Anonymous payments

Roughly from most to least private, for online purchases

1. Monero paid directly to the shop. Hides sender, recipient and amount on the blockchain; see the crypto guide. Bitcoin is traceable unless you take extra care.
2. Cash, sent by post to services that accept it, or used to buy vouchers and gift cards in a shop.
3. Gift codes bought with Monero or Lightning. The gift card shop learns your email and IP address but not your name, as long as you stay below its identity-check limits.
4. Virtual card numbers. They protect your real card details, but the issuer knows who you are and sees every purchase.
5. Your regular card. Every payment is tied to your name and stored by several companies.

Cash leaves no record with a bank. Some privacy services accept cash sent by post; see the VPN and email guides. For other online shops, cash can buy a gift card for that shop, a prepaid Visa or Mastercard gift card, or a prepaid voucher such as paysafecard. Shops have receipts and cameras, and a card you later register with your name is no longer anonymous.

Money orders (US) are another cash option for paying a person or business by post. The US Postal Service sells domestic money orders of up to $1,000 for cash or a debit card, for a fee of $2.65 to $3.75; whoever cashes one at a Post Office must show photo ID (USPS).

Gift card shops sell codes for thousands of brands in exchange for cryptocurrency, and some sell prepaid Visa or Mastercard cards and phone top-ups too. The code is only as private as the payment and the account you redeem it in: an Amazon gift card added to an Amazon account in your name is tied to that account.

Pay with Monero where you can, because it hides the amount and both parties on the blockchain; see the crypto guide. A Lightning payment does not appear on the Bitcoin blockchain by itself, but the bitcoin you fund it with may still be traced to an exchange account in your name. The shop sees your email and IP address, so use Tor or a VPN and an email address you use for nothing else (email guide).

These services create card numbers that stand in for your real card or bank account. Each card is tied to your identity, through identity checks or through the bank account or card that funds it, and that is the main reason they are rated "use with caution". Against breaches, card fraud and subscriptions that are hard to cancel, they are a clear improvement on your regular card.

From your phone or your own bank

• Apple Pay. When you add a card, your bank creates a device-specific Device Account Number. Shops receive that number and a one-time security code instead of your card number, and Apple says it keeps no transaction information that can be tied back to you for credit, debit and prepaid cards (Apple).
• Google Wallet likewise pays with a virtual account number rather than your real card number (Google).
• Apple Card (US only) has no number printed on the card and gives you a virtual card number in the Wallet app for sites that do not take Apple Pay (Apple). Goldman Sachs issues it; in January 2026 Apple announced that JPMorgan Chase will take over, in a move expected to take about two years (Wikipedia).
• Your bank or payment app may offer virtual cards too. Wise, for example, lets you hold up to three digital cards, freeze them and replace their details at any time (Wise).

All of these hide your card number from the shop, but they are tied to your bank or card account, and your bank sees every payment just as it would with your regular card.

Cards that you top up with cryptocurrency and spend wherever Visa or Mastercard is accepted are issued by regulated companies, which normally verify your identity before you get the card. The Bitrefill Card is a typical example: it is open only to adult residents of most EU countries, Norway and Iceland, needs identity verification before activation, and relies on Lightspark Payments Europe, a virtual asset service provider licensed in Estonia (eligibility, card partner). It does not take Monero.

A crypto card can be convenient, but it links the coins you load onto it to your legal name. Do not fund it from a wallet you use for private payments. Be wary of cards that promise no ID checks: card programmes are regulated, and the terms can change after you have loaded money.

Laws in many countries cap how much money you can move without identifying yourself. Stay within them: this guide is about keeping your data from companies that do not need it, not about hiding money from the law.

United States

• Reloadable prepaid cards: the provider must collect and verify your name, date of birth, address and an ID number (31 CFR 1022.210).
• Gift cards: cards holding no more than $1,000 that cannot send funds abroad, move money between users or be topped up from non-bank sources fall outside those rules, as do store-only (closed-loop) cards of up to $2,000 (31 CFR 1010.100). A seller must still verify the identity of anyone who buys more than $10,000 of prepaid access in one day (31 CFR 1022.210).
• Money orders: a seller must record your identity when you buy $3,000 or more of money orders, cashier’s checks or traveler’s checks with cash (31 CFR 1010.415).
• Splitting cash purchases to avoid these money order records or a bank’s cash reports is a federal crime called structuring, even when the money is legitimate (31 U.S.C. 5324).

European Union and UK

• Prepaid cards and e-money: under the current anti-money laundering directive, EU countries may let issuers skip identity checks only for products that hold no more than €150, are used only to buy goods and services, and are not used for cash withdrawals or online payments over €50 (Directive 2015/849, Article 12).
• In practice, cash vouchers come with low limits: paysafecard allows at most €50 per payment in Germany and £40 in the UK.
• From 2027, the new EU Anti-Money Laundering Regulation replaces these rules (European Commission).

Elsewhere, check local rules on prepaid cards, gift cards, cash payments and cryptocurrency. They differ widely between countries and change often.

• Match the tool to the threat. A virtual card protects you from breaches, fraud and subscription traps. To keep your name out of a purchase, use cash, a cash-bought voucher or Monero.
• Use one card number per shop, and close it when you cancel a subscription, so further charges are declined.
• Buy gift codes privately. Pay with Monero, connect over Tor or a VPN, and use a separate email address.
• Redeem codes into accounts that fit. A code added to an account in your name is tied to that name; for a separate identity, see the alting guide.
• Check the card works before you buy. Gift cards are often limited to one country or currency, and prepaid cards can be refused for subscriptions or by foreign shops.
• Spend vouchers promptly. In Germany and the UK, paysafecard deducts a monthly fee from a PIN’s remaining balance after the first month.
• Keep the code and receipt until the balance is used up; the card number on them lets you report a lost card or fraud to the issuer (FTC).
• Plan for delivery. Physical goods need an address; a parcel locker or pick-up point reveals less than your home.
• Give accurate details where the law or the card terms require them, for example to a card issuer that verifies your identity.

• Treating a virtual card as anonymous. The issuer knows who you are and records every transaction.
• Calling Bitcoin private. Coins bought on an exchange that checked your ID can be followed to your payment; see the crypto guide.
• Registering a cash-bought card with your name and address so that it works online. The issuer then has both.
• Logging in with your everyday email or account at the gift card shop or merchant, which links the purchase to you anyway.
• Loading a crypto card from your private wallet, which ties those coins to your legal name.
• Splitting cash purchases to stay under reporting thresholds. In the US this is a crime in its own right, called structuring.
• Paying anyone who asks for gift cards. No real business or government agency asks to be paid that way; it is a common scam (FTC).
• Leaving money on vouchers that charge monthly fees until the balance is gone.

• Apple: Apple Pay security and privacy overviewsupport.apple.comHow Device Account Numbers and one-time codes replace your card number, and what Apple keeps.
• Wikipedia: Controlled payment numberen.wikipedia.orgHow virtual card numbers work, and the bank services that offered and later dropped them.
• Directive (EU) 2015/849, Article 12legislation.gov.ukThe EU conditions for prepaid cards and e-money without identity checks.
• 31 CFR 1022.210: identity checks for prepaid access in the USlaw.cornell.edu
• FTC: Avoiding and reporting gift card scamsconsumer.ftc.gov