Where can you actually use cryptocurrency to buy things anonymously? Here we’ll go over a list of vendors and places that accept it. And if you really want to learn about real world crypto, subscribe for free to our new content by email, by Session messenger, via RSS feed, our Ethereum push notification channel, or on Nostr.
Bitrefill.com
We Love Bitrefill; it’s our number 1 choice for anonymous cryptocurrency shopping. They offer gift cards for major brands with a huge selection of vendors. There’s No KYC for most of the in-person vendors, but the online-only ones, such as Amazon or Ebay, WILL require it.
There’s no account sign-up, but you do need an email address. Bitrefill accepts burner anonymous emails, so consider a burner email service you can get back into later, such as 5July’s Flashbox, which we covered in a previous article on burner emails.
And best of all, Bitrefill does NOT charge a mark-up or commission above the listed price, which is amazing.
Also Bitrefill’s payment processing system is extremely fast. They mark the Bitcoin transactions as paid and give you the gift card code with just 1 confirmation or 0 confirmations if you set the Bitcoin wallet to turn off RBF mode.
To turn off RBF mode (which stands for Replace-By-Fee), go to Preferences, then the Transactions tab, and select one of the first options, “Replace by Fee.”
The only negative of Bitrefill is its website looks at your country to determine what products you can buy, forcing you to use a VPN in the country you want the gift card in. So, you can’t use Tor directly (unless you live in Germany or know how to change your exit node).
Some vendors on Bitrefill won’t even allow a VPN. To get around this, you can use a dedicated VPN which is where the VPN provider gives you your own IP address.
Be careful with VPNs and try small amounts. Do NOT buy an Ebay gift card with this site if you are using a popular VPN and/or popular temporary SMS verification service. Ebay is rotten and will steal your funds after you apply the gift card, even if you’re willing to show ID. (I know this from personal experience.)
Another Bitrefill negative is that they don’t accept Monero, so you’ll have to swap it for Bitcoin, Bitcoin Lighting, or Litecoin first. We talked in our earlier article about Cake Wallet and how its ChangeNow service is ideal for using Bitrefill on a degoogled phone when you’re out at a shopping mall or restaurant.
CoinCards.com
CoinCards is similar to Bitrefill except they allow Tor and accept Monero. They also have a huge selection of gift card vendors, some of whom aren’t on Bitrefill (but vica versa is the case too). Some of the vendors will require KYC and others won’t. In general, stores with in-person purchase or pickup won’t require KYC, while those that are online only will be stricter.
Coincards recently really improved its privacy and prices. They used to ban Tor about a year ago, but now allow it. They USED to charge 5% markup, but now use the external 3rd party vendor BTCPay, which has lower transaction fees, supports Tor with a .onion, accepts Monero, and even has a no javascript payment website.
Coincards also offers the option to let you use Binance if you want to instead of BTCPay. While this is horrible for privacy (KYC, Tor ban, & cookies), it might be more convenient if you already have a Binance account with funds available to spend. We can’t penalize them if it’s optional right?
Bitcoinpike.com
BitcoinPike is run by Bitplaza, a company out of Pennsylvania. BitcoinPike does not KYC, so you can send a purchase to a random friend’s shipping address or any mailbox you control. They also have a huge amount of countries to which they ship.
BitcoinPike doesn’t have a big selection, but they do have some electronics. Be careful of buying smartphones though, because they are NOT OEM unlocked for rooting a privacy OS (even though it says “unlocked” on the website).
The main advantage of BitcoinPike is that it’s an online only store that ships No KYC items for Bitcoin. In contrast, with Bitrefill, Coincards, Newegg, and others, you have a “second payment method” for online purchase with crypto. But this privacy comes with a price…
BitcoinPike is overpriced compared to other vendors. Also its customer service is bad at answering you by email. You have to call them. You can use one of the VoIP phones we recommended in our earlier article with a US number. BitcoinPike has been honest though and does not appear to be looking to steal your money.
DashDirect.org
Ironically I found out about DashDirect from a Monero podcast, but DashDirect doesn’t accept Monero.
DashDirect is the fastest and most convenient way to make in-store No KYC cryptocurrency purchases at over 1,500 different vendors. It’s so fast that you will almost feel as if it’s a regular fiat gift card app.
The reason DashDirect’s app is so fast is because you deposit Dash crypto into the app’s wallet. And then you use the app itself to buy the gift card, so it instantly gives you the gift card because it knows you have the funds. You won’t have to wait for blockchain confirmations.
So you can literally be in a store and buy the gift card after the cashier tells you the amount, then “bam,” instantly get a gift card for that exact amount.
The bad news is that DashDirect exclusively uses Dash cryptocurrency, and they require you to use their mobile app, which isn’t open source. However, at least the creators of DashDirect (Ionia) allow you to use the APK directly to avoid the Google Play Store. Their customer service gave me this link:
https://ionia.docsend.com/view/s/r8m5h36anawfj94b
We can’t vouch for it though because it’s closed source.
Dash was originally named Darkcoin for it’s privacy features, but there’s a lot of debate about whether Dash is really private or not. There is a feature called PrivateSend, which is similar to Bitcoin’s CoinJoin. PrivateSend mixes your funds with other users to obfuscate where the money came from. However, you’re trusting the node to see these mixes, so the node knows where it came from.
If the random node is a malicious adversary, then not only do they know who you are, but it raises their attention that you have something to hide. In my opinion, it is not as private as Monero, which is trustless.
Also, Dash partnered with the blockchain analysis firm Coinfirm. Coinfirm specializes in detecting money laundering and enforcing KYC through its proprietary software. This is somewhat confusing for Dash’s privacy image. Is this the same cryptocurrency that was originally named Darkcoin?!
Purse.io
We love Purse.io!
This No KYC website matches you with a random person who wants to buy Amazon items for you for your Bitcoin. We love Purse.io so much that we wrote a whole article just on it which you can find here.
Pay with Moon
Pay with the Moon is a fraudulent scam that stole my money and refuses to reply to my emails asking about it. We recommend you avoid this company.
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Legal Disclaimer
We do NOT provide cryptocurrency mixing services. We do NOT take escrow of any cryptocurrency. We do NOT code or create any tools for mixing crypto. We are solely engaged in free speech with our subjective opinion of external third party services. We have no inside knowledge. Any random air breather on the internet can learn this publicly available information.