Buying bitcoin
Having bitcoin from centralized exchanges (Coinbase, Swan, Square, Kraken, etc) is better than not having bitcoin at all, but it comes with a risk: exchanges are valuable target for hacking and once they get hacked, other people will know you own specific bitoin addresses and can try to steal from you. This can be a thief, a terrorist organization, or your own government trying to fund war for peace. If you wanna maximize the soverignity that bitcoin brings, here are some practical tips for you.
Find local people that you can buy from directly, ideally using cash. Talk to your friends who are interested in Bitcoin, go to local meetups (search for “bitcoin”, “crypto”, “anarchocapitalism”, “libertarian”, etc), or attend conferences. Ideally, you will find someone who mines, and you can buy from them directly. If nothing else, someone will sell you a small amount to get you started with Bisq.
How do you actually perform the transaction? You can start with a wallet on your phone, such as Blue Wallet. Follow the instructions to set it up. Tap “receive” button and either let the other person scan the QR code, or copy the address and share it over Signal. Once you accumulate more bitcoin than you would feel comfortable carrying around, buy a hardware wallet such as Trezor, and move your funds there. First, you need to download Trezor Suite, connect the Trezor device to your computer, and follow the instructions to set up a new wallet. Then, whenever you want to move bitcoin to this wallet, connect it to your computer, type in your PIN, click “receive” button, and scan the QR code with Blue Wallet on your phone (or on the phone of the person selling you). If you run into any issues, just ask on some forums like r/TREZOR.
With those people, you can eventually form a Signal group for buying and selling. Here are good instructions to help you get started.
I will repeat this: buy bitcoin from local people directly, using cash. For a long time I thought this wasn’t an option, but then I actually tried asking friends, attend a couple of meetups, and quickly built a network. It is possible, and likely easier than you think.
If you need to buy more than your local friends can sell, start using Bisq. Bisq connects buyers and sellers from around the world directly, so there is no central database to be hacked. You need some bitcoin to pay the deposit for your first transaction, so either get that from your local contacts, or earn it, but don’t use bitcoin from an exchange since that would link your identity with the transaction. Ideally, you want to use gift cards or “mail cash”. If no offers are available, create one.
Worst case, you can use Zelle/Wise/Revolut with Bisq, but be aware that the bank knows you made the transaction, and the other person knows your identity. Not ideal, but much better than having your name in some central database forever, or not having any bitcoin. In US, Zelle through Bank of America has the highest limits I found ($3500 a day).
Bisq has escrow, which means it’s pretty safe (I got into a dispute myself twice and never lost money, it got resolved in both cases), but always start with small amounts when learning. There is some learning curve to master Bisq (the UX is the best), but once you do a few transactions you will get the hang of it.
Another great option is to earn bitcoin directly, but I think that deserves its own post.