Since January 1st of this new year, the MiCA law has come into force, strongly restricting anonymity in crypto transactions. Special mention must be made regarding the implementation of the "Travel Rule":

The rule aims to enhance the detection and prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing in the context of financial transfers and certain crypto assets. It requires all financial institutions to pass on certain information to the next financial institution, in certain fund transmittals involving more than one financial institution.
This means that any transaction from or to your wallet and from or to any financial institution has to carry all your data, forcing the KYC of all users if they want to use any financial service (exchanges, fintech, and others) within the European Union.

In addition, it makes the use of TETHER in such institutions illegal.

A real piece of shit that considers EVERYONE to be a terrorist or a money launderer unless proven otherwise, and that leaves Europe, once again, at the back of the queue in this technology, and the usurper of anyone's privacy.

I'll tell you what happened to me yesterday morning, I usually use BITCOIN ATMs to withdraw some FIAT on a monthly basis, but not much, we're talking about maybe I withdraw less than 500 Euros a month... something like that, for daily expenses and whims.

I've been doing this for a long time, it's totally legal to do so, since you could withdraw amounts below 1000 Euros a day regularly without providing a single piece of information.

Yesterday I went to the ATM I'm telling you about in order to withdraw 200 Euros... the steps were the usual ones, I sent a certain amount of crypto (USDC) to the address that appeared on the ATM screen, and seconds later I got the message confirming that the transaction had been received.
However, I didn't like the next message at all, they asked me to scan both sides of my ID to make the withdrawal... which I refused.
What came next was a long phone call with the ATM operator, who explained to me that since day 1 they required the scanning of the ID for ANY TRANSACTION AMOUNT, obviously I complained because according to MiCA, I could still withdraw money, as I normally did, without anyone asking me for any information.
The gentleman told me that it was not only because of the MiCA law but also because of the change in company policy... pure crap.
I don't know how, but I managed to convince the gentleman and recover my 210 USDC without giving a single piece of information other than my phone number, which I was calling from, obviously.

This experience made me very angry, so much so that I spent the whole afternoon and evening studying how to return to my monthly "routine" by other means, preserving the privacy that I was forced to lose.

Apparently, there are some totally private and anonymous options:

• Gift cards (not very useful)
• Pre-paid debit cards (normally with a maximum balance that usually reaches 250 Euros or so and that once used you can't recharge, another crap)
• Debit cards, VISA or MASTERCARD, that link a crypto wallet (This option is the most interesting)

Obviously, CRYPTO should be accepted as a regular means of payment.** I believe this will come**, especially depending on what Mr. Trump does IMO. But until that happens, I will investigate and try the third option.

There are several providers of this type of cards, and there is also a lot of scam around but I am convinced that it is worth trying them out.

I will keep you posted.

@toofasteddie