I do not think that there are countries which are lenient when it comes to transacting with cryptocurrencies and BTCs. On Asia itself, most of the exchanges require the submission of KYC documents for you to access their local exchange where you can exchange conveniently your BTCs/cryptocurrencies to cash.

In the Philippines, while our central bank has been silent with laws and implementations regarding the transacting with such, our main local exchange requires one to submit tons of KYC documents (e.g. ITRs, etc.). Though this may be the case, I do think that surrendering in this function is much more convenient and safer than to find someone for a p2p transaction.

You can expect anonymous transactions if you trade with crypto><crypto pairs. I think it can also be done without TOR network with some preparation.
The problem is if you want to buy crypto with your fiat (using a personal bank account), even the TOR network with a VPN layer cannot provide privacy that way.

Most of these exchanges will always ask for KYC from you in order to keep an eye on you and have no privacy at all.There are variations to level of documents they ask depending on the withdrawal limits like for small transaction they don't ask for some Centralised exchanges and for above that you have to go through these KYC norms so you see they all are in same basket.

I think it's not about countries but it's about the exchanges. All centralized exchange requires a kyc but some of them are not mandatory but users can continue using them anonymously on lower limits. If you want full privacy then use decentralized exchanges as they are the real ones that don't ask for a kyc whether you are dealing with small or big amounts.

A decentralized exchange have no central authority so there's no need to set up a headquarters on some specific countries. It is not hard to buy btc anonymously as long as your country allowed it. There are countries where btc is accepted as a legal tender, they must be the best country only if they push decentralization.

Whales will also not carelessly make OTC trades, because OTC trading also requires guaranteed security from the OTC broker or dealer organizer. OTC trading is a trade for a large number of transactions so it is also risky to not find a guaranteed broker. for the cost is lower and without using KYC.
Trading OTC without any intermediaries is also risky for our own safety, because transactions here involve a lot of money.

I think the countries with the best Bitcoin-friendly laws and the matter of privacy can lead to different answers. El Salvador is the most Bitcoin-friendly country, but people largely use Chivo wallet (which is custodial, so it's a point against privacy) for actual usage of Bitcoin as payment. They do have taxes, but there's a loophole from what I've read that allows not paying them. I'm not sure it's legit, though.
But as for privacy, countries that don't regulate Bitcoin are likely to allow for more privacy (because there are not KYC legislative requirements).