Bittrex, coinbase etc

[Norweger]

Doesnt these exchanges defeat the purpose of cryptocurrencies?

Getting fiat for your crypto without government oversight is as i see it still difficult.

Coinbase requires a photo of your passport or drivers license, bittrex demands a selfie which cannot be a professional photograph in addition to documents.. i mean i get the stinking impression that these guys are not just capitalizing, but gathering intel on behalf of TPTB.

[madfranks]

Think physical gold and silver, how do you sell them? If you want, you can go online and sell them to APMEX, sell them to a big brick and mortar dealer, or sell for cash to private buyers. It's essentially the same for crypto. If you need to convert your crypto currencies into fiat, an online exchange is easily the most convenient, but like you say comes with privacy concerns. I don't recommend keeping your crypto-coins on exchanges, that is what really defeats the purpose. However, for those who don't want to deal with the big exchanges, you can always sell locally to cash buyers.

[Half Sense]

Think physical gold and silver, how do you sell them? If you want, you can go online and sell them to APMEX, sell them to a big brick and mortar dealer, or sell for cash to private buyers. It's essentially the same for crypto. If you need to convert your crypto currencies into fiat, an online exchange is easily the most convenient, but like you say comes with privacy concerns. I don't recommend keeping your crypto-coins on exchanges, that is what really defeats the purpose. However, for those who don't want to deal with the big exchanges, you can always sell locally to cash buyers.

How do you find all these local cash buyers? Stand on a street corner? No, you'll use the internet and there goes all privacy. There are market makers in gold and silver easily found in every city. They are in the yellow pages. No paper trail is required. Where are the equivalents for Bitcoin? Will you buy or sell Bitcoins locally at or near the going price? How will your customers find you?

[Jewboo]

How do you find all these local cash buyers? Stand on a street corner? No, you'll use the internet and there goes all privacy. There are market makers in gold and silver easily found in every city. They are in the yellow pages. No paper trail is required. Where are the equivalents for Bitcoin? Will you buy or sell Bitcoins locally at or near the going price? How will your customers find you?

Seller is required to show photo ID to all gold/silver traders here in Boise, ID.

[madfranks]

How do you find all these local cash buyers? Stand on a street corner? No, you'll use the internet and there goes all privacy. There are market makers in gold and silver easily found in every city. They are in the yellow pages. No paper trail is required. Where are the equivalents for Bitcoin? Will you buy or sell Bitcoins locally at or near the going price? How will your customers find you?

https://localbitcoins.com/

No ID required. I found 5 folks near me offering cash/BTC trades with no ID required.

[Bigjon]

https://vimeo.com/getbitsquare

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[Jewboo]

https://localbitcoins.com/

No ID required. I found 5 folks near me offering cash/BTC trades with no ID required.

That link says cash deposits only to bank accounts.

[Half Sense]

https://localbitcoins.com/

No ID required. I found 5 folks near me offering cash/BTC trades with no ID required.

I looked up a market maker in my area. To transact with him requires a website visit to initially find him, which generates a permanent record, and a phone call or text, which generates a permanent record. It requires a cash payment, which may trigger bank reporting upon physical withdrawal. It requires a physical meeting in which I bring cash, hand it over, and wait for confirmation that the coins have arrived in my wallet, which means I am vulnerable to physical attack and my wallet has to be available online, and I don't know enough about that to assess the risk. I have seen it strongly advised that people keep their wallets offline on a USB stick for best security.

All this to make 1 transaction, which will then become part of the permanent blockchain, which of course can never be decrypted because nobody will ever have enough computing power to do that (rolls eyes).

Or I could walk into a coin shop with gold or cash and walk out with cash or gold, no questions asked, no paper trail or digital trail. Still some issues regarding physical travel, security cameras, possible issues with bank withdrawals, etc. But inherently safer today and much safer from future surveillance once the transaction is complete.

[madfranks]

I looked up a market maker in my area. To transact with him requires a website visit to initially find him, which generates a permanent record, and a phone call or text, which generates a permanent record. It requires a cash payment, which may trigger bank reporting upon physical withdrawal. It requires a physical meeting in which I bring cash, hand it over, and wait for confirmation that the coins have arrived in my wallet, which means I am vulnerable to physical attack and my wallet has to be available online, and I don't know enough about that to assess the risk. I have seen it strongly advised that people keep their wallets offline on a USB stick for best security.

All this to make 1 transaction, which will then become part of the permanent blockchain, which of course can never be decrypted because nobody will ever have enough computing power to do that (rolls eyes).

Or I could walk into a coin shop with gold or cash and walk out with cash or gold, no questions asked, no paper trail or digital trail. Still some issues regarding physical travel, security cameras, possible issues with bank withdrawals, etc. But inherently safer today and much safer from future surveillance once the transaction is complete.

That's cool, so you should stick to gold and silver then. Some of us are comfortable with the level of anonymity we can work with using cryptos. To each their own, I guess.