Now that you’ve been convinced of the value of bitcoin, and you have one of the best bitcoin wallets for beginners, you are ready to buy your first bitcoin. In this article, I am going to explain all the best ways to buy and sell bitcoin anonymously.

In 2025, buying and selling bitcoin usually requires KYC (know-your-customer). This means that any time you sign up for a major crypto exchange (like Coinbase), you have to submit your full name, ID, selfie, home address, phone number and occupation. They need to know EVERYTHING about you.

You might say, “What’s the harm? I haven’t done anything wrong,” but when an exchange gets hacked like the recent Coinbase data leak, hackers and scammers gain access to all your personal information.

Now the criminals know where you live and how much bitcoin you own.

Additionally, exchanges like Coinbase are known to hand over customer data to government organizations such as the IRS.

I’m going to show you the best ways to buy and sell bitcoin with no ID or verification so that you can stay private.

It’s your money, and your data. Read this if you don’t know yet by privacy matters

Do not give away your KYC information and allow your bitcoin to be tracked and traced by governments and criminals.

Let’s see how you can buy bitcoin privately and avoid these serious risks.

Buying Bitcoin Privately

Although it was much easier to buy bitcoin privately in the 2010s, it is still possible today, and it is very much worth your time to do it.

We are going to look at the top 3 ways you can buy bitcoin anonymously in 2025 — without needing to submit your ID and personal information to some shady crypto exchange. And yes, Coinbase is shady.

Bitcoin ATMs for Cash Purchases

Bitcoin ATMs are by far my top choice for buying bitcoin anonymously.

You’ve probably seen them in convenience stores, shopping malls or coffee shops. In some cities, they’re everywhere!

Coin ATM Radar (the go-to website for finding bitcoin ATMs near you) lists over 30,000 ATMs in The United States, 3600 in Canada, 1850 in Australia and thousands more all around the world.

If you live in one of the 67 countries where there’s are Bitcoin ATMs, you can use them to convert cash to bitcoin anonymously.

How to Find and Use a Bitcoin ATM

All you need to use a Bitcoin ATM is an app like Nunchuk or Cove wallet installed on your phone, and a pocket full of fiat currency.

Here are the steps to buy bitcoin (or crypto) with cash:

• Find an ATM near you on Coin ATM Radar that doesn’t require verification.
• Visit the location with cash and your phone.
• Make sure that no verification is required (sometimes Coin ATM Radar doesn’t have the most up-to-date information).
• Feed your cash into the ATM, and have the bitcoin sent to your bitcoin address.

Limits and Verifications At Bitcoin ATMs

Bitcoin ATMs are really easy to use. Try to find an ATM that’s light on ID/Verification requirements, and you can trade your dirty fiat currency for bitcoin.

As you can see in the image above, some ATMs on Coin ATM Radar don’t require any verification at all. As long as you keep your purchase below $990, there is absolutely no personal information required to buy bitcoin with cash.

You can even do multiple transactions if you want to buy more than $990 worth of bitcoin.

The next best thing is an ATM that only requires SMS verification. You can avoid using your real phone number by grabbing a private VOIP number from a service like Brax.me, or a temporary number for SMS verification from Textverified.

Downsides of Using Bitcoin ATMs

There are also some downsides of using Bitcoin ATMs for you to consider.

First, the fees are much higher than buying on an exchange.

There is a fat premium for buying bitcoin with cash anonymously. These ATMs generally charge a fee of 8% to 20% on each transaction. So for a purchase of $990 in Canada, you might get ~$870 worth of bitcoin.

It’s not cheap!

Second, you are buying bitcoin in a public place. People might see you at the ATM, which can be risky in sketchy areas.

Tips for Private ATM Purchases

Best thing to do then, is to find a bitcoin ATM in a low-traffic area. Don’t use the one that’s smack-dab in the middle of a shopping mall.

Instead, find one in a gas station, convenience store, or coffee shop that’s tucked away in a corner.

These spots let you use the ATM privately, without nosy people looking over your shoulder.

I highly value bitcoin that isn’t tied to my identity, and that’s why I’m willing to put up with the cost and inconvenience of using Bitcoin ATMs.

You’ll have to decide if it’s worth it to you.

I’ll write an article soon on why I think anonymous Bitcoin is worth it.

How to Buy Bitcoin Anonymously on P2P Platforms

Peer-to-peer (P2P) exchanges are another way to buy Bitcoin anonymously, no ID or verification needed.

Plus, you can do it from home—in your underwear, relaxing in your office chair.

The only downside is that the seller gets to see your full name when you send them money using a payment method like Wise or Paypal.

It’s still much more private than giving up all your personal information to a large corporate exchange.

Personally, I don’t like revealing my identity to a stranger when buying bitcoin, so I rarely use this option, but it’s still a popular option.

Here are the best p2p exchanges to buy bitcoin and crypto:

Robosats

Robosats lets you buy Bitcoin anonymously. You can only access it on a tor browser, and there is no registration — even an email address is not required.

Instead, Robosats assigns you a secret token and a cute little robot avatar.

