Monero anonymity, exchanges and the ease of use?

Ok, let's assume that I do chose Monero to receive funds.
I am a nob and don't play with crypto, so my questions will be embarrassingly basic.

1. For anonymity purpose, does it matter whether I open Monero account with my real information (main phone, main email, real name etc.) or should I use alternative email, burner phone, fake name etc to make it untraceable?
2. Is Kraken the best exchange to open the wallet and trade with? I've just read somewhere that it's better to work with decentralized exchanges, for privacy. Which one would you recommend?
3. What is the easiest instruction I can offer to clients who don't have Monero account and never dealt with crypto, how can i make it super fast and easy for them to pay me?
4. How can I cash out anonymously?
5. Can a client request a refund (just for the sake of it) and what would be the process with it? Can I deny refunds?
- Are there any security measures to prevent the account from getting hacked. (do I need a VPN before opening a wallet or when selling the currency (exchanging for $)?
6. How long does it take to see payment? Are there any instant email notifications about someone sending fiunds?

I also see there are different types of wallets.

I am reading an article that is saying this:

• "Private key storage: With a desktop wallet, your private keys are stored locally on your computer, making them vulnerable to hackers and viruses. With a hardware wallet, your keys are stored on a device that never touches the internet, making hardware wallets more secure."

And the only wallet I see as "hardware" is Ledger Nano S (with Monero GUI)...

The benefits, as per my understanding is also, that it offers subaddresses:

• " Subaddress availability: Subaddresses are addresses associated with your public address that you can create for different transactions. Transactions sent to subaddresses will show up on your public address. This helps prevent the sender of a transaction from linking payments to your public address. While the Monero protocol has supported subaddresses since 2017, not all wallets do."

But "no currency exchange" is an option for it...


So, I am pretty confused at this point. . What wallet to open, where etc...

and now I am reading

"Remote nodes: Connecting your wallet to a remote node means you don't have to download Monero's 70GB+ blockchain. But remote nodes can compromise your privacy by associating your IP address with transactions that you've broadcast to the node. Thanks to Monero's stealth addresses, however, remote nodes can not see the amount sent in a transaction, or the addresses of the sender or receiver of a transaction."

So, if there are Monero's stealth addresses, why do i need to worry about subaddresses?

Ok, here is this

"If you need the highest possible level of security and privacy, we recommend keeping your Monero safe in cold storage with a hardware wallet like the Ledger Nano S and connecting it to a full node that you control. This is the most private and secure wallet option, but the trade-off is that it's a lot less convenient.

If you're buying or selling illegal goods on the darknet, or trying to avoid government surveillance, it's a small price to pay.

To run a full node, you have to download the entire Monero blockchain, which is over 70+ gigabytes, and it can also eat up your computer's bandwidth and processing power to keep the node up to date. The Ledger Nano S will also set you back $59, while every other Monero wallet is completely free."

Ok, so I am not doing anything illegal, but simply don't want to be traced by hackers, investigators hired by scammers to find my identity etc (since payment link will be publicized)...

So, which wallet is better tp chose in this situation?

It depends on your risk model, to be honest. I would say you can get away with using a software wallet like Exodus, as long as you're responsible and don't share the seed (don't store digitally either), and don't download any suspicious files.
Hardware wallets are also good, but I don't think its too necessary in your case.

To answer your questions:
1. No account should be necessary, because you're using your own wallet which doesn't have KYC. It's always best to not associate your funds with a KYC wallet for security.

2. See the first point, if you'd like an exchange to sell your crypto on you can try Bisq, or you can find a local buyer through localbitcoins or similar sites. Alternatively, you can just use exodus in built crypto exchange, to convert from XMR to any other crypto and sell that (usually more people will buy btc as opposed to xmr, for example).

3. For the clients you can have them make an account on any centralized exchange as I can assume you are more worried about your privacy whilst they are indifferent, they can simply buy and send to you (sometimes exchanges ask for extra verifications for accounts that deal with xmr, because it's untraceable, but I doubt it'll happen unless it's a big amount).

4. Explained in point 2, but I can look more in depth into it if this doesn't fit your needs.

5. No, a client can of course ask you for a refund, but once crypto is sent and confirmed it's completely unrefundable unless the receiver decides to send it back. If you do decide so, simply send to the xmr address they provide you.

The main precaution in this case would be keeping your wallet seed completely private (don't share it at all nor store it digitally, store it on something physical that won't be seen by others).
Secondly, not downloading anything suspicious on the device or preferably just not downloading things except the wallet (that second one is for maximum security).
If you are lucky to find a local buyer, then you would likely not need to worry much about precautions, because they can't see what the funds were for/source of the funds anyway. You can also check out a site called LocalMonero but I don't have experience with it.

6. You can see the payment instantly, but you should wait until it confirms to deliver the product (you can see this in Exodus). There are no email notifications unless you use a centralized exchange.
If, after reading this all, you decide to use a centralized exchange then look into ByBit or check kycnot.me

Through other people, I would buy 2 cold wallets, one to share addresses with buyers and one to transfer the money from sales and keep it aside.

