Subreddits like r/Monero, r/privacy, r/CryptoCurrency, and r/Bitcoin have accumulated years of discussion about acquiring cryptocurrency without identity verification. Some of it is excellent. Some of it is dangerously out of date. Most of it is not organised in a way that helps someone who is new to the question understand which advice applies to their situation.
This is a summary of what the community consensus gets right, where it leads people astray, and what has changed recently enough that older threads cannot be trusted.
What Reddit gets right
The foundational advice is sound: non-custodial wallets, peer-to-peer exchanges, and avoiding leaving funds on any platform that holds your identity documents. The general orientation toward self-custody and skepticism of centralised intermediaries reflects a coherent privacy philosophy that holds up well.
The community's coverage of technical tools — Bisq, Haveno, P2Pool, Feather Wallet, Tor routing for wallet connections — is generally accurate and well-maintained by knowledgeable contributors. If you find a recent thread (within the last six months) on any of these specific tools, the advice is likely reliable.
Where it leads people astray
LocalMonero is recommended constantly in older threads. LocalMonero shut down in May 2024. Any thread recommending it predates the closure and the specific guidance is no longer actionable.
Exchange recommendations go stale fast. An exchange recommended in a 2022 thread for operating without KYC may have implemented KYC since then, changed ownership, been acquired, or shut down entirely. Always verify the current status of any specific platform before sending funds.
The non-custodial swap gap
Reddit discussions often underweight non-custodial instant swap services relative to their actual usefulness. The community tends to favour maximally decentralised options — P2Pool over Monero Ocean, Bisq over any centralised alternative — even in cases where a non-custodial swap would accomplish the same privacy outcome with far less friction. For most people who just want to acquire Monero or swap between assets without KYC, a non-custodial swap service is the right answer and it often gets buried under more complex recommendations.
Terce is a non-custodial instant exchange. No account, no KYC, 340+ supported assets, rate locked at confirmation. It does not require running a node, finding a counterparty, or installing a desktop application. For most use cases, it is the answer that Reddit discussions take too long to arrive at.