Why do all of these new VPN solutions want some form of Crypto payment that has to go through KYC regulations to acquire... doesn't that somewhat defeat the purpose?
Mullvad with cash seems like a super ideal way to go. Why can't I just mail you $20 and call it a day?
That whole comment is "With a way harder method than going to the ATM".
I understand that it's possible to get crypto through obscure methods. However if you're selling a privacy focused solution, ideally you shouldn't have to spend 3-4 weeks to acquire the funds to purchase it.
I agree cash is currently king, but we need a crypto (or even better, Monero) economy if we are going to maintain financial privacy in the long run. In the event of a full transition to a Central Bank Digital Currency, like the EU is discussing and Brazil has already announced, cash will not be private anymore, as any physical bills will be just tokens for the underlying digital currency, which is tracked by the government.
There are a couple of options for acquiring crypto without KYC. One might sell goods and services for crypto (I have done it myself, sold a videogame console P2P through a local libertarian group chat), or buy crypto with cash via P2P or in a country with looser KYC laws, and lastly they could just mine it themselves. Having significant money through mining might seem improbable, but we can't forget the market dynamics, someone might have mined a lot of some altcoin before a big boom (e.g. dogecoin) and ended up rich overnight.
Also, let's not forget Monero. Even if you buy Monero in a KYC exchange, the letterbois can only track if you've bought, but can't track where you send it to next. You could then exchange it for bitcoin with someone or using a non-KYC service, and there you have it, an anonymous BTC reserve. Or you could just bypass BTC altogether and use the much superior Monero to buy whatever you want.