I take discretion as seriously as I take pleasure and I have learned a few ways to ensure our privacy over the years. One of the ways I have protected our privacy is by utilizing cryptocurrency. I have been assisted by some of the most knowledgeable internet security experts in the world, whom I am proud to call my clients, in order to maximize this tool. The information below is research that I have gathered from leading experts, the internet, and personal experience on how to use cryptocurrency for our purposes.

I want to make it clear that I am a fan of cold hard cash for discretionary purposes, but that is not always an option for doing something like paying a deposit. Cryptocurrency is where technophobes tense up, but I will do my best to explain cryptocurrency in layman’s terms. Cryptocurrencies are digital assets that function similar to money. The value fluctuates just like the dollar and has its own market. The most popular form of cryptocurrency is Bitcoin.

Sending and receiving cryptocurrency works similarly to PayPal, if you need an analogy, which as of late, now dabbles in cryptocurrency. One has a digital wallet, the host of where you keep your cryptocurrency, where you send and receive transactions through unique and discreet addresses that are tailored to each transaction. Some wallets will let you send and receive via email address, but the unique codes are the most discreet. Here is a good article explaining the basics.

If one is hypervigilant, then the cryptocurrency needs to be washed before it is sent. In order to “wash your coins” several steps need to be taken. You can do this on a phone or a computer. But first I’ll start with how to set up your cryptocurrency:

▪ Electrum has been recommended to store cryptocurrency on a computer. One can use Electrum to generate multiple wallets. As a precaution, write down a hard copy of your “seed” and password in case you need to recover it.

▪ Another recommended wallet is Trezor, which stores your cryptocurrency currency in a hardware device which you must purchase.

▪ Electrum, PayPal, and Coinbase are free. PayPal and Coinbase can be used on a computer or a phone. Both are mainstream and not the most discreet tools to send and receive funds.

▪ BRD wallet works on phones and is the best option if you don’t use a computer. BRD is a simple and secure wallet for storing cryptocurrency.

In order to wash your coins and make them less traceable to you, one would move the coins through several wallets before sending a payment. What you are ultimately doing is muddying up the waters so it is more difficult to see the path between the wallets. With Electrum, you can create multiple wallets and, for example, send it from a Coinbase wallet, then to multiple wallets from there. It is recommended to move the money at least twice, but it is suggested to do it three to four times.

Tumbling is another method to obscure the origin of cryptocurrency. When you tumble cryptocurrencies, you take Bitcoin from several different wallets, combine them, redistribute them into different wallets, and then do it again. Essentially, tumblers take cryptocurrency and return cryptocurrency of the same value (minus a processing fee) with different addresses and transaction histories, thus effectively “washing” the coins. This process doesn’t truly anonymize the transaction per se, it just makes it more difficult to trace because it was washed through multiple transactions. Even tumbled transactions can be “untumbled” if one has the time, patience, and data and the processing power. Services that operate legally must keep detailed records of how the coins were mixed, which could possibly later be hacked or subpoenaed. But the more mixing you do, the less likely that your mixing could be reverse engineered.

The following was told to me by a security expert about making cryptocurrency less traceable:

“I’ll tumble my coins so they are fresh for you and not linked to me. If you use an exchange like Coinbase, you will want to move them around between wallets a few times before depositing to an exchange since they flag coins that have been sent from a coin mixer. The goal of mixing coins and moving the coins from different wallets before depositing to an exchange is to break the link in the blockchain and conceal where those coins came from. Since it’s a public ledger, anyone can see who’s been sending and receiving money- breaking that connection is key for anonymity. Coinbase works directly with law enforcement and reports its users’ info to IRS. For now, I will mix my coins and move them through several wallets, so they are safe to deposit. This will take me a few hours to do this before I can send the coin to you.

Rule of thumb in order to keep your real life identity separate from black market life: don’t connect the two with any transactions. I’m a bit of a security nerd and go to great lengths to do things properly. If you want to do things properly as I described, then download the BRD wallet to your phone and create a new wallet. It is a simple and secure, open-sourced wallet for storing Bitcoin. If you want a wallet for your computer, then use Electrum wallet. It is open source as well.

You don’t want to use Coinbase as a wallet because they have control of your cryptographic keys to your Bitcoin. If you use them as an exchange, only deposit and withdraw coin from them. Don’t hold anything with Coinbase long term. Using open-source wallets is key as they have been audited by the crypto community and proven safe and secure.”

The above is focused mostly on how to send cryptocurrency, but it could be noted that if you are receiving these crypto funds, that you yourself can tumble them before they go into your final wallet. Tumbling coins before depositing them will simply cost you the processing fees, but that is a small price to pay for the added mental security that you know your currency is clean. I hope that I am leaving you with a better understanding of how to use cryptocurrency to maintain anonymity.

Your Mistress,

Ramona Ryder

P.S. If you're already in the game, I love being gifted Bitcoin, and will thank you virtually.