To convert money from Crypto to FIAT you will need other people to receive the money (without exceeding the legal limits, obviously). There are also some countries that make your life easier, like Malta for example. You can also sell your Crypto in person by making a direct deal with someone or using some platform where people buy and sell this way.

If there is any exchange where you can buy and sell without giving real information, I do not know. The exchanges that I have tried always require verifications and it is becoming more difficult to fool them.

As an environment to operate with the cold wallets, I would use VPN in my operating system and VPN within a virtual machine that would run on this computer. As a VPN service I recommend Mullvad but it is best to always use dedicated IPs.

I don't think there are "simple" instructions, when you use cryptocurrencies you have to understand some basic things in order not to lose your money. For example, if you send the money to the wrong address, there is no way to get it back and you cannot request it.

azucar said:

For example, if you send the money to the wrong address, there is no way to get it back and you cannot request it.

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Is there a way to setup kind of a payee, send a small test and then send larger amounts (kind of a subscription, manual or automatic) when test funds arrived?

azucar said:

Through other people, I would buy 2 cold wallets, one to share addresses with buyers and one to transfer the money from sales and keep it aside.

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Where would I buy it and how would I know that these people are safe and I am not getting screwed in the process, considering I know pretty much nothing about working with crypto (as of now, work in progress)

paalmtree said:

Is there a way to setup kind of a payee, send a small test and then send larger amounts (kind of a subscription, manual or automatic) when test funds arrived?

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You could, for example, have a Tor website where access is obtained via payment and this adds time of use and thus be able to access the content, for example.

azucar said:

I would use VPN in my operating system and VPN within a virtual machine that would run on this computer. As a VPN service I recommend Mullvad but it is best to always use dedicated IPs.

Click to expand...

Even with VPNs I am nob.. I didn't realize there are different VPNs - VPN for operating system and VPN within a virtual machine. I was about to set up VPN myself without VPN companies, as I have read it's much safer (and yes, probably much more complicated).

So, are you saying I need a virtual machine as well? Where can i learn how it's done?
Is it an alternative to buying another computer that would be dedicated to possibly running my crypto and browse sites through an online identity I will create for this business?

azucar said:

You could, for example, have a Tor website where access is obtained via payment and this adds time of use and thus be able to access the content, for example.

Click to expand...

How much time? I need clients to be able to pay me regularly and some time it's large amounts (well, I mean in thousands, not too large) , so i don't want then to send it to wrong address.

Plus, they have no clue about using Tor... I mean, i could instruct them, if' it's the only solution, but is it?

paalmtree said:

Even with VPNs I am nob.. I didn't realize there are different VPNs - VPN for operating system and VPN within a virtual machine. I was about to set up VPN myself without VPN companies, as I have read it's much safer (and yes, probably much more complicated).

So, are you saying I need a virtual machine as well? Where can i learn how it's done?
Is it an alternative to buying another computer that would be dedicated to possibly running my crypto and browse sites through an online identity I will create for this business?

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Let's see everything depends on what you want to do, to be really anonymous you have to be a real psychopath. If you want to PM me and explain a bit more, maybe I can help you.

Rakzs said:

2. See the first point, if you'd like an exchange to sell your crypto on you can try Bisq, or you can find a local buyer through localbitcoins or similar sites. Alternatively, you can just use exodus in built crypto exchange, to convert from XMR to any other crypto and sell that (usually more people will buy btc as opposed to xmr, for example).

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Thank you very much.
So, is Bisq the best decentralized exchange to work with?
If I use them, what is the order of events? I open a wallet without and exchange, receive funds, and THEN open an account with Bisq when I decide to cash out my wallet?

Rakzs said:

2. See the first point, if you'd like an exchange to sell your crypto on you can try Bisq, or you can find a local buyer through localbitcoins or similar sites. Alternatively, you can just use exodus in built crypto exchange, to convert from XMR to any other crypto and sell that (usually more people will buy btc as opposed to xmr, for example).

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Bisq exchange ... can I buy and sell without giving my real information on it?

Rakzs said:

3. For the clients you can have them make an account on any centralized exchange as I can assume you are more worried about your privacy whilst they are indifferent, they can simply buy and send to you (sometimes exchanges ask for extra verifications for accounts that deal with xmr, because it's untraceable, but I doubt it'll happen unless it's a big amount).

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yes, for clients anonymity is not critical. I am just looking for ease of use for them.
How long would it take to (how fast could they) register what is needed to buy crypto and send to me?

paalmtree said:

Bisq exchange ... can I buy and sell without giving my real information on it?

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Yes, same with LocalMonero.

paalmtree said:

yes, for clients anonymity is not critical. I am just looking for ease of use for them.
How long would it take to (how fast could they) register what is needed to buy crypto and send to me?

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it would be quick to register, it takes a few days to get documents approved by exchanges but some are faster than others. 1-3 days the first time and after that it's quick and seamless.