What I currently use/recommend:
I use this to store crypto, buy/sell crypto, exchange crypto, and buy gift cards and debit cards to use for day-to-day transactions. It works with Monero, Zano (soon), Litecoin (LTC), and Bitcoin Cash. It also interfaces with Spritz Finance and others for bill payment.
I use this to buy larger amounts of crypto. I never keep any cryptos on any exchanges. I only use it if I am buying large amounts of crypto. I haven’t used for years as I no longer deal in fiat; however, I still recommend to others looking to make larger purchases.
Because of pressure from the regulators, crypto exchanges don’t have privacy coins like Zano and Monero. I use Exolix to exchange cryptos purchased through Coinbase (or other exchanges) for privacy coins and store in my Cake Wallet.
You can use crypto.com to buy up to $25,000 worth of crypto using a debit card or credit card per week. They don’t offer privacy coins like Zano and XMR, but this can be used to buy BCH, LTC, USDC, or USDT which can be used with Exolix to exchange for Zano and XMR.
Spritz Finance simplifies using crypto for daily transactions by allowing you to pay bills and make purchases directly from your crypto wallet, converting crypto to fiat on-the-fly. It supports multiple cryptocurrencies, offers a virtual Visa card, and rewards users with Spritz Points, making crypto practical for everyday use.
I also use physical Goldbacks for day-to-day commerce. There are over 2000 business nationwide that accept Goldbacks directly. I will frequently tip in Goldbacks and give the merchant a business card with at QR code to this page so that they can learn more about Goldbacks and alternative currencies.
With a UPMA account, you can invest in physical gold, silver, and Goldbacks while enjoying low fees and 0% buy/sell spreads. Your precious metals are securely vaulted and fully insured, yet remain liquid through a linked Visa debit card for everyday transactions. This innovative account allows you to preserve wealth in sound money while maintaining easy access to your assets for both small purchases and large investments.
I exited the banking system (for my personal account) in 2019 and have been living on crypto, gold, and silver. You can learn more about my journey to living on self-custody assets, my book The Final Countdown: Crypto, Gold, Silver, and the People’s Last Stand Against Central Bank Tyranny, my 4-hour workshops around the country educating people on the The Great Reset, exploring the interconnected threats of The Great Taking, Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), and how these elements are paving the way for a complete transformation of our financial system.
Living on alternative assets is an ongoing journey. While my book, articles, and workshops provide a snapshot at any moment, I am constantly learning, trying new things, and striving to make alternative currencies easier for consumers and merchants. This site contains an up-to-date list of my tools and alternative currencies. Check back often to stay current on how we can defeat global technocracy by adopting alternative currencies.
For each tool or currency type, I will explain my selection criteria and rationale for their selection. I haven’t tried everything, so if you have suggestions, please reach out to me.
My overall philosophy is this: in order to defeat CBDCs, we need to have products that are as easy to use, fast, and as cheap as the existing traditional banking system (which is already a CBDC). When I first used Bitcoin in 2012, it was better, faster, and cheaper than what banks had to offer. Since then, Venmo, Zelle, Google Pay, Apple Pay, Cash App, and soon X Payments have been created. I launched a DEFCON 1: Manhattan Project a few months ago to buy or build a competitive wallet and point-of-sale system for merchants. I have found a wallet partner that meets my needs. I am still on a quest to find a point-of-sale system for merchants.
Which cryptos should I choose? In my book, my criteria originally focused on the following criteria:
1/ Decentralized: We need alternative currencies with no central point of failure. I rejected crypto projects that are owned by corporations, might have illegally raised money, and use a model of creating new transaction blocks that rely on a model called Proof-of-Stake, where only large holders of coins can earn rewards for adding new transactions to the blockchain (and therefore can be targeted by governments or hostile actors).
2/ Low Fees: To be competitive with CBDC (and the existing traditional financial system), only cryptocurrencies that have inexpensive (<$0.10) transaction fees made the list.
3/ Large/Expanding capacity to handle transactions: The traditional financial system can do 50,000+ transactions per second. Enhanced CBDCs can do even more (as much as 1.8 million transactions per second with the most recent US retail CBDC pilot). We need a combination of assets that can compete.
4/ Market cap: The market cap of a crypto project represents its buying power. This is an important consideration for merchants (they need to know there is real potential by adding these alternatives). However, projects can change quickly, so I will also consider momentum as well (especially for newer projects).
5/ Privacy: Several developments since I wrote my book have significantly altered my criteria. Governments and other 3rd parties can easily track cryptos like Bitcoin and Ethereum. This creates a substantial risk of confiscation or targeting by bad actors. In addition, because individual coins can be flagged, they could potentially be blacklisted, or only whitelisted coins be used. This makes these cryptos non-fungible (which essentially makes them not usable money. With all the regulations going on, we need secure and private money. Therefore, I now rate privacy as the number one criterion for selecting cryptos. There are two types of privacy: privacy-by-default (where privacy is built into the coin and no additional steps are required to make your transactions private) and optional privacy.
6/ Tokenization: Cryptocurrencies and CBDCs represent tokenized money (which I describe in detail in my article You Might Own Nothing Sooner than You Think. Technocrats also want to apply the same attributes used to tokenize money (tracking, programming, and censorship) to non-monetary assets. This means stocks, bonds, homes, cars, and computers will be tokenized and controlled on a common platform with CBDCs. In my analysis, I have included cryptos that can be used for money and private tokenization of assets.
Tier 1 Cryptos:
These are my favorite coins, and I am actively working to help drive wallet and point-of-sale adoption based on privacy by default and other features.
Zano: Zano is a privacy-by-default cryptocurrency developed over the last decade and is now rolling out user-friendly consumer interfaces. Not only is it a privacy coin that is fast and inexpensive to use, but Zano can also be used to create privacy tokens (that have the same privacy as the coin itself). This is my top recommendation, although it is early to integrate into wallets and point-of-sale systems.
Monero: Monero is the most established and the biggest and best privacy coin. The Zano developers created some of the underlying technology used by Monero.
Tier 2 Cryptos:
These cryptos enjoy widespread use and offer privacy (but not by default).
Bitcoin Cash
Litecoin
Zcash
DASH
Criteria for Wallets:
Why: I have used a few different wallets over the years. What you are looking for is this:
Open-source: this is critical for decentralization, so there is no single point of failure should someone come after the company.
Easy-to-use: Ease of use is paramount for widespread adoption. To defeat CBDCs, we need something that is as easy to use or easier than traditional finance or the coming enhanced CBDCs
Works with multiple privacy coins: Privacy coins are necessary. Governments have already shown that they can track cryptocurrencies on a transparent ledger.
Additional features for living on crypto: There aren’t many merchants yet that take cryptocurrency (and other alternatives)