real volume and every. single. time I have to call my bank on the phone to "verify my identity" and "the purpose of the transaction" and "the name of the recipient" on fucking Robosats.

I put up with it, I mean it is non-kyc I might as well be sending money to buy car parts, or buy electronics or buy an apple stand... it doesn't need to be Bitcoin-related at all and it never is.

But WOW are there barriers. Today my transaction for 500$ was denied 3 times and after the 3rd time, while I was on the phone with my bank telling them I was sending 500$ my account was locked, my Zelle was locked out, and I have to go in-person to a bank branch to "prove my identity". In truth I keep relatively little money in fiat, almost all my savings I keep in Bitcoin my bank account is more or less disposable...

But I still need it to pay day-to-day bills and function in society. We are not on a "Bitcoin standard" yet the normies still think it's a scam and I would prefer not to lose my bank account, not yet at least.

This whole experience leaves me with a few takeaways...

1. The Banks are not ready for and really do not want a Bitcoin standard, hell they don't even want a stablecoin standard they expect to have a walled garden of their industry, their control of finance and their ability to be the "gatekeepers." I have to deal with them to send fiat... during certain hours under certain conditions none of which apply to Bitcoin...

And they don't want any of that to change.

2. The US says it wants to be the "crypto capital" but that's... mostly bullshit. KYC is kill-your-customer it's very, very bad and the government has done nothing to change that. Maybe the Trump administration has diverted attention away from mixers and privacy-tools (coinjoins basically) on the federal level but in practice not really. The government wants crypto "on their terms", stablecoins and presidential memecoins especially... because the propaganda in our newspapers about Bitcoin is relentless and ubiquitous.
3. "Buying crypto" is perfectly good and acceptable... until you want to use it to protect your freedom, sovereignty, privacy, and Rights: Actually use it like cash, take it with you, be proud of your rights and your knowledge of computers you've worked so hard to obtain.

Then it's pump the fucking brakes they want you to stay in "their system" which is broken... and that's where the KYC bullshit comes in hard and fast.

In the really old days of Bitcoin people went in-person to "meetups" to buy, or they sent cash-through-the-mail. There are still platforms to do that... maybe that's the answer going forwards. KYC is just too dangerous, it's really unethical when not if that financial data YOUR data gets leaked, and I am looking for answers.

What would the stackers suggest?

Thanks