How To Buy Monero (XMR) Anonymously

Foreword: This tutorial operates from the premise that you are using TAILS OS (which you should), although this tutorial is friendly to other OS types.

I am going to educate you today on how to buy Monero and spend it as anonymously and securely as reasonably possible. Using the following methodology will give you the means to better secure yourself within the realm of your Operational Security (OpSec) practices. Many people have been deanonymized using Blockchain Forensic Analysis, leading to the arrests of various people within the DarkNet Community, throughout the years. However, with just a simple set of tools and patience, you can greatly reduce the risk of that happening to you.

1. Download Bisq (BitSquare) 

Bisq is a decentralized p2p (peer-to-peer) exchange network, It automatically ports through TOR on start-up and won’t allow a successful boot without being connected properly to the TOR network, thus providing the first layer of protection for your crypto activity. Bisq also does not require any KYC/AML verification, or any verification process of any type in the first place, for that matter. Your own computer acts as its own server for your profile, hence the decentralized reference. It also has a simple and relatively intuitive UI, which is attractive on a simple use-case level.

2. Download An Android Virtual Machine (VM) 

Many are available, such as NOX Player. The reason for this is to emulate an Android phone to make use of the Incognito Wallet and the associated shielded transaction blockchain it has developed. More on this in the next bullet point.

3. Setting Up Incognito Wallet

Using the Android VM, download and set up the Incognito Wallet. Incognito is a newer wallet around a year old. Its central aspiration is to create completely shielded anonymous transactions via a dedicated obfuscated blockchain called the pDEX. It is great for both shielding transactions within their network, but also for conducting coin exchanges between many leading cryptocurrencies. Coin exchanges can be conducted within the privacy of the shielded pDEX blockchain.

4. Buy Monero (XMR)

Buy Monero using a payment method of your choice, by either posting a listing of your own, or browsing the listings available from peers in the Bisq network. The most anonymous method is cash through mail, but there are myriad methods to choose from to suit whatever degree of anonymity you may wish (if purchasing crypto with any payment processors, banks, cards, etc., you should at least try to use the accounts of others, and not anything with your own identity linked to it in any degree).

5. Mixing Your Monero

Upon receiving the XMR to your Bisq account wallet, use MoneroMixer or another tumbling service to send to your Incognito wallet on the Android VM from Bisq. Tumbling services mix your coin with those of others and cycle the communal collection of coins amongst various wallets in varying amounts before finally sending them to the destination address. This further obfuscates your transactional history.

6. Double Tumbling

Send XMR to another mixer (best to use separate ones, but if you only trust one, that's left to your discretion just know that OpSec doesnt ever need to be cutting corners) with your final DNM or vendor wallet as the destination address.

Note: Keep in mind that this is a tutorial on how to be as anonymous, and thus secure, as possible when you buy Monero and spend it. I am aware that this is a lengthy process in comparison to simply purchasing XMR and sending it straight to your final wallet it needs to go to. At bare minimum, if you won’t go to these lengths to go about things, you should at least operate everything from TAILS OS, use Bisq, and use a mixer from Bisq to your personal wallet outside of Bisq, and then from there to the final wallet. It is NOT ADVISED to go straight from Bisq to the final destination wallet, nor is it advised to ever use any card or account linked to you or anyone in your household or immediate family to purchase XMR initially, nor to use any KYC/AML crypto exchange.