Check out their beginner guide for more information.

Bisq

Bisq is another decentralized option for buying bitcoin anonymously. It also runs on Tor and allows you to trade peer-to-peer, keeping your data off of central servers.

This exchange is bitcoin only and uses escrow for your protection. The price you pay is generally a bit lower than ATMs, but it depends on the seller you choose.

You have to download a desktop app to use Bisq and the setup is a bit technical, so expect a learning curve.

Hodl Hodl

Hodl Hodl is very similar to Bisq, but you can access it from a browser instead of downloading an application.

If you want to try Bisq or Hodl Hodl, just download both and see which one has better prices and the most offers for your location.

Similar to Bisq and Robosats, it isn’t the most user friendly option for buying and selling bitcoin, but take your time, click around the platforms and you’ll find out if a P2P exchange is right for you.

Buy Bitcoin From a Trusted Contact

This is perhaps the best and cheapest method for buying bitcoin privately, but it’s also the trickiest to organize.

You have to actually meet a fellow bitcoiner who is willing to sell. The best place to meet someone is at your local bitcoin meetup. It’s a big win-win for you and the seller because you both get to avoid giving up your ID.

Selling Bitcoin Anonymously

Someday in the future, if you decide to sell your bitcoin, I’ll be the first to tell you that there aren’t many options for selling it privately.

That’s because the government and the banks have made it increasingly difficult to do so.

In 2025, the best way to sell bitcoin is on a P2P exchange, to a trusted individual, or using the only company I know that lets you sell bitcoin privately without KYC.

Once again, Bitcoin Well comes to the rescue…at least if you live in Canada. American customers are still required to do KYC on Bitcoin Well for all transactions.

Bitcoin Well’s lite account allows you sell bitcoin with a limit of $950 CAD per transaction and up to $3000 CAD per day, without ID, a selfie, or even your real name.

You only need an email address (don’t use one that’s tied to your name), and you can sell bitcoin anonymously for a 3% fee. Not bad at all.

How to Spend Bitcoin Anonymously

It’s actually much easier to spend your bitcoin privately than it is to buy or sell because buying and selling often requires you to use your bank account and banks are strictly against privacy.

But Bitcoin is a decentralized network that allows you to use your money however you see fit. Nobody can censor you, or freeze your bitcoin wallet…but they can freeze your bank account.

You can spend your bitcoin on many things these days.

Just the other day, in fact, I paid for my keyword research tool with bitcoin so I could learn how to do SEO.

You can also buy gift cards, bitcoin hardware wallets, laptops, beautiful leather products and much more.

Here are some of the best ways to spend bitcoin anonymously:

Bitrefill

Bitrefill is the best place to buy gift cards and anonymous prepaid credit cards with bitcoin, lightning bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies.

You can buy gift cards for many different companies and services, such as Walmart, Amazon, Best Buy, gas stations, grocery stores, e-sim cards and the list goes on.

You don’t need to make an account or even use a real email address and you will receive your gift cards very quickly.

Bitrefill is a game changer.

Coldcard

You get a 2% discount when you buy your Coldcard Hardware Wallet with bitcoin.

Coldcard is the best hardware wallet money can buy, fiat or bitcoin.

Check out my post on the best bitcoin wallets for more information.

Newegg

You can buy a variety of electronics on Newegg with bitcoin such as laptops, computer parts and electronics.

Silent.Link

I’ve been using Silent.Link for awhile for their anonymous e-sim service. You can use their service in Canada, the USA, and many other countries for $2-$8 per gigabyte of data.

Private e-sim cards are very useful, especially when travelling.

Mullvad VPN

Mullvad is one of the top VPNs used by people who value their privacy and you can pay for it with bitcoin.

The Leather Mint

The Leather Mint is a Canadian company that only accepts bitcoin for their timeless leather products. They have the most beautiful leather wallets I’ve ever seen. They’re pricey, but if you’re looking for something special, this is an excellent place to spend some bitcoin.

The Best Bitcoin Exchange in Canada

Buying bitcoin anonymously takes more effort than going through an exchange. It’s not for everyone.

Bitcoin ATMs are extremely private, but they’re also expensive and time consuming.

If you want to buy bitcoin, and you’re okay with KYC, I highly recommend Bull Bitcoin. They operate in Canada, Europe, Mexico and Costa Rica and they are the best of the best.

Bull Bitcoin requires KYC, but they respect your data and your privacy. They’re also very feature rich.

I’ll post a full Bull Bitcoin review soon to explain why it’s the only exchange you should use.

If you’d like to check out Bull Bitcoin, here’s my referral link. You will get 0.25% off all your bitcoin purchases, and I will get a small commission as well.

Summary

It’s possible to stay anonymous when you buy, sell and spend bitcoin and I think it’s worth it to keep at least part of your bitcoin stack KYC-free.

Bitcoin gives you financial freedom. We are so lucky that it exists.

Don’t let the bankers stop you from using it privately. Buying bitcoin without KYC is the first step.

More on using Bitcoin privately in “How to Send Bitcoin Anonymously“.