Hi all!
I've read the DN Bible, got some OpSec skills and successfully did some market purchases by now.
I'm wondering if my route is unnecessarily complicated and I would love your opinion.
I'm using 2 laptops: laptop 1 with an external hdd with Windows on it, which I only use for crypto purchases and Cake wallet, and laptop 2 with Tails & Feather wallet on it.
This is how I go about it:
1) I boot a dedicated Windows from the dedicated external HDD on laptop 1
2) purchase LTC on a KYC exchange
3) send LTC to Cake Wallet on the same drive
4) swap LTC to XMR within Cake Wallet
5) send XMR to Feather wallet running in Tails (running on laptop 2)
6) send XMR to the market from Feather
It takes me over 2 hours to make a simple purchase, mainly due to how long it takes for XMR to validate. Validation happens twice, once with the LTC->XMR swap and then again when I send it from Cake to Feather.
I was wondering if I could shorten this route, without sacrificing OpSec.
What do you think?
Dark Web Talk
From KYC exchange to the market: Is my route overly complicated?
Started by notdancingmonkey · Jul 8, 2026
I just go Phone<KYC<XMR<Feather<Market. XMR hides its self pretty well I guess if you wanted to you could do another wash within feath again just for another layer, but once it goes to your feather its hard to see what happend to it from there. BTW my feather is on TAILS seperate laptop booted from external SSD.
Do not use KYC exchanges.
Do not use Windows.
You sound like you love prison.
Do not use Windows.
You sound like you love prison.
To buy LTC on a KYC, while not ideal OpSec, is honestly fine.
To make it better what you want to do is sit on the LTC/ETH/SOL whatever coin you're investing in, and buy multiple lesser amounts of XMR.
Like that, it's harder to run chain analysis as the amounts are different and split up.
But yeah, obviously the best is to buy monero with cash, but odds are anyone selling you large sums of monero for cash is probably gonna be a fed, if not at the very least a narc.
To make it better what you want to do is sit on the LTC/ETH/SOL whatever coin you're investing in, and buy multiple lesser amounts of XMR.
Like that, it's harder to run chain analysis as the amounts are different and split up.
But yeah, obviously the best is to buy monero with cash, but odds are anyone selling you large sums of monero for cash is probably gonna be a fed, if not at the very least a narc.
Thanks! The issue is that where I'm from I can't buy XMR via KYC. XMR used to be available on the big exchanges, but it's prohibited now.
How else to get XMR? I can't even buy it from an exchange anymore here since it's prohibited.
What's wrong with using Windows for the purchase of crypto? All market activity (both sending of XMR as well as accessing the market) happens via Tails over Tor.
What's wrong with using Windows for the purchase of crypto? All market activity (both sending of XMR as well as accessing the market) happens via Tails over Tor.
Hi! Am I understanding it correctly that you'd advise to purchase other coins, store them for a while, and then use those (together with a new purchase of a coin) for a market purchase?
If so, you risk potentially losing value of the coin at the time you want to make a market purchase. Or do you deem that as collateral damage in order to achieve better OpSec?
If I didn't understand it properly, please enlighten me ;D
If so, you risk potentially losing value of the coin at the time you want to make a market purchase. Or do you deem that as collateral damage in order to achieve better OpSec?
If I didn't understand it properly, please enlighten me ;D
The risk of losing value is roughly the same as the potential for it to gain value, also.
I'm not suggesting buying meme coins. The good ones seem to be ETH/LTC/SOL imo.
Any of those 3 are fairly stable. You have just as much risk of losing 10% value as you do gaining 10% though.
Buy at the bottom of a dip if it makes you feel better.
All I'm saying is that when you buy a coin, send it off for monero, it's easier to do chain analysis when you literally bought $X of coins and within 5-10 mins someone made a purchase on a DNM for precisely that amount, when all fees/shipping etc are added...
It's better (for your opsec) if you buy the coins a day or 2 ahead and make a couple, spaced out, random transfers into monero. Then make your purchases. That way the $ amount anyone else sees never lines up to what you bought.
I'm not suggesting buying meme coins. The good ones seem to be ETH/LTC/SOL imo.
Any of those 3 are fairly stable. You have just as much risk of losing 10% value as you do gaining 10% though.
Buy at the bottom of a dip if it makes you feel better.
All I'm saying is that when you buy a coin, send it off for monero, it's easier to do chain analysis when you literally bought $X of coins and within 5-10 mins someone made a purchase on a DNM for precisely that amount, when all fees/shipping etc are added...
It's better (for your opsec) if you buy the coins a day or 2 ahead and make a couple, spaced out, random transfers into monero. Then make your purchases. That way the $ amount anyone else sees never lines up to what you bought.