Hello. I am considering switching to Mullvad VPN from ExpressVPN and I notice they allow payments through cryptocurrency. The thing is, I would have to get my cryptocurrency from a provider that enforces Know Your Customer rules. I’m pretty sure this would mean that my payments aren’t anonymous.
Since I won’t have anonymity, what would be the benefits of using Cryptocurrency as opposed to credit/debit card?
If you buy a larger amount of Monero and keep it some time without using it, the transaction will be practically anonymous. You can also buy Bitcoin and exchange it to monero over tor.
Okay. Are there any other benefits outside of anonymity?
The 10% discount and no foreign transaction fees if you live outside the EU I suppose. Don’t think those benefits are specific to monero though, any crypto would do that.
Convenience. The provider not knowing your banking info. Your bank (and government) not knowing of your transaction/purchase.
There are only benefits.
I recommend checking out any local Crypto ATM to get your coins via cash without KYC.
Most countries don’t have crypto ATMs, especially in countries requiring KYC
Not giving money to visa/MasterCard too
As a reminder, you can also use Digital Goods by ProxyStore to get a gift card by sending some cash. Might be more accessible than getting some crypto (with a 10% discount).
That’s absolutely not true. Even US and Canada have KYC but you can bypass them by using local Crypto ATMs.
Source: I’ve done it.
You still ahave anonymite if you use Monero or Bitcoin via Lightning
If you’re only going to use it from your home and/or personal devices, there’s no benefit. For more elevated threat models, Monero can be useful. If you care, buy a voucher and move on with your life. ProxyStore is really good, as mentioned above if you don’t want to deal with Amazon or can’t access any of their other voucher options.
Edit: typos and punctuation
Okay. I guess I could just maintain anonymity by buying the Monero from a KYC and then sending it to another Monero wallet over Tor.
VPNs do not provide anonymity, as the recommendation page clearly warns. If you need anonymity you should be using Tor. I’m still not sure what the use case of paying for a VPN using Monero actually is.
Use case is to acquire access to the service anonymously. Not using the service anonymously.
One more transaction your bank/credit card company doesn’t get to know about
That nobody knows about*
Chances are you are connected to said bank via Mullvad, which suggests you’re a paying customer. Vouchers get you 99% of the way unless you already have Monero to spend.
Well yeah I pay using monero with every service that offers it
Sure but your bank is usually only one of 3-4 parties involved in online credit/debit card transactions