And then of course, I was a big blocker. Being in Japan around that time, I *experienced* the system working. Not paying via coinbase credit card, but actually paying with a wallet, onchain, for everyday items and food. Where are they now? Does anyone accept Bitcoin directly? NOPE! Why? Cuz we sold bitcoin future ideology for practicality now. Mostly I guess I miss the primordial part of bitcointalk or any tech really, which is an attractor I can't seem to escape.

Not the guy you're asking, but there are no anonymous crypto-cards anymore, so using them is just a more convenient form of selling on centralised exchange and doesn't have much to do with adoption in the classic sense. I think anonymous purchases of gift cards (with crypto) are much closer to the Bitcoin ideals.

Develop a non-KYC stash

If you’ve purchased bitcoin on an exchange, then you likely had to provide forms of identification. Exchanges have to comply with government regulations. In most cases, these regulations are aimed at preventing criminals from using bitcoin for nefarious purposes. Unfortunately, these “Know Your Customer” (KYC) rules also force honest, ordinary people to sacrifice their personal privacy.

Today, bitcoin purchased on an exchange may be referred to as KYC’d bitcoin. This premise is if you buy sats from a regulated institution and bitcoin is a public ledger, then it’s easy for governments to track you and your bitcoin. There are some strategies that can help preserve privacy, such as mixing coins, but their effectiveness can vary greatly depending on your implementation.

Some investors wish to keep their bitcoin investment private, so they seek out non-KYC bitcoin for several reasons. Non-KYC bitcoin can be helpful in purchasing products and services you don’t want tied to your identity, such as a VPN. Non-KYC bitcoin also means you’re not logged in a database somewhere for future targeting.

You can acquire non-KYC bitcoin in several ways. The first is through mining. If you mine successfully, you receive newly minted bitcoin via block rewards. This bitcoin is brand-new and has no other history on the blockchain, which is generally what third parties use to flag “tainted” bitcoin. Mining requires capital and skill to pull off, but non-KYC bitcoin is part of the appeal.

The second method for acquiring non-KYC bitcoin is to make a peer-to-peer purchase. This can be done in real life through an in-person exchange with someone you know. Give them cash and they give you bitcoin. This method comes with some personal security risk since in-person purchases sometimes lead to in-person attacks. There are also decentralized exchanges that allow you to purchase bitcoin online.

My recommended method for acquiring non-KYC bitcoin is to sell goods and services in exchange for BTC. To be clear, you’ll need to be receiving the bitcoin directly to a self custody wallet, not using a third party payment processor that has also likely KYC’d you.

Be aware that trading for non-KYC bitcoin isn’t completely anonymous in most cases because the counterparty likely knows at least a little information about who you are.

Bitcoin whales have enough resources at their disposal to navigate the above dilemmas, and they tend to view contingency planning as an essential part of maintaining their financial security. The same preparation mindset that motivates high-net-worth individuals to stock up on gold and passports also creates a desire for non-KYC bitcoin. Part of being a whale is only surfacing when you want to.

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I have a different question:

How do I post something here that will go viral on the internet and crypto Twitter? Nothing seems to be working  

You have only posted a couple times in the last 6 years. Do you still read the forum as much as you used to or you find most of the conversations uninteresting now?

It's been 13 years since you asked us to Hodl, will you say it's an easy hodl for the next 13?

This is one of the reasons I love bitcointalk, you never know what you’re going to see next.

Careful now, a few more words of wisdom, and you could be a bitcoin guru.
I think your first post already answered the question of why you have come back to the forum after all this time. My other question is: Which boards were the most interesting in bitcointalk at the time?[/i]