EXIT CHAT CONTROLContentsQuiz

PART 13 · 🟡

Financial sovereignty

Money is surveilled and censorable too. Activists’ accounts have been frozen, donations blocked, and every card payment is tracked. Financial privacy is part of sovereignty.

Bitcoin (self-custody)

🟡🔴Censorship-resistantFree

What it's for A digital money you hold yourself, without going through a bank.

Why it matters

In self-custody (your keys in a wallet only you control), no one can freeze or block your funds. Its privacy isn’t perfect (the ledger is public), but it escapes banking censorship, useful the day a payment is refused.

For whom & when

Guarding against account freezes or de-banking, and paying anonymously for a service like a VPN.

Install & use
  1. Get some bitcoin (an exchange, or peer-to-peer).

  2. Move them right away to a wallet you control: a hardware wallet (Trezor, ColdCard) or an open-source app. Don’t leave them on the exchange.

  3. Back up your recovery phrase on paper, never as a photo or online.

Monero (XMR)

🔴 AdvancedPrivate by defaultFree

What it's for

The privacy cryptocurrency: amounts, sender and recipient are hidden by default.

Why it matters

It’s the exact opposite of Bitcoin here: transactions are private by design. It’s the best way to pay for a service without leaving a trail back to you.

For whom & when

Those who want maximum financial privacy. Note: Monero is already delisted from several European exchanges, so you often need a decentralised swap.

Install & use
  1. Install a wallet (the official one at getmonero.org, or Cake Wallet on mobile).

  2. Get XMR through a decentralised exchange service (for example a “swap” from another crypto).

  3. Back up your recovery phrase on paper.

Wasabi Wallet

🔴 AdvancedCoinJoin🌍 · open-sourceFree

What it's for

A free Bitcoin wallet with built-in CoinJoin: your coins are combined with other users’ coins in a joint transaction, which breaks the visible on-chain link between origin and destination.

Why it matters

The Bitcoin ledger is public: without care, every payment can be linked to earlier ones. CoinJoin restores part of that privacy without handing your funds to anyone, and the wallet runs over Tor.

For whom & when

Experienced Bitcoin users. Since the original coordinator shut down in June 2024, you must pick an independent coordinator, which charges fees.

Mixed funds and platforms

Regulated platforms may refuse or freeze funds that went through a CoinJoin. Keep a record of the legitimate origin of your funds.

Install & use

  1. Download Wasabi from wasabiwallet.io and verify the signature.

  2. In the settings, choose an independent coordinator.
  3. Turn on automatic CoinJoin, and never mix mixed and unmixed coins in the same payment.
On-chain privacy: what the law says

  • Swaps without an intermediary: since August 2026, THORChain lets you swap bitcoin directly for Monero, with no account or platform. The service is new: a wrong return address can lose the funds.

  • Tornado Cash (Ethereum): removed from US sanctions in March 2025, but its developers were prosecuted, with a money-laundering conviction in the Netherlands in 2024 (appeal pending) and a partial conviction in the United States in August 2025. The legal status of mixers remains uncertain in Europe.

  • July 2027: the EU anti-money-laundering regulation (AMLR) bars regulated platforms from keeping anonymous accounts and from offering privacy-enhancing cryptocurrencies such as Monero. Holding in self-custody is not banned.

Legality & caution

Financial privacy is legal. Don’t confuse it with tax evasion: declare what must be declared. Cryptocurrencies are volatile and scams are common; never risk what you can’t lose, and learn before you act.